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Description: | A circular cast lead-alloy artefact, probably a spindle whorl. The whorl has a flat biconical section, with each cone truncated by the central perforation for attachment. The whorl is 27.8mm in diameter at its centre, 11.3mm thick, and the circular perforation for attaching to the spindle is 10.6mm in diameter, tapering only slightly to 10.0mm. Each face of the whorl is decorated with zig-zag ribs, with raised dots between the zig-zags. There are approximately fifteen dots on each face, many have been abraded. The whorl weighes 31.0g. It has been pointed out that the weight of a spindle whorl is demonstrative of the thickness of yarn produced, with lighter spindle whorls (3 - 5 grams) being used for spinning cotton and the heavier ones (30 - 35 grams) for spinning wool (Margeson 1993, page 184). It therefore seems likely that this heavy example was used for spinning wool. The spindle whorl is of a mid-light grey colour with patches of light-grey / white flaking corrosion present in some areas. Decorated spindle whorls are difficult to date and those decorated with raised dots, zig-zags and lines have been found in both Roman and medieval context (Geake 2001, 66). This spindle whorl could therefore date to any time between the Roman and Medieval periods.
Original Image | Publisher: | http://finds.org.uk | Source: | Portable Antiquities | Identifier: | http://finds.org.uk/database/artefacts/r... | Go to resource |
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