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Description: | Roman or Medieval lead weight, most probably used as spindle whorl. It is plano-convex with a central perforation and while one side is decorated with a simple relief of 'sun rays' around the central perforation, the others bears a rune-like pattern made up of multiple mouldings of the 'algiz' rune (z). However, it is probably just a geometrical pattern, not actually the rune.
It has been noted that the weight of a spindle whorl is demostrative of the thickness of yarn produced, with lighter spindle whorls (3-5g) being used for spinning cotton and heavier ones (30-35g) for spinning wool (Margeson, S. 1993, 184). This example weighs 31.19g and so it seems likely that it would have been used to spin a heady material such as wool.
The dating of unstratified spindle whorls is difficult. However, Egan (1998, 256) has argued that there was an apparent lack of interest in developing decorative versions of spindle whorls during the Medieval period, compared to the decorative examples of Roman and Saxon periods. Although decorated examples are known from the Medieval period, it seems more likelz that such a decorative example is earlier and this artefact therefore dates to the Roman or Saxon period. | Format: | text/html | License: | http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/ | Publisher: | The Portable Antiquities Scheme | Rights holder: | The Portable Antiquities Scheme | Subjects: | archaeology | Temporal: | 100
1200 | Source: | Portable Antiquities | Creator: | Dot Boughton | Identifier: | http://www.finds.org.uk/database/artefac... | Language: | en-GB | Format: | text/html | Go to resource |
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