Period: Greek Bronze Age (2000-1200 BC)

Project title: Multiwhorls? Forsök med tunga sländtrissor

Researcher: Linda Mårtensson, CTR, Copenhagen University, Copenhagen

E-mail: lindam(at)hum.ku.dk

Year: 2006

Abstract:

Wool, plant fibres and other organic materials decay quickly. Therefore archaeological finds of prehistoric textiles are a rarity. Practical experiments with tools for textile production reconstructed after archaeological finds is another possibility to acquire a better understanding of ancient textiles and textile craft.

The aim of the experiment was to investigate the function of heavy spindle whorls (50g), which has been interpreted as being used for spinning coarser yarn e.g. for sailcloth, tents etc. But could they also have been used to spin thinner yarn and as such have had a multifunctional character?

The focus of the experiment was to test and investigate two different spinning techniques – one in which the spindle hangs free during spinning, “suspended spindle”, and one where it rests on the ground or in a cup, “supported spindle”. For comparison, two different sizes of spindle whorls were used (one weighing c.50g and the other weighing c.30g). The spindle whorls were reconstructed from archaeological finds from Nichoria, Greece dated to the Bronze Age. The spinning tests were carried out by textile technicians Anne Batzer and Linda Mårtensson using wool from the Shetland sheep and the Gute sheep as well as flax, which all have fibres of very different qualities. The question was: what type of thread could be spun using the different spindle whorls and spinning techniques?

The results from spinning with wool from the Shetland sheep and the flax show that it is possible to spin threads of varying types with a 50g spindle whorl depending on whether the “suspended” or “supported” spinning technique was used. It was both possible to spin a very thin (using “supported” technique) and a thick (using “suspended” techniques) thread without having to press the spindle in a way that made the spinning feel unreasonable in relation to the tool. Thus, there is reason for viewing these tools as multifunctional. The 30g spindle whorls turned out to be more limited in the range of different qualities that could be spun with it. The test with wool from the Gute sheep, on the other hand, showed a relatively homogenous result of coarse threads independent of spinning technique. Thus, another conclusion is that the quality of the fibre has decisive importance for the result that can be achieved using the “supported” and “suspended” techniques.

These results are important for the interpretation of heavier spindle whorls in the archaeological material. A 50 g whorl cannot automatically be related to solely the production of thicker threads, and the existing contradictory information about the applicability of the “supported” technique should probably be re-evaluated. To make this relation, the “supported” technique must first be excluded.

Presently, it is very difficult – if not impossible – to decide exactly which spinning techniques were used during different periods, geographical areas and within varying social positions. The use-wear traces that occurred inside the ceramic vessels used in the spinning experiment with “supported” spindle could be an indication of spinning with “supported technique”. Perhaps identification of similar use-wear traces on archaeological material like e.g. pot sherds in the future could indicate that the “supported technique” was used.

Reference number: HAF 14/06