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100-619: Rennerod lies in the Westerwald on Bundesstraße 54 between Limburg an der Lahn to the south and Siegen 30 km to the north. Bad Marienberg lies 10 km to Rennerod's northwest. Through the town flows the Holzbach. Northeast of the town is found the 613 m-high Alsberg, some 2 km north-northeast of the Breitenbach Reservoir on the Breitenbach, an eastern tributary to

200-537: A humid continental climate (Köppen climate classification: Dfb ). In the lowlands of the Unterwesterwald (Lower Westerwald), summers tend to be warm to hot. Erratic convective downpours are not uncommon, yet mostly brief. Winters are mild and see a lot of precipitation, which mostly falls as rain. Snowfall occurs multiple times a year, but usually melts within hours. Thermophilic fruits like figs and peaches are hardy in this area. The mountainous areas of

300-666: A basalt-rich region. Wäller is another vernacular name for them. One of the 12 best-rated hiking trails in Germany is the Westerwaldsteig. The Westerwaldsteig crosses the Westerwald from east ( Herborn ) to west ( Rhine ). Millstone Millstones or mill stones are stones used in gristmills , used for triturating , crushing or, more specifically, grinding wheat or other grains. They are sometimes referred to as grindstones or grinding stones . Millstones come in pairs:

400-622: A few quarries. In France, millstones from Cap d'Agde supplied Languedoc and Provence ; further north, quarries from the Massif Central ( Volvic ) supplied a vast territory stretching from Aquitaine to the Helvetic valleys ; finally, from the Saône valley to the German border, millstones came mainly from Eifel quarries ( Mayen ). In Europe as a whole, the hand mill remained the main milling method until

500-516: A given region. Some examples feature flatter wheels, with a much reduced taper, which reduces the stone mass. The speed of rotation became higher, providing a greater gyroscopic effect , but also requiring the installation of a system of claws fixed with molten lead on the upper side of the movable wheel, to hold it in place around the pivot. Romanization led to the widespread use of hand mills, which were perfected in terms of volume by increasing diameter and reducing height and weight. The profile of

600-471: A hard envelope such as a shell or bone is broken open to recover its contents, in this case, the aim is to reduce a much softer material to a powder or paste. Depending on the place and time, millstones were used for "dry" grinding: in the manufacture of flour , sugar , or spices , but also for the preparation of kaolinite , cement , phosphate , lime , enamel , fertilizer , and other minerals . The milling operation can also be carried out "wet", as in

700-478: A horizontal axis rotating around a vertical pivot (1, columella ). This pivot rests on a short stone column ( milliarium ) at the center of a large hemispherical mortar (4). The lying millstone is a stone vat (4, mortarium ) whose walls follow the external profile of the two common millstones. The orbs can move in a circular motion inside the mortarium , and are set in motion by the action of two wooden handles (2, modioli ). Wooden wedges ( orbiculi ) inserted between

800-472: A key role in Mexican cuisine . Dry grinding is possible, but very few recipes are produced in this way: roasted coffee , roasted corn or beans , salt , sugar loaves, and cocoa are ground into powder. But most preparations require grinding with water. Fruits are ground into juices, beans or boiled vegetables, ingredients are added to various spicy sauces and, above all, corn is used to make the tortillas that form

900-438: A large flat sandstone rock (for its abrasive qualities), used with a top stone, known as a "muller", "pounder", or pestle . The Aboriginal peoples of the present state of Victoria used grinding stones to crush roots, bulbs, tubers , and berries, as well as insects, small mammals, and reptiles before cooking them. Careful examination of Paleolithic grinders ( pebbles , wheels , mortar and pestle, etc.) enables us to determine

1000-508: A low mountain range a typical agreeable climate. Economically and culturally, it belongs among Germany's best known mountain ranges. The name "Westerwald" was first mentioned in 1048 in a document from the Electorate of Trier and described at that time the woodlands ( Wald is German for "forest" or "woods") around the three churches in Bad Marienberg , Rennerod and Emmerichenhain, west of

1100-517: A new gesture, that of grinding from front to back, with both hands, which implies a new posture for the body, kneeling in front of the millstone. The appearance of large, asymmetrical, shaped millstones ( Mureybet , Sheikh Hassan, circa 10,000 BP) led to the "saddle-shaped" millstones still known today as the metate . At the Tell Abu Hureyra archaeological site, as early as the 8th millennium BC, women's skeletons show traces of osteoarthritis in

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1200-472: A practice that persisted in some villages until the mid-20th century. The use of metal tools, probably inherited from building stonemasons, made it possible to use the hardest basalts, resulting in millstones with a lifespan of over thirty years. While the manufacture of apod millstones from blocks of stone naturally polished in a riverbed was once within the reach of many farmers, the production of tripode metates requires specialized craftsmanship. Grinding plays

1300-522: A range of handcrafted utility ware, with hand-painted swirling floral motifs. In the eastern Westerwald (the part lying in Hesse) are found interesting limestone deposits from the most varied of geological times. Erdbach limestone from the Lower Carboniferous gave one small time period the name "Erdbachian". Near Breitscheid are found the remnants of an atoll from the subtropical Devonian sea that

