mortar and pestle, ancient device for milling by pounding. The mortar is a durable bowl commonly made of stone, ceramic, or wood. The pestle is a rounded grinding club often made of the same material as the mortar. Together with the saddle quern (a round stone rolled or rubbed on a flat stone bed), the mortar and pestle was the first means known for grinding grain; the grain was placed in a shallow depression in a stone, the mortar, and pounded with a rodlike stone, the pestle. Smaller refined versions of the mortar and pestle have continued to find use in kitchens for preparing pastes and other finely ground elements of cuisine, in pharmacy for preparing medicines, and in chemical laboratories.