TCM Unearthed: Ceramic Medicine Grinder

This gray pottery tool from the Shang Dynasty is one of the earliest pharmaceutical instruments ever discovered in China. Shaped like a crescent boat with a groove in the middle, it was used with a stone wheel. Over 3,000 years ago, during the same era as Oracle Bone Script, Chinese people used such tools to grind medicinal ingredients for decoctions or external application. Imagine a Shang Dynasty physician placing fragrant herbs into the groove and pushing the stone wheel, releasing the essence of the plants to be transformed into healing remedies. It is now housed in the Beijing Yushengtang Museum of TCM.

Portions of this article were adapted from research materials originally published on National Museum of Traditional Chinese Medicine.