1400-460: A result of the Reformation , Rennerod was given its own parish in 1614 which also had several outlying communities under its care. The next year, the first parish house was standing. Between 1614 and 1631, the chapel was expanded into a parish church. In 1631, the parish became Catholic again. In 1777, the steeple was in an ill state of repair and had to be torn down; the next year, a smaller one

1500-436: A slight gap is maintained between the two millstones. The running wheel pivots around a wooden axle embedded in the standing wheel, and it is thanks to its suspension on this axle that the gap between the two wheels is ensured. This type of millstone could be powered either by two or four men, or by animal rides, hence its name mola asinaria , literally "donkey mill". An example of this type of millstone can be found as early as

1600-431: A stationary base with a convex rim known as the bedstone (or nether millstone ) and a concave -rimmed runner stone that rotates. The movement of the runner on top of the bedstone creates a "scissoring" action that grinds grain trapped between the stones. Millstones are constructed so that their shape and configuration help to channel ground flour to the outer edges of the mechanism for collection. The runner stone

1700-621: A strip of land on the Rhine's right bank and the so-called Rhine-Westerwald; the Westerwald itself lay outside the Roman-occupied area, for the Romans preferred to maintain a little-settled, most likely pathless wilderness as their border. The Westerwald's permanent settlement and thereby its territorial history began with the Chatti (Hessians) pushing their way into the area after the Romans were driven out in

1800-461: A three-lobed feed opening. The more sharply tapered inner surfaces of the millstones ensured that the grains flowed more quickly under the effect of gravity, but the quality of the flour obtained remained mediocre. On the other hand, the effort required to operate the current millstone is considerable. The profile of the millstones makes them more difficult to cut, imposes a standardization of the millstones, and explains their diffusion and maintenance in

1900-510: A time also held the court seat. “ Blood court ” jurisdiction, however, was only carried out in the community until 1650 or thereabouts. The last documentary proof for a tithe count in Rennerod goes back to 1731. In 1720, a new Amt was instituted, which in the years that followed took over the functions of the court region. The Amtmann sat first in Rennerod, later in Westernohe , and as of 1744,

2000-492: A town with a medieval centre. The geologically old, heavily eroded range of the Westerwald is in its northern parts overlaid by a volcanic upland made of Neogene basalt layers. It covers an area of some 50 km × 70 km (31 mi × 43 mi), and therefore roughly 3,000 km (1,200 sq mi), making the Westerwald one of Germany's biggest mountain ranges by area. In areas of subsidence , it has in its flatter western part (Lower Westerwald)

2100-439: A two-handed wheel, called a " mano ", whose size generally exceeds the width of the millstone and which is driven in an alternating rectilinear motion. On tripod wheels, one of the legs is slightly higher than the other two, giving the whole unit an inclination, with the user standing in front of the highest part. The manufacture of millstones was essentially a male occupation. In pre-Hispanic times, millers used only stone tools,

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2200-459: Is Herborn on the A ;45 ( Dortmund – Aschaffenburg ), some 20 km away, and there is also Montabaur on the A 3 ( Cologne – Frankfurt ), some 35 km away. Rennerod lay on the former Westerwaldquerbahn. The section between Steinringsberg and Rennerod was abandoned on 31 May 1959, and that between Rennerod and Montabaur on 31 May 1981. The nearest InterCityExpress stop

2300-637: Is a part of the Rhenish Massif ( Rheinisches Schiefergebirge or Rhenish Slate Mountains). Its highest elevation, at 657 m above sea level, is the Fuchskaute in the High Westerwald. Tourist attractions include the Dornburg  [ de ] (394 metres), site of some Celtic ruins from La Tène times (5th to 1st century BC), found in the community of the same name , and Limburg an der Lahn ,

2400-627: Is also the inspiration for the South Korean military song, "Our Nation Forever". In recent years it has become somewhat controversial in Germany due to its origins during the National Socialist era, with the German military ceasing performances of it in 2017. The standard German term for a Westerwald dweller is Westerwälder ( IPA: [ˈvɛstɐvɛldɐ] ; plural: same), but they are also popularly known as Basaltköpp (“Basalt Heads”), as they are said to be thickheaded, and they live in

2500-538: Is centred on Höhr-Grenzhausen . Exports, particularly to Italy, are also important (more than one million metric tons each year). In the mid 16th century, potters from Raeren in Belgium migrated into the Westerwald, bringing with them some of their moulds . This type of pottery was taken to the New World and was found in the early Chesapeake settlements. Today one finds not only highly crafted moulded vases and mugs but also

2600-671: Is first known to have existed in 1742, and last in 1811. A mill is first known to have existed in 1454. In 1969, Emmerichenhain was amalgamated as an Ortsteil . In 1971, Rennerod was granted town rights. In 1972, it became the seat of the Verbandsgemeinde of Rennerod, to which 23 formerly independent communities were joined. Several now forsaken villages are known to have lain within Rennerod's municipal area: Finkenhain, Himmenhain, Fackenhahn, Seiblingen, Seitenstein, Fuhrmannshof, Waldmühlen (occupied at least until 1811), Eichelerhof and Küchenhofen (forsaken no later than 1484) The council

