A bone spindle whorl found in Little Carlton, Lincolnshire. (c) Portable Antiquities Scheme, CC BY-SA 2.0
A bone spindle whorl found in Little Carlton, Lincolnshire. (c) Portable Antiquities Scheme, CC BY-SA 2.0

Bone Spindle Whorl (LIN-9D24C2)

A bone spindle whorl found in Little Carlton, Lincolnshire

Fibres were spun into thread using a drop-spindle of which the whorls were made of bone, ceramic, lead, or stone and acted as flywheels during spinning. Other bone and ceramic spindle whorls with decorative circumference grooves are known from Anglo-Saxon sites elsewhere in areas such as West Stow, Suffolk.

Object Type

Spindle whorl

Date

circa 700 — 800

Ascribed Culture

Original/Reproduction

Original

Material

Collection

Viking Objects

Current Location

Private Ownership

Keywords

Anglo-Saxon, bone, Lincolnshire, Portable_Antiquities_Scheme, spindle_whorl, textile_production, women

Further information

You can see the original at Private Ownership.

Acknowledgements

(c) Portable Antiquities Scheme, CC BY-SA 2.0

References

Leahy, Kevin. “Anglo-Saxon Crafts.” In The Oxford Handbook of Anglo-Saxon Archaeology. eds. Helena Hamerow, David A. Hinton, and Sally Crawford.  (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2011), 440-459.

Portable Antiquities Scheme

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