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REVIEW BY ROB IXER
Broken fragmentary Niedermendig (Banfield convincingly suggests that Mayen is the better term) lava is commonly recorded, but seemingly in passing, from Roman (and later) sites. This 190-page, very well-figured text corrects this slight, and must now be the starting point for all serious future studies of British Roman lava quernstones and their larger, but rarer, millstone cousins.
The first four chapters are a thorough primer in quern studies and their mainly Eifelian sources, followed by a national review of the stones based on data collected (much by the author) from nearly 3,000 stones from 550 sites. Using these collected data the dimensions (especially thickness), shape, and resting places of querns from Verulamium and Silchester and the northern military sites of Corbridge, Chesters, Housesteads, and Vindolanda are compared and contrasted, showing clear north/south and civil/military differences.
Although many results confirm what has been generally believed, Banfield metrically grounds those views.
Making Flour the German Way in Roman Britain: Distribution, use, and deposition of imported lava quernstones and millstones
Lindsay Banfield
BAR, £60
ISBN 978-1407360812
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