2700-605: Is made up of 20 council members, as well as the honorary and presiding mayor ( Bürgermeister ), who were elected in a municipal election on 13 June 2004. The Stadtbürgermeister is Raimund Scharwat ( SPD ). The town's arms , modelled on the community seal from 1816, in Nassau times, was approved as the town's civic coat of arms on 21 May 1940. Within the town, two Bundesstraßen , B 54 linking Limburg an der Lahn with Siegen and B 255 leading from Montabaur to Marburg , cross each other. The nearest Autobahn interchange

2800-488: Is supported by a cross-shaped metal piece ( millrind or rynd) fixed to a "mace head" topping the main shaft or spindle leading to the driving mechanism of the mill ( wind , water (including tide ), or other means). Often referred to as the "oldest industry", the use of the millstone is inextricably linked to human history. Integrated into food processes since the Upper Palaeolithic , its use remained constant until

2900-462: Is the Fuchskaute in the High Westerwald, meaning "fox hollow". Many peaks and crests exceed the 600-metre level. Sorted by elevation above sea level, these are some of the Westerwald's highest elevations: The following are the Westerwald's rivers and streams: Weiher is a German word meaning "pond". Through prehistoric finds it can be determined that the Celts settled in the Westerwald and were using

3000-635: Is the railway station at Montabaur on the Cologne-Frankfurt high-speed rail line . The Lazarettregiment (“Military Hospital Regiment”) 21 of the Bundeswehr is stationed in Rennerod. Westerwald The Westerwald ( German pronunciation: [ˈvɛstɐvalt] ; literally 'Western forest') is a low mountain range on the right bank of the river Rhine in the German federal states of Rhineland-Palatinate , Hesse and North Rhine-Westphalia . It

3100-493: Is usually rectangular, sometimes oval, with a central hopper parallel to the long sides, designed to receive the grain to be ground. The mill is capped by a horizontal axle attached to a pivot (1) on one side of the table, the other end being operated by a worker who moves the lever (2) back and forth horizontally. The Olynthus mill thus shows the beginnings of mechanization, with millers now standing on their feet, making work easier. This type of mill certainly appeared as early as

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3200-597: The Aboriginal peoples across the continent and islands, and they were traded in areas where suitable sandstone was not available in abundance. Different stones were adapted for grinding different things and varied according to location. One important use was for foods, in particular to grind seeds to make bread, but stones were also adapted for grinding specific types of starchy nuts, ochres for artwork, plant fibres for string, or plants for use in bush medicine , and are still used today. The Australian grindstones usually comprise

3300-623: The Amt administration was in Hadamar . As of 1775, Rennerod was once again the seat, keeping this function on into the time when it became Duchy of Nassau domain. Ecclesiastically, Rennerod was at first under Seck ’s care. In 1344 the parish passed to the Gemünden Monastery . In 1362, the first chapel was built in Rennerod, which was consecrated to Mary and Saint Huprecht. In 1565, Rennerod became Lutheran . After various shifts in parish regions as

3400-467: The Autobahnen A ;3 ( Cologne – Frankfurt ), A 45 ( Dortmund – Aschaffenburg ) and A 48 . The most notable railway is the Cologne-Frankfurt high-speed rail line with minor stops at Montabaur and Limburg an der Lahn. The High Westerwald is served by Siegerland Airport for private use and special touristic charters, south of Burbach . Geologically , the Westerwald is part of

3500-935: The Classical era , used to grind ore in the Laurion mines , although it did not overtake the less efficient reciprocating millstone. Despite its qualities, it didn't really spread throughout the Roman world until later. They were found throughout the Mediterranean basin , but never in very large numbers, except in Italy. Their very high cost - 1,250 denarii in the Late Roman period, compared with 250 denarii for hand millstones - meant that they were only used by millers and bakers. In Gaul , millstones are known from Lyon , Saint-Raphaël , Paris , Amiens and Clermont-Ferrand , all fashioned from basalt from

3600-587: The Grand Duchy of Berg . The House of Merenberg had considerable holdings in Rennerod's municipal area. The House of Runkel owned the church patronage as well as other lordly rights. Further rights were held by the Lords of Westerburg as well as other noble houses and ecclesiastical institutions. No later than 1452, Rennerod was for the first time a tithe count's seat, and thereby also a court's. Until 1591, Rennerod asserted itself against neighbouring Emerichenhain, which for

3700-596: The Gravettian period onwards (circa 29,000 years), this equipment became more diversified, with the appearance of new types of tools such as millstones and pestle grinders. At the end of the Palaeolithic , millstones from Wadi Kubbaniya (Middle East, 19,000 B.C.) were involved in dietary processes and associated with residues of tuberous plants, which were known to require grinding before consumption, either to extract their toxins ( Cyperus rotundus , nutsedge), or to remove

