, 22000–18000 BC , Israel, used for making beer during the
Stone Age Mortars and pestles were invented in the Stone Age when humans found that processing food and various other materials by grinding and crushing into smaller particles allowed for improved use and various advantages. Hard grains could be cooked and digested more easily if ground first, grinding potsherds into grog would vastly improve fired clay, and larger objects such as blocks of salt would be much easier to handle and use. Various stone mortars and pestles have been found, while wooden or clay ones would perish much more easily over time. Scientists have found ancient mortars and pestles in Southwest Asia that date back to approximately 35000 BC. Stone mortars and pestles have also been used by the
Kebaran culture (
the Levant with
Sinai) from 22000 to 18000 BC to crush grains and other plant material. The Kebaran mortars that have been found are sculpted, slightly conical bowls of porous stone, and the pestles are made of a smoother type of stone. Another Stone Age example is the rock mortars in the
Raqefet Cave in
Israel, which are natural cavities in the cave floors, used by Late
Natufians around 10000 BC to grind cereals for brewing beer in the cavities. These rock mortars are large enough for a person to stand upright by them and crush the cereals inside the cavity with a long wooden pestle. Ancient Africans, Sumerians, Egyptians, Thai, Laos People, Polynesians, Native Americans, Chinese, Indians, Greeks, Celts, and countless other people used mortars and pestles for processing materials and substances for cooking, arts, cosmetics, simple chemicals, ceramics and medicine. Since the 14th century, bronze mortars became more popular than stone ones, especially for use in alchemy and early chemistry. Bronze mortars would become more elaborate than stone ones, had the advantage to be harder, and were easily cast with handles, knobs for handling, and spouts for easier pouring. However, the big disadvantage was that bronze would react with acids and other chemicals and corrode easily. Since the late 17th century, glazed porcelain mortars became very useful, since they would not be damaged by chemicals and would be easy to clean.
Etymology The English word
mortar derives from Middle English '
, from old French ', from classical
Latin '''', meaning, among several other usages, "receptacle for pounding" and "product of grinding or pounding"; perhaps related to Sanskrit "mrnati" - to crush, to bruise. The classical Latin , meaning "pounder", led to the English
pestle. Stemming from the pistillum, the word
pesto in Italian cuisine means created with the pestle. The Roman poet
Juvenal applied both
mortarium and
pistillum to articles used in the preparation of drugs, reflecting the early use of the mortar and pestle as a symbol of a pharmacist or apothecary. Mortar as a synonym for cement in masonry came from the use of mortars and pestles to grind the materials for creating cement. The short
bombard cannon was called "mortar" in French because the first versions of these cannons looked like big metal mortars of the Medieval Ages and they required to be filled with gunpowder, like a mortar would be full of powdered material.
The mortar and pestle in culture and symbols . The antiquity of the mortar and pestle is well documented in early writing, such as the Egyptian
Ebers Papyrus of around 1550 BC (the oldest preserved piece of medical literature) and the
Old Testament (Numbers 11:8 and Proverbs 27:22). In Indian mythology, Samudra Manthan from Bhagavata Purana creates amrita, the nectar of immortality, by churning the ocean with a pestle. Since medieval times, mortars would be placed or carved on the gravestones of pharmacists and doctors. In Russian and Eastern European folklore,
Baba Yaga is described and pictured as flying through the forest standing inside a large wooden mortar (stupa), holding the long wooden pestle in one hand to remove obstacles in front of her, and using the broom in her other hand to sweep and remove her traces behind her. This seems as a trace of some ancient rituals connecting the witch symbols of Baba Yaga with the use of mortars in alchemy, pharmacy, and early chemistry, which were all seen as magic by uneducated people in the Medieval Ages. In various Asian mythologies and folklores, there is a common theme of a
Moon rabbit, making use of a mortar and pestle to process the ingredients for the
Elixir of life (or
rice for making
mochi). Modern pharmacies, especially in Germany, still use mortars and pestles as logos. == Uses ==