Dans la vallée du Cher (région Centre-Val de Loire, France), les recherches menées depuis 2003 ont permis d’élaborer un cadre géologique, chronologique et paléoenvironnemental pour les systèmes ...fluviatiles et les sites préhistoriques associés. A Brinay (Cher), les alluvions sableuses de la nappe des Fougères qui ont recouvert le site acheuléen de la Noira ont été datées par la méthode ESR de 665 ± 55 ka (MIS 16/15). Sur ce site, les études géoarchéologiques et les fouilles montrent que les homininés ont prospecté des amas contenant des matériaux variés issus d’une formation plio-pléistocène plus ancienne et descendus depuis l’interfluve sur le versant (Sous-unité a1/Unité a). Leur stratégie d’approvisionnement semble avoir consisté à récupérer, après tri, des plaques de meulière en éliminant celles qui étaient altérées ou gelées antérieurement. Les plaques ont été brisées et les fragments utilisés comme supports pour le débitage d’éclats et le façonnage de bifaces. Les fouilles ont confirmé la position primaire de ces artefacts dont l’état de fraîcheur est remarquable.La présence des hommes près de la rivière serait donc en partie liée à ces matériaux accessibles. Les meulières recherchées sont des silicifications qui ont été mises au jour lors de la phase d’incision du Cher puis sont descendues dans des coulées sur la pente. Ces phénomènes liés à la cyclicité climatique quaternaire correspondent à une phase de transition en début glaciaire, avant le pléniglaciaire durant lequel les zones non protégées de l’Unité a et du plancher d’incision ont été cryoturbées.
Joan Bastard was a blacksmith established in Perpignan in the early 15th century. Nevertheless, he seems to have developed his main professional activity as a millstone trader. Between 1410 and 1422, ...he sold more than 100 millstones in Roussillon, Vallespir and Bas-Conflent. Notarized documents related with this trade are of an exceptional quality. They allow not only to study a particular commercial system but also to know the millstone in use in the north side of Oriental Pyrenees. Joan Bastard sold his millstones at credit. He offered almost imported millstones of “Montjuïc stone”, a sandstone that made possible to obtain a flour finer than ones produced using millstones of local sandstone and granites.
Joan Bastard était un forgeron établi à Perpignan au début du xve siècle. Toutefois, il semble avoir été avant tout un marchand de meules. Entre 1410 et 1422, il vendit en effet plus de 100 meules en Roussillon, Vallespir et Bas-Conflent. Les documents notariés relatifs à ce commerce sont d’une qualité exceptionnelle. Ils permettent non seulement d’étudier un système commercial particulier mais aussi de mieux connaître les meules en usage sur le versant septentrional des Pyrénées Orientales. Joan Bastard vendait ses meules à crédit. Il offrait principalement des meules importées, taillées dans de la « pierre de Montjuïc », un grès qui rendait possible l’obtention d’une farine plus fine que celles obtenues avec les meules de grès ou de granites locaux.
The coasts of Italy still preserve several remnants of coastal quarries built in antiquity, that now provide insights into the intervening sea-level changes occurred during the last millennia. In ...this paper, we show and discuss a new class of sea level indicator consisting of millstones carved along the rocky coast of southern Italy since 2500 BP, that are currently submerged. They were extracted from beachrocks, sandstones or similar sedimentary rocks, easier for carving by ancient carving tools. Our study focuses on 10 coastal sites located at Capo d'Orlando, Avola, and Letojanni, in Sicily; Soverato, Tropea, and Capo dell'Armi, in Calabria; Castellabate, Palinuro, and Scario, in Campania; and Polignano San Vito, in Apulia. Unfortunately, only limited archaeological information is available for these anthropic structures. Scario, one of these millstone quarries discussed here, has been dated through independent archaeological remains, allowing us to restrict the exploitation age to the end of XVII century. Present day elevations of these coastal sites were obtained through geo-archaeological surveys calibrated using the nearest tidal stations, together with geomorphological and tectonic interpretations. Data were compared against the latest sea level predictions based on glacio-hydro-isostatic models. Our results allow proposal of the age-range of these millstone quarries and to estimate the intervening relative sea level changes since the time when they were carved.
A significant proportion of the Paris metro tunnels comprise a masonry vault built out of stone blocks and mortar joints, and sidewalls and slabs made of unreinforced concrete. In order to provide ...the necessary data for future structural evaluation, an extensive laboratory testing programme has been conducted to characterize the materials of the tunnel separately, i.e., mortar, stone, and concrete. The tests, carried out on specimens taken from cores extracted from a 1930s tunnel, enabled to determine the mechanical properties, including direct tensile, shear strength, and mode I fracture energy, as well as the properties of the stone-mortar interface. Results show that the masonry mortar joints could reach 10 cm in width, and that blocks of stone varied in composition and porosity, thus producing a wide range of mechanical properties. The concrete was composed of large-sized aggregates and showed low stiffness and strength. Based on these experimental results, ratios between mechanical characteristics are hereby proposed. Perspectives on the use of this experimental data in a finite element model are then discussed.