3800-528: The Kebarian ( Ohalo II , 19,000 BC). As tools improved, the material was increasingly finely ground, but only when it became a real powder could we speak of grinding. Thus, the men of the European Upper Paleolithic were already dissociating grinding and milling , as attested by the appearance at this time of the first grinding slabs used with grinders or millstones. While there is no evidence of

3900-568: The Kebarian and Natufian periods. It gradually evolved into the heavy, generally wooden, thrown pestle. This type of equipment is still used today in many regions, such as in Ethiopia for milling millet. The appearance of flat, elongated millstones in the Natoufian period ( Abu Hureïra on the Euphrates ) dates back to the 9th millennium BC. They feature larger active surfaces and mark the emergence of

4000-564: The Mesolithic and Neolithic eras, with the domestication of plants, much larger, fully formed grinding, pounding, and milling equipment appeared. From the Natufian onwards, several types of millstones can be found side by side, such as the deep "trough-shaped" millstone or the flat millstone, indicating a specialization of their function. In the Near East , the pestle-grinder began to be developed in

4100-585: The Oberwesterwald (Upper Westerwald) and Hoher Westerwald (High Westerwald) feature a much colder climate and are more prone to extreme weather, such as extreme wind gusts during extratropical cyclones . Summer days are pleasantly warm and rarely become hot due to a cool breeze, while winters are cold and rich in snow. The area is home to a number of ski areas . District seats in the Westerwald are: Altenkirchen (Altenkirchen district), Montabaur (Westerwaldkreis) and Neuwied (Neuwied district). Furthermore,

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4200-401: The catillus (runner millstone), the Romans were able to overcome this constraint with the animal-drawn Pompeian mill , also known as the "blood" mill . In this mill, the nether millstone is conical at the top and the runner millstone looks like an hourglass , with its lower half covering the conical top of the nether millstone. The upper part of the runner millstone acts as a funnel , and

4300-427: The milliarium and the columella are used to adjust the height of the orbs above the bottom of the vat. In this system, the olives are not crushed under the millstone, but between the millstone and the sides of the vat. As in the previous model, a gap was maintained between the two millstones. The resistance offered by the fruit forces the stone half-spheres to turn slightly on their axis; the two movements combine and

4400-496: The "Neues Westerwaldlied" ("New Westerwald Song") by songwriter Ulrik Remy, "Ich bin aus 'm Westerwald" ("I am from the Westerwald") and "Das schönste Mädchen vom Westerwald" ("The Loveliest Girl from the Westerwald") by Karl-Eberhard Hain and Jürgen Hardeck, made well known by De Höhner , Die Schröders and other groups. The "Westerwaldlied" is also sung by the Chilean Armed Forces and is known as "Himno de la Sección". It

4500-466: The 3rd century. Placename endings such as –ar, –mar and –aha ("Haigraha" = Haiger ) stemming from the Migration Period ( "Völkerwanderung" ) can still be found now. These lie around the forest's outer edges in basins and dales whose soils and climate were favourable to early settlers, and include, for instance, Hadamar , Lahr and Wetzlar . From the 4th to the 6th century, the settlements from

4600-572: The Dill, also belong to the Westerwald, whereas the mountains reaching up to 680 m (2,230 ft) near the Haiger Saddle ( Haiger Sattel ) and east of Siegen are counted as part of the Rothaargebirge . The Westerwald is divided by elevation into these three regions: The climate of the region vastly qualifies as oceanic (Köppen climate classification: Cfb ), while higher altitudes experience

4700-555: The Eifel, Volvic or Cap d'Agde. During the Late Antiquity, the donkey mill retreated, probably disappearing after the 5th century as a result of the expansion of the watermill, then the windmill , except in Sardinia , where it remained until the 20th century. The Hellenistic period also saw the appearance of the olive crusher, which the Romans called the trapetum . Legend has it that it

4800-612: The Electorate of Trier were all prominent landlords. Political relations were simplified until the 16th century. Among the four greater powers' spheres of influence (Mainz, Cologne, Trier, Hesse), the House of Nassau managed to expand and strengthen its hold on its territory on the Dill between Siegen and Nassau . After the Napoleonic upheavals, Nassau had to share broad swathes of the Westerwald with

4900-531: The Greek Konstantinos Kourouniotis elucidated the workings of the hopper millstone, which played an important role in ancient Greece . In the Olynthus mill, the nether millstone(4) is rectangular, resting on a table (5); it measures between 0.42 m and 0.65 m in length, 0.36 m to 0.54 m in width and 0.08 to 0.25 m in thickness. The grinder, which forms the upper millstone (common millstone (3)),

5000-585: The Greek world was confirmed by the discovery, in 1967, of 22 hopper mills in the cargo of a ship wrecked off Kyrenia , dated to the end of the 4th century BC. Increasing demand undoubtedly led to standardization in manufacturing and specialization of production centers. For example, flat Argolidian millstones, made of andesite and rhyolite , were produced from local quarries ( Isthmus of Corinth , Saronic Gulf ), while grinders came from more distant quarries (islands of Nysiros , Milos ). The use of this type of mill

