Inarchaeology, agrinding slab is aground stoneartifact generally used to grind plant materials into usable size, though some slabs were used to shape other ground stone artifacts.[1] Some grinding stones are portable; others are not and, in fact, may be part of a stone outcropping.
Grinding slabs used for plant processing typically acted as a coarse surface against which plant materials were ground using a portable hand stone, ormano ("hand" inSpanish). Variant grinding slabs are referred to asmetates orquerns, and have a ground-out bowl. Like all ground stone artifacts, grinding slabs are made of large-grained materials such as granite, basalt, or similartool stones.