Quern-stones

About the sound

The sound of grinding grains in quern-stones. The recording was realized in the National Museum of Agriculture and Agricultural-Food Industry in Szreniawa (Poland).
Quern-stones were used to grind grains in order to obtain flour. Quern-stone mechanism consists of two stones: upper rotary stone and lower stone immobilized with clay. The grain is poured through a hole in the upper stone and the lower stone is pressed by means of a lever. During the rotation of the upper stone the grain is crushed. It is possible to adjust the pressure of the lower stone to obtain coarse or fine grinding. The material which falls from the quern-stones needs to be sieved in order to separate bran from flour.

Sound recordist: Monika Widzicka
Photographer: Piotr Leszczyński
Video recordist: Piotr Leszczyński