5100-626: The Lahn-Dill-Bergland (another low mountain range), north of the Taunus and east of the Middle Rhine and stretches more or less southwards from Siegen and Burbach , southwestwards from Haiger , northwestwards from Weilburg , northwards from Limburg an der Lahn , northeastwards from Koblenz , eastwards from Linz am Rhein , southeastwards from Wissen and southwards from Betzdorf . In its centre lie Bad Marienberg and Hachenburg . Clockwise,

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5200-864: The Lahn-Dill-Kreis, the Mayen-Koblenz district, the Rhein-Lahn-Kreis and the Limburg-Weilburg district each have shares of the Westerwald. If Sieg is taken as the Westerwald's northernmost limit, then the Rhein-Sieg district likewise belongs here, at least in parts (for example the Siebengebirge and the communities of Eitorf and Windeck ). The Westerwald and its outer edges are crossed by stretches of Bundesstraßen 8 , 42, 49 , 54 , 62 , 255, 256, 277, 413 and 414, over which there are connections to

5300-604: The Rhenish Massif, and likewise represents a heavily eroded remnant of a great Variscan mountain system which in the Mesozoic characterized a great deal of Europe. The Devonian bedrock is covered by volcanic masses from the Tertiary , particularly basalt and tuffs . Economically important, besides slate, limestone and clay quarrying , were, and still are, iron and its processing industry between Rheintal (Unkel, Linz) and

5400-407: The Roman period (1st century-2nd century). These mills consist of a truncated cone-shaped standing millstone and a convex grinding ring to which the wooden machinery is connected, apparently operated without the aid of animal power. In this arrangement, the grinding ring is fitted onto the lying millstone. The Volubilitan olive millstone differs from the grain millstone by having oblique striations on

5500-564: The Syrian-Egyptian region ", " simultaneously in Spain and England " for others, and even though it was found in China in the 1st century BC. According to L.A. Moritz, the rotating grain mill only appeared in the first century BC. He bases his demonstration on Latin texts, in particular those of Plautus and Cato , and fixes the introduction of this type between the time of Plautus' death in 184BC and

5600-579: The Trier and Cologne mission, this area underwent Christianization. Trier advanced up the Lahn, Cologne to the Rhine and Sieg. Trier-Lorrainian and Lower Rhine influences were nevertheless brought into the Westerwald. Among the witnesses to the art of building at that time is the monastery church at Limburg- Dietkirchen , in its oldest parts. After many changes in ownership between the Ottonian and Salian noble families, it

5700-627: The Upper Westerwald, bypassing the High Westerwald, seeing it as nothing more than a trackless wooded wilderness, after which they eventually came up against the Rhine in the 2nd century. Even in the time when the Celts found themselves having to avoid the Germanic invaders by moving to the west, the Romans were also pushing in from the Rhine's left bank to the southwest. However, the Romans only managed to seize

5800-426: The Westerwald is bordered by the following river valleys: the Rhine between Koblenz and Linz , the Sieg as far as Betzdorf, the Heller , the Dill and from its mouth near Wetzlar , the Lahn up to Lahnstein . Geomorphologically , the Westerwald belongs to the Rhenish Massif, which forms the greater part of that range's eastern half on the Rhine's right bank. Likewise, the Gladenbach Uplands , lying east of

5900-481: The Westerwald's north and southwest edges even gave two Lower Devonian layers, with their colourful slates, their names. The upper mountain layers are formed of volcanic strata made of basalt containing tuffs. In a few areas, slate and clay have long been quarried, the latter notably in the so-called Kannenbäckerland , but also in a few other places where the clay is worked into the salt- glazed grey Westerwald Pottery with cobalt blue decoration. The pottery industry

6000-432: The basis of every meal. The latter are made from nixtamal , i.e. dry corn kernels cooked with lime, then rinsed with water, which softens the kernels and produces a paste. Maize or nixtamal can be ground for preparations other than patties: tamales , pozole , atole , pinole , and masa , with variations in the fineness of the grind depending on the use. The metate was used exclusively by women, and in Mixtec lands ,

6100-408: The beginning of the 5th century BC. Its use was widespread throughout the Greek civilization in the 4th century B.C., from Macedonia to the Peloponnese , and was adopted as far afield as the islands of Anatolia , Egypt , and modern-day Syria . It continued into the 1st century B.C., and sometimes even later, as the excavations at the Agora in Athens suggest. The importance of this mill type for

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6200-449: The case of durum wheat semolina , nixtamal , or the grinding of mustard seeds . During preparation, some raw materials produce a naturally fluid paste, as in olive crushing or cocoa grinding. In his typology of percussion, André Leroi-Gourhan defines several families of gestures, three of which are essential for the preparation of raw materials: Until the invention of the watermill , mills operated using "strength-powered", i.e.