In Roman times, rotary querns and different types of millstones, driven either by horse-capstan or water power, were produced in the lava quarries of the quaternary volcanic Eifel region and exported ...to many parts of the Empire. The geographic distribution of Roman lava millstones from the Eifel region provides important information about trade patterns and, in cases of well dated millstones, also allows an estimate as to when the Roman lava quarrying in the Eifel region began. Sixty-two millstones from Germany, France and Austria were sampled and analyzed for major and trace elements by X-ray fluorescence. To determine their provenance, the millstone data was evaluated by a combination of geochemical discrimination and cluster and discriminant analyses using an extensive and detailed database of all Roman lava quarries in the Eifel region. An Eifel provenance could be confirmed for forty-four artefacts and, furthermore, determined down to the exact lava flow. The affiliation of the other artefacts to other possible regions where millstones of comparable lava were extracted was carried out on the basis of geochemical data from the literature. However, because of insufficient data, only assumptions about the regional provenance can be made. The origins of the other finds are assumed to be the Vogelsberg region, the Massif Central, Orvieto, and, possibly, the Pannonian Basin. A preliminary map of the distribution of Eifel millstones in Roman times based on these data is presented; the beginning of Roman lava quarrying can be constrained to 8–7 BC.
► Data evaluated by geochemical discrimination combined with multivariate analyses. ► Exact source determination is only possible for millstones from the Eifel region. ► Without adequate raw material data from the field provenances can only be assumed. ► Few millstones from Vogelsberg, Orvieto, Massif Central, and Pannonian Basin.
This paper presents the results of a multi-disciplinary provenance study of querns and millstones during the Roman period (1st-4th century CE) in the northern part of the Roman Empire (provinces of ...Gallia Belgica and Germania Inferior). Comparative petrographical, mineralogical and geochemical analysis allowed an international team of archaeologists and geologists to identify the different raw materials used for the manufacturing of querns and millstones. As a result, (litho-) stratigraphic assignments as well as geological-geographical provenances are suggested or corroborated for the broad spectrum of these natural geo-materials. We give evidence for the exploitation of at least seven different rock types. They include sedimentary rocks (fine- to coarse-grained quartzitic and arkosic sandstones, conglomerates, limestones) and volcanic rocks (vesicular lavas) derived from different geological strata in the following geological-geographical settings: the volcanic Eifel area (Pleistocene lava), the Ardennes Massif (Palaeozoic sedimentary rocks) and the Paris and Northern Sea Basin (Cenozoic sedimentary rocks). Furthermore we show that a large diversity existed within different productions (different types of hand-mills and mechanical powered mills) and distribution patterns. This paper provides new data which will lead to new insights into the socio-economics of the local “Gallo-Roman” communities and into their networks within the northern Roman Empire.
This paper investigates how common intensive milling practices were in southern England during the Romano-British period, by analysing the distribution of millstones, based on an extensive corpus of ...almost 4,500 querns and millstones compiled by the author. In order to do this, it was necessary to establish criteria for distinguishing millstones from rotary querns, the details of which are set out in an accompanying appendix; this is something which has hitherto not been published. Using the guidelines thereby defined, the distribution of millstones is considered and described by stone type. The resulting data are then used to discuss the following key points: How frequently did mills occur? What types of mills were in use, and when? What were those mills used for?
Rice is the main diet in Central Asia. Quality of milled rice is good or bad and meets the international standard in terms of quantity of head rice as a result of appropriate rice mill. The objective ...of this study was to find out the better rice mill for better milled rice quality. In this research, two rice species (jasmine and fragrant) were milled by SATAKE and OTAKE rice mill machines at different conditions. The paddy rice specimens were dried to obtain the moisture content of 14% (recommended milling standard). Physical properties, percentage of lose, percentage of cracked rice, and capacity of peeling for millstone peel data were collected and analyzed statically using SPSS version 16.0. The results showed that milling two species of rice by SATAKE mill brand at role’s gap 0.7 mm obtained about 95% (Jasmine) and about 94% (Fragrant) on head rice, while using OTAKE brand at 3970 revolution per minute received about 84% and 78% of Jasmine rice and Fragrant rice, respectively in terms of head rice. Thus, milling rice using small-scale SATAKE rice mill is better than OTAKE machine based on more quantity of head rice of both paddy rice species.
The petrography as well as the major and trace element compositions of the Selinunte grinding stones, made of grey vesicular lava, were analysed. By comparison with geochemical data from volcanic ...rocks in the Mediterranean, we were able to determine that only a minor number of the tools were extracted from the nearest volcanics of Mount Etna and the Hyblean Mountains, while the majority of the grinding stones were most probably imported from the Aeolian Islands, although an origin from the Aegean cannot be excluded entirely. The results are important in order to scrutinize trading connections, especially for the earlier times of settlement during the sixth century bc.
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