Abstract
[Summary]Grinding (or milling) grain was an important activity that took place in nearly every ancient Egyptian home. Grinding was necessary to process emmer or barley grain into flour, and thus was a key step in manufacturing bread, the most important food in ancient Egypt. Grinding in ancient Egypt is well-attested archaeologically, and is the most commonly depicted activity of the grain processing sequence in Egyptian art and texts. Indeed, it was the step that likely took the most time and labour. Despite their significance to daily life in ancient Egypt, grinding implements and activities have often been ignored in archaeological reports and historical studies. However, recent investigations of contemporary ancient cultures as well as modern ethnographic work has brought grind stones and grinding to the fore. This has resulted in new archaeological and ethnographic information, and has refined theories regarding grain grinding and those who performed it. Using this cross-cultural body of evidence and theoretical discussion as a starting point, this presentation will investigate grinding in the domestic, non-elite sphere of New Kingdom Egypt. Using the grinding quern as a focus, this study will explore how association with a grind stone, as well as the act of grinding, created or impacted the miller’s identity and contributed to their role in the household. Archaeological data, 2D and 3D artistic representations of grinding, and literary and non-literary texts discussing grinding will be examined in conversation with evidence from other cultures. This paper will argue that grinding grain was particularly associated with females, and was a low-prestige activity. However, it was an important maintenance activity in the household, and contributed significantly to the labour force and economy of New Kingdom Egypt.
Highlights
Bread in ancient Egypt was the primary food eaten every day, and the main source of calories
In New Kingdom Egypt, emmer was stored in granaries while still in the spikelet
Daily basis in the household, the glume and chaff had to be removed before the clean seed could be ground into flour
Summary
Bread in ancient Egypt was the primary food eaten every day, and the main source of calories. Despite bread’s significance to ancient Egyptian life, being crucial to cuisine, economy, and religion, it has often been ignored in modern scholarship Those who made the bread, especially at the non-elite level, have been neglected, with the few studies which investigate bread-baking focusing on the physical processes the grains undergo, rather than the individuals who performed these processes. Textual, and artistic sources, as well as a wide variety of comparative information, this paper will argue that grinding grain was associated with females, and was a low-prestige activity It was an important maintenance activity in the household, and contributed significantly to the labour force and economy of New Kingdom Egypt
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