6300-407: The characteristics of rolling hills. Typical for the economy of the Upper Westerwald, some 40% of which is actually wooded, are traditional slate mining, clay quarrying , diabase and basalt mining, pottery and the iron ore industry, and among other things mining in the Siegerländer Erzrevier (roughly "Siegerland Ore Grounds"). Despite its relatively slight elevation, the Westerwald has for

6400-507: The composition of De agri cultura , around 160 BC. Several types of mills can be identified in Europe, depending on the morphology of the millstones used in these manually operated rotary mills. The Celtic mill is made up of massive millstones, with a conical external profile and virtually flat active stone surfaces. In Dacia , between the 1st century B.C. and the 1st century A.D., the Celtic mill evolved into an intermediate type with two millstones superimposed and integrated, featuring

6500-422: The countryside, owned by municipalities, cooperatives or private individuals. However, still in use today, nether millstones are still part of Mexico's rural heritage. The town of Olynthus was destroyed in 348 BC by Philip II of Macedonia , and the name " Olynthus millstone, Olynthus grinder, Olynthus mill " has come to be attached to this type of mill, which represents a genuine technical revolution . In 1917,

6600-419: The end of Antiquity, and then throughout the Middle Ages ; it only began to give way to the advances of water and then wind mills. With a diameter limited to the reach of an arm's movement, i.e. 40 to 70 cm, the hand mill could only produce a limited quantity of flour and was therefore essentially reserved for domestic use. By increasing the diameter and, above all, the height of the meta (nether millstone) and

6700-481: The end of the 19th century, when it was gradually replaced by a new type of metal tool . However, it can still be seen in rural domestic installations, such as in India , where 300 million women used hand mills daily to produce flour in 2002. The earliest evidence for stones used to grind food is found in northern Australia, at the Madjedbebe rock shelter in Arnhem Land , dating back around 60,000 years. Grinding stones or grindstones, as they were called, were used by

6800-403: The fibrous texture that would make them indigestible ( Scirpus maritimus ). The rhizomes of ferns and the peel of the fruit of the doum palm , also found on this site, benefit from being ground to improve their nutritional qualities; they thus complemented the meat diet of hunter-gatherers . Grinding barley or oat seeds was practiced at the end of the Upper Palaeolithic ( Franchthi ) or

6900-437: The force of animals or people. The metate is a nether millstone for domestic use, for grinding corn . It has been used for several thousand years (around 3000 BC) in the cultural area of Mesoamerica , and its name comes from the Nahuatl " metatl ". Today's millstones are monolithic, usually made of basalt , apodous, or tripod, rectangular, and slightly concave on the grinding surface. These millstones are associated with

7000-409: The governance of the Lordship or County of Beilstein. The Westerwald lies mostly southwest of the three-state common point shared by Rhineland-Palatinate, Hesse and North Rhine-Westphalia in the districts of Altenkirchen , Lahn-Dill , Limburg-Weilburg , Neuwied , Rhein-Lahn , Rhein-Sieg , Westerwaldkreis and partly in Siegen-Wittgenstein . It is found south of the Rothaargebirge , southwest of

7100-458: The handle of a millstone in Korea was made from an ash tree, the process for making a handle from the ash tree was known as "Mulpure-namu". To ensure that everything is "all right" with the creation of a millstone, a mason within ancient Kora offered food and alcohol in a ritual. Millstones were introduced to Britain by the Romans during the 1st century AD and were widely used there from the 3rd century AD onwards. In 1932-1933 in Ukraine, during

7200-419: The installation of the double lever or the use of a crank fixed to the center of the millstone (14th - 15th centuries), meant that this type of hand mill was used in the countryside until the 20th century. Because they wear more quickly, this type of millstone requires a stricter selection of stones, among which basalt has a privileged place. Most of the stone used in Roman times seems to have come from just

7300-624: The iron ore deposits in the so-called Hallstatt times ( Iron Age , roughly 750 to 500 BC). In all likelihood they came into the area from the Hunsrück . From La Tène times come the Celtic ringwall-girded defensive and sheltering castles which may be found on, among other peaks, the Malberg. Already by La Tène times, Germanic peoples were thrusting in from the east and from the Sieg valley. They came about 380 BC into

7400-511: The knees, spinal deformity and deformation of the first metatarsal , pathologies associated with long periods of bending while grinding, supporting the theory that early humans practiced a sexual division of labor . In India, millstone ( Chakki ) were used to grind grains and spices. These consist of a stationary stone cylinder upon which a smaller stone cylinder rotates. Smaller ones, for household use, were operated by two people. Larger ones, for community or commercial use, used livestock to rotate

7500-585: The lower Wied, pumice gravel in the Neuwied Basin, various mineral springs and, once, brown coal mining. The whole Westerwald region lay under a tropically warm arm of the sea in the Palaeozoic (600 to 270 million years ago). This sea deposited layers of sediments many kilometres thick into the Variscan geosyncline , which were heavily folded in the orogeny that followed. The towns of Siegen and Koblenz on

