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PHOTO BY KACEY GARCIA FROM THE CENTER FOR NEAR EASTERN ARCHAEOLOGY AT LA SIERRA UNIVERSITY

BREAD IS LIFE. Grinding stones—an upper handstone and a lower quern or basin—were used to crush grains (wheat, barley, spelt, and millet) into flour for making bread. Found at Tall al-Umayri in Jordan, these basalt stone tools date to the early Iron Age (c. 1200–1000 B.C.E.). These grinding tools were used for millennia until they were largely replaced by millstones, although many indigenous cultures still use similar grinding stones.