Making the Mortar and Pestle
For thousands of years, humans have been creating, designing, and using tools. In the beginning, these tools were simplistic but effective, and made with natural materials such as wood, bone, and stone. From these materials, many different tools, such as hammers, axes, cooking utensils, and many more. For my tool assignment, I decided to make a simple mortar and pestle out of stone. The reason for picking a mortar and pestle is because it is a kitchen apparatus that I have always admired, using my mother's whenever given the chance throughout my childhood.
To begin the tool, I knew I needed to find suitable rocks for both the bowl and pestle. Finding the perfect rock for the bowl proved harder than expected. Searching the Koksilah River, and along the sides of logging roads in the Shawnigan area, I found many naturally smooth river rocks over the course of several weeks. However, many of these rocks were extremely hard and would not chip or even break when thrown at the ground. I decided that some of these rocks would be better suited as hammer or chopper stones, rather than the bowl itself. I needed to find a softer rock, but not too soft that while grinding it would just chip and defeat the purpose.
Now that I had a large collection of very solid rocks and possible hammer stones, I continued to hunt for and test different rocks for the bowl. After explaining these troubles of finding a soft enough rock to a friend, he offered to let me look through a pile of sandstone on his property. Since sandstone is a softer rock, I would be able to chip it into a functional, but still sturdy, bowl. I found a large but suitable in width slab, and threw one of the hard river rocks at it until I broke off a rea...
... middle of paper ...
...s from all the shock absorption. In addition, all the flakes that came off during the process were surprisingly sharp, and left small scratches and cuts all over my arms. There were also multiple squished fingers from not paying attention or having the hammer stone slip.
However, and despite all the troubles of making my mortar and pestle, the end result was worth it. When I first started making the bowl, I figured I would never have the patience to finish it, but it is amazing what you can create if you just put in some muscle and time. Through the process of creating my tool, I have firsthand knowledge of how difficult, demanding, and time consuming tool-making can be, and my tool was not even complex. Thus, I have gained even more respect and admiration for our ancestors who created all sorts of simple and intricate stone, bone, and other natural material tools.
“Come down and play with us!” the two little pigs yelled, but the busy little pig kept on working even harder than he was before they came. Then he yelled down to them: “I built my house of stones.
Humans are not the only species with the ability of making tools. Early on in her research, Jane Goodall observed an older male chimp, she called him David Greybeard. Through her observation of David, she witnessed two forms of the use of tools. The first was the use of grass as a tool to extract termites from their mounds. The second was the making of a tool by stripping the leaves off a twig, modifying it for the same purpose. When Louis Leakey heard this, he wrote her “Now we must redefine tool, redefine man, or except chimpanzees as humans” (Goodall, 2002). There is a definite correlation between man and chimps in this respect. Human culture involves learned behaviors through observation, imitation and practice, the use of tools with chimpanzees show the same ability for learned beh...
"Sedimentary Rocks." Backyard Nature with Jim Conrad. N.p., 18 May 2015. Web. 25 Oct. 2015.
Watching a skilled ceramics artist shape a creation on the wheel is a thrilling experience. Under her or his hands, a spinning blob of mud grows into a work of art. It's not unusual, after witnessing such a display of virtuosity, for the audience to realize that the ware on their own kitchen shelves pales by comparison. So it's logical to ask: Is every thrown piece made the same way? By hand? Even the cheap stuff at home? Of course the answer is: No. Production ceramic ware comes from highly automated assembly lines.
Several dozen European-style stone tools, dating back between 19,000 and 26,000 years, have been discovered at six locations along the U. S. East Coast. What’s more, chemical analysis carried out on a 19,000 year old stone knife found in Virginia, USA revealed that it ...
All naturally occurring stone arches are formed by the selective erosion of rock, but the terms by which this can occur are massive. Among the most frequent types of formation are wave action and lava flow. During wave action, water crashes constantly upon the rock, effectively accelerating erosion while sediment carried by the water is extremely abrasive, removing bits of rock. When lava flow occurs, the outermost la...
At the time when humans were learning to use spears constructed out of sticks and stones and the
The Upper Paleolithic Era occurred about 50,000 years ago and lasted nearly one-tenth of the more widely known Stone Age Era(Guisepi). During this time, Homo Sapiens were leaving the Middle Paleolithic Era, where advancements such as; points, arrows, darts, as well as other projectile tools originated, for the Upper Paleolithic Era. It is important to point out that during the Middle Paleolithic Era, the Homo Sapiens made large advancements in, “ the application of ‘prepared core technique.’” In this process, “a core was carefully flaked on one side so that for a flake of predetermined size and shape could be produced in a single blow(Middle)” By using this technique they gained knowledge of how to cre...
The need to store things led to the development of containers, first among them bags of fiber or leather, woven baskets and pottery. But clay lends itself to many other purposes: bricks, statuettes, funerary offerings, toys and games etc. Pottery, the molding of form out of a formless mass and its becoming imperishable through firing, is the most miraculous kind of creation.
Dragging the limestone up the quarry was a lot of work and was very time
Lucas, Chris, and Kate Seigfried. "The Rock Cycle Web Site - Cementation and Compaction." The Rock Cycle. N.p., 4 Dec. 2000. Web. 02 Dec. 2013. .
17 Williams, Trevor I. A History of Invention: From Stone Axes to Silicon Chips. pg
Leakey at Olduvai Gorge dating back to about two million years ago. They originally thought that these tools were made by the Australopithecus, but later determined that they were made by the Homo Habilis . The first tools found were classified as lower paleolithic tools. These tools belong to the Oldowan tool tradition. These tools which were opportunist in nature were characterized by an all-purpose generalized chopping tool. These were produced by removing a few flakes from a stone either by using another stone as a hammer or by striking a pebble against a large rock. Manufacturing tools this way is called the percussion method. Many of these tools were made out of quartz or lava; which were not the most common st...
to buy online or from a catalog. Examples of the equipment include mortar and pestle,
Through the years, the process of turning raw materials into useful materials is a tradition that hasn’t changed over hundreds of years. The general process of turning metal to blades, silicon to magic mirrors or computers and ceramics to pottery or circuits. If we examine the past we can learn much about our future because all technological advancements need is to look to our ancient ancestors and examine how they dealt with the problems of their time.