7600-495: The man-made famine known as Holodomor , the Soviet authorities prohibited the use of millstones, claiming that a millstone is a "mechanism for enrichment" (which was a negative term in Soviet communist ideology). This forced Ukrainian villagers to hide their manually-operated millstones and use them secretly during the famine. In response, Soviet authorities regularly searched villages for "illegal" millstones and destroyed them. In 2007,

7700-722: The mid-11th century by the Counts of Diez, likely also to defend the Niederlahngau's northern border. After the Counts of Diez, the Nassau lines of Nassau-Diez became the landlords, as of 1420 to half of Nassau-Dillenburg, and as of 1557 to three fourths, and as well to Eppstein-Königstein, the Electorate of Trier , Katzenelnbogen and the Landgraviate of Hesse . As of 1564, Rennerod was wholly part of Nassau-Dillenburg, as of 1606 of Nassau-Beilstein, as of 1620 of Nassau-Hadamar, as of 1717 of Nassau-Diez, as of 1743 of Nassau-Orange and as of 1806 of

7800-491: The milling of wild cereals in the early Upper Paleolithic, at least in Europe, there is no reason not to believe that other plant matter ( acorns , nuts , hazelnuts , etc.) and animal matter ( fat ) were already being ground into paste before cooking. Similarly, it's likely that millstones were being used at this time for technical purposes, to crush mineral substances ( dyes ) and certain plant or animal fibers for technical use. In

7900-412: The millstones became flatter, and a number of improvements were introduced, such as an upper wedge to center the movable wheel on the pivot. A device for adjusting the distance between the millstones (the anille ) also appeared, enabling grinding quality to be controlled (1st century B.C.), and radii cut into the millstone could accentuate the natural abrasiveness of the stone. Later developments, such as

8000-703: The nature of the action exerted on the material and the gesture performed; the function of the tool can then be specified, as well as the activity in which it participated. Neanderthal people were already using rudimentary tools to crush various substances, as attested by the presence of rudimentary grinders at the end of the Mousterian and millstones in the Châtelperronian . From the Aurignacian period onwards (around 38,000 years ago), Cro-Magnon man regularly used millstones, elongated grinders, and circular wheels. From

8100-501: The newly minted power Prussia . A sovereign Duchy of Nassau existed until it was annexed by Prussia in 1866. Nowadays, the Westerwald is shared among three German federal states: Hesse, North Rhine-Westphalia and Rhineland-Palatinate. The Westerwald is also internationally known in songs, above all in folksongs , and particularly the "Westerwaldlied" ("Westerwald Song"), as well as "Westerwald-Marsch" ("Westerwald March"), "Westerwald, du bist so schön" ("Westerwald, you are so lovely"),

8200-569: The people of Victorivka village in Cherkasy Oblast built a monument using the millstones they had managed to hide and save from the Soviet plunder during the Holodomor . The preparation of vegetable products ( roots , tubers , almonds , leaves , etc.), animal products ( marrow , tendons , etc.), or mineral products ( ochre ) by grinding or milling, for consumption or technical use, has existed for several dozen millennia. Unlike crushing, in which

8300-591: The place where the millstone is located was a space reserved for women. A couple often acquires, or is given, a millstone when they set up home. This acquisition represents a major expense in the life of a Mixtec peasant, as evidenced by the wills of nobles and wealthy peasants from the 16th to 18th centuries, which included metates. Daily tortillas are made from sufficiently moistened corn dough , which, unlike flour, cannot be preserved. This technical characteristic no doubt explains why domestic metates were not replaced centuries ago by mills, as they were in Europe. During

8400-499: The pressure is exerted only moderately, without breaking the stones, which would give bad taste. The resultant pulp could then be subjected to the action of a press to collect the oil. A melting pot of African, Eastern and Mediterranean civilizations, Morocco has preserved tools and techniques from different eras. The Volubilis site, located in Mauritania Tingitana (northeastern Morocco), features grain and olive mills from

8500-465: The reformed parish's abolition, the Catholic parish bought it as a parish house in 1817. Rennerod's main livelihood over the centuries was agriculture. Because it lay on the long-distance road, there were many inns. In the 18th century, brown coal was still being mined, although yields were quite small. It is known that in the 16th and 18th centuries, there were millstone quarries . A livestock market

8600-538: The river Nister. In 1217, Reynderode had its first documentary mention. Its founding, however, might go back to Carolingian times. The settlement's importance stemmed from its location on several trading roads that linked the Siegerland , Koblenz , Frankfurt , the Lahn area and Mainz . Referring to the salt trade are field names such as Seltzerweg and Selßer Heck . Supposedly, the settlement would have been enclosed in

8700-408: The rotating millstone spread at the end of the 5th century BC from Spain, and that it was directly derived from attempts to perfect the Olynthus mill. André Leroi-Gourhan states that " the transformation of rectilinear reciprocating motion into circular-continuous motion leads to another form of milling ". Some authors do not agree on its geographical origin, located for some " towards Carthage and

