A ground-stone slab with a concave upper surface used as a lower millstone against which another stone is rubbed to grind vegetable material such as cereal grains, seeds, nuts, etc. A metate is one of a two-part milling apparatus – the other part being a mano (handheld upper grindstone). Metates are found in agricultural and pre-agricultural contexts over much of the world and are often made of volcanic rock in Mesoamerica. It is a Spanish term for a smoothed, usually immobile, stone with a concave upper surface and is mostly associated with the grinding of maize. It is a hallmark artifact in the definition of prehistoric subsistence patterns. [concave quern, grinding platform, lower grindstone, stone saddle quern]
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