2017.09

Two small pounders

A pounder in this context is simply defined as anything that can be used for grinding or polishing. Its use-worn surface is equal to or less than its height. These particular pounders show wear, and it is highly likely from their find location, Area 44 of the South-West House in the upper fill on Floor 1, that they were used to grind and pound grain to make flour for bread. One must not assume, however, that these two pounders were used exclusively for processing grain. Ethnographic research indicates that pounders could also process other foodstuffs, grind pigments and sharpen or smooth tools. The pounders were found alongside loom weights, stone querns and a basalt grinder. These finds suggest that this was an area of working activities and food preparation.

The crops that would have been grown around Jebel Khalid in the past would have been similar to those grown today (i.e. wheat, barley, grapes, olives and other fruits, such as pomegranates and figs). Wheat, then as it is now, would have been one of the most vital crops. Households throughout Jebel Khalid would have needed to process enough grain for their daily use and perhaps to prepare ahead for winter shortages, droughts or a bad crop.

Fragments of basalt stone tools were found both inside the houses and outside in the courtyards, although post-depositional processes may have moved some of the pounders. There is an abundance of evidence to indicate that there was grain processing within the houses instead of industrial-scale grain processing. Basalt implements, grinders, pounders, and querns were found in almost all of the insula. This evidence indicates a small-scale process, with the amount processed sufficient for each household.

According to Cahill (2002), grinders of basalt were relatively expensive. Yet, basalt stone tools were common at Jebel Khalid. The source of basalt remains unclear. The city of Corsote, on the east bank of the Euphrates, is mentioned by Xenophon as a place where basalt was quarried and traded (Xenophon, Anabasis, 1.5). This city's exact location is unknown, but it appears on some maps as just south of Dura Europus, a fair distance from Jebel Khalid. Some basalt outcrops existed to the north of Jebel Khalid, but no signs of quarrying has been found. Further north, there is a small outcrop near Zeugma, a more likely source. Another likely source for the basalt was the Bronze Age site of el-Qitar. The frequency of basalt found at Jebel Khalid indicates a close source, but the exact location cannot be pinpointed.

Women traditionally would have been the ones who used these tools to prepare the grain. This has been concluded from paintings and terracottas, which have been uncovered during excavations. These stone tools, along with the many loom weights and spindle whorls found at Jebel Khalid, show the history of women’s labour.

N. Cahill, Households and City Organization at Olynthus (New Haven, 2002)

J. Ebeling and Y. M. Rowan, ‘The Archaeology of the Daily Grind: Ground Stone Tools and Food Production in the Southern Levant’, Near Eastern Archaeology 67. 2, 2004, 108- 117

H. Jackson, Jebel Khalid on the Euphrates, vol. 4: The Housing Insula, Mediterranean Archaeology Supplement 9 (Sydney, 2014), 573-576

M. O’Hea, ‘A lion bowl and other worked stone objects from Jebel Khalid’, Mediterranean Archaeology 26, 2013, 67-80

C. Sagona, ' Ground-stone tools'. in El Qitar: A Bronze Age Fortress on the Euphrates ( Turnhout, 2019),  327- 360