In archaeology, a
grinding slab is a
ground stone artifact generally used to grind plant materials into usable size, though some were used to shape other ground stone artifacts. 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, or
mano[?]. Portable grinding slabs are referred to as
metates[?]. Like all ground stone artifacts, grinding slabs are made of large-grained materials such as granite, basalt, or similar
tool stones.