Pestle and Mortar

Another attempt at a still life.

A few months ago a Pestle and Mortar or something similar featured in the Radio Series A HIstory of the World in 100 Objects.

They are used throughout the world and are basically unchanged since the stone age, giving us a direct link back to the end of the ice age some 10,000 years ago.

The radio series was making the point that as a tool they enabled us to grind, pound and prepare grains and pulses we would not properly ingest otherwise. More importantly it opened up a source of food that wasn't available to our competitors / predators. Possibly making it as important as fire, or the invention of the wheel.

For this shot the light was a desk lamp shone through baking paper, background is a dust sheet from the garage, crumpled over a pile of books.

I made a reflector with some crumpled silver paper stuck to a scrap piece of plywood. (Good old garage - full of stuff that might be handy one day).