How did Neolithic people use querns to process grain?

During the Neolithic period, people used querns to process grain by utilizing friction between two stones to crush the material. This process was essential for incorporating more grains and cereals into the human diet as societies adopted an agrarian lifestyle.12

The primary method employed during this time was the use of the saddle quern. This device consisted of a stationary, often concave, elongated stone bed and a smaller, rounded stone known as a muller. Neolithic people processed grain by applying a non-rotatory, to-and-fro motion with the muller against the stone bed, effectively grinding the grain placed between them.1

To ensure efficiency, the grinding surfaces of these stones were often pecked or chipped to maintain the necessary abrasiveness. This pecking technique, which involved bruising the rock with a hard hammerstone until it crumbled into powder, also allowed Neolithic people to manufacture these hollowed-out grinding tools from various types of rock, such as sandstone, basalt, or granite.13