The mortar is one of the most widespread grinding technologies in Mesoamerica and has been fundamental to the processing of grains, plants, pigments, and minerals. Together with metates, mortars have an archaeological presence dating back to very ancient times (the Formative period) and display continuity both in the materials used (ceramic, wood, and stone) and in their function, which extends through the Postclassic period and even into the present day. At sites such as El Manatí, Veracruz, ceramic mortars decorated with notches on their exterior surfaces have been found, perhaps intended for the preparation of ritual foods. After use, these mortars may have been deliberately broken and deposited as ceremonial offerings. Other mortars used in ritual contexts, discovered in the Basin of Mexico, are distinguished by their zoomorphic forms; from these, scholars infer the ceremonial grinding of medicinal plants. Within the historical development of grinding technologies, it is known that during the Protoneolithic period (7000-4500 BCE), mortars and other implements became more varied in form and improved in manufacture. Tecomate mortars, flat-bottomed mortars with raised rims, hemispherical mortars, and grinding implements of diverse shapes all appeared during this period.
In northern Mexico, in the present-day locality of San Antonio Nogalar (Sierra de Tamaulipas), ovoid mortars made of foyaite have been documented. Their cavities were adapted for grinding and, in some cases, for holding liquids. It has been suggested that the pestles used with these mortars may have been narrow and elongated, fashioned from stone or wood and used in a pounding motion. In the state of Coahuila, archaeological evidence exists for mortars carved directly into bedrock and used to grind mesquite seeds.
Today, the use of mortars to process materials through crushing or pounding remains common in the kitchens and ranches of various communities, functioning as a complement to the abrasive grinding characteristic of the metate. Among the Kickapoo, men carve large wooden mortars used for grinding maize, coffee, salt, and dried meat. These mortars are made from tree trunks: the interior is hollowed out, creating a wide upper section and a cylindrical base. Such implements reach approximately 70 centimeters in height and are used together with a double-ended pestle.
Ethnographic records from the early twentieth century describe women as the principal users of these mortars. It was common to see two women, each wielding a pestle, pounding in synchronized rhythm. Wooden mortars were also present from very ancient times among Indigenous peoples of what is now the United States, where suitable stone for their manufacture was difficult to obtain (as in Florida, parts of the Mississippi Valley, and the lower Colorado region).