8800-516: The royal court at Herborn . Only since the mid 19th century has the name come into common usage for the whole range. The High Westerwald has since the Middle Ages formed the heart of the Herrschaft zum (also vom or auf dem ) Westerwald ("Lordship over the Westerwald"). This comprised the three court districts of Marienberg , Emmerichenhain and Neukirch . The Lordship later fell under

8900-559: The ruins of the town of Olynthus : it was the millstone of an oil mill , not a flour mill. Historians Marie-Claire Amouretti and Georges Comet point out that these millstones pre-date the earliest known examples of circular grain mills. So it was probably through oil production that the first rotary crushing machine was introduced. Cereals and other fruits and seeds followed. The oldest rotating millstone are thought to have originated in Spain 2,500 years ago(600 BC - 400 BC). It seems that

9000-452: The size of peas, throw it into the millstones, in numerous lines, two or three people standing at each lever and grind it." Photius' version specifies " on either side " of the lever. It's also known as a "hand millstone", "arm millstone" or "moulinet", and in Latin as a " molendinum bracchis " or " molendinum manuale ". According to de Barry, the oldest circular stone millstone was unearthed in

9100-564: The time of the taking of the land arose in formerly pathless areas, taking endings such as –ingen and –heim , like Bellingen and Bladernheim ; these lie on the broad, raised plains in the Upper Westerwald. The Franks built their old settlements on the edge of the Westerwald in the central areas of their districts, to build up slowly and permanently strongholds in the interior. There arose places with names ending in –rode, –scheid, –hahn, –berg, –tal and –seifen . Once clearing settlements had been established and logging for iron ore smelting

9200-412: The truncated surface of the lying millstone and on the inside of the grinding ring. Columella asserts that, to extract the oil, the millstones ( molae ) are more useful than the crusher ( trapetum ), as they can be lowered or raised according to the size of the fruit, so as to avoid crushing the stone. A second type of olive mill can be found on the same site, and consists of a monolithic vat on which

9300-583: The upper cylinder. Today a majority of the stone flour mills (Atta Chakki) are equipped with lower stone rotating and upper stone stationary millstones also called Shikhar Emery Stones which are made from abrasive emery grains and grits, with a binding agent similar to Sorel Cement. These stones are made from two types of emery abrasives - Natural Jaspar Red Emery or Synthetic Calcined Bauxite Black Emery. In Korea, there were three different millstones, each made from different materials, serving other purposes, such as threshing, grinding, and producing starch. Generally,

9400-544: The wars of the 19th century and the Mexican Revolution of 1910 , Mexican armies were accompanied by women and metates to ensure the stewardship of the country; the Spanish conquest did not replace tortillas with bread - quite the contrary. At the end of the 19th century, the owners of the large plantations introduced motorized corn mills, which freed up female labor for the fields. From 1920 onwards, electric mills appeared in

9500-534: Was built. In 1876 a completely new building was put up for the church. In 1665, the Antonskapelle came into being. A schoolmaster is known to have been in Rennerod as of 1609, and in 1738, a schoolhouse. In 1750, the (reformed) parish house and schoolhouse came into being from the renovated house formerly occupied by the Flick family of tithe counts. As of 1812 it served as a gendarmerie barracks and as food storage. After

9600-458: Was here 380,000,000 years ago. Parts of this limestone formation are worked in open-pit mining ; near Enspel , a " fossil conservation area" has been instituted, in which institutes from several colleges conduct research and excursions. A few karst caves are of interest to spelaeology and bring about the temporary disappearance and reappearance of the Erdbach. The Westerwald's highest mountain

9700-509: Was in the end the Counts of Sayn, Diez and Wied who managed to take hold of extensive landholdings. Particular importance was achieved by the Counts of Laurenburg, who later called themselves the Counts of Nassau . In the east, the Landgraves of Hesse put it about that they could beat the Archbishopric of Mainz on the battlefield. Moreover, the Counts of Wied, the Counts of Sayn-Wittgenstein and

9800-593: Was invented by Aristaeus , and excavations at Olynthus have revealed examples dating back to the 5th century BC. The trapetum was precisely described by Cato the Elder, who gave us the technical names of all its parts. Excavations at Stabies, Pompeii , the villa at Boscoreale and in Roman Africa show that the system was widely used in ancient Rome and disappeared with it. The trapetum consists of two plano-convex millstones (3, orbes ), standing vertically, supported by

9900-441: Was not limited to grinding cereals, as the finds from Thasos or Lavrio suggest: it was also used to grind ore, so as to calibrate it for subsequent selection by washing. It may even have appeared in the mines of Pangaion Hills . The text by Agatharchides on the gold mines of Egypt in the 1st century B.C., transmitted by Photios and Diodorus , mentions a mill with a lever: "Women and older men then receive this ore crushed to

10000-403: Was under way, the widespread destruction of the forest began. Between the 6th and 9th centuries came settlement expansion from the old settlements towards the edges, a process still witnessed in placename endings such as –hausen, –hofen, –kirch, –burg or –tal . The last settlement period in the Westerwald began in the 10th century and ended about 1300. Through Carolingian policy and therefore

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