Ancient spools

[Endre Fodstad]

Does anybody have any good articles on ancient spools? I am primarily interested in how they looked and what material they were made from and changes in appearance through the period c.500BC-500AD, but also locales found and numbers.

[M. Demetrius]

Spools like for holding sewing thread?

[Endre Fodstad]

Yes.

[M. Demetrius]

The spinners I know don't really use spools, just a smooth stick. I've seen some pictures of bobbins somewhere, but I can't remember where. They looked like a disk attached near each end of a stick, with string or yarn wrapped in between the disks. Anybody have a source for those?

[Endre Fodstad]

Bobbins might also be interesting (in many cases, there might not really be a distinction between the two). I´ll take what you have.

[Medicus matt]

All the historical spinners I know use their yarn straight from the drop spindles that they spin it on. I thought that bobbins come about when spinning wheels came into use?

It would seem redundant to transfer the spun yarn from one stick to another.

[Endre Fodstad]

I'm almost entirely certain I've seen iron age spools, which is why I ask here - I can not find the reference myself. From a purely practical perspective, you are right, of course.

[Medicus matt]

I'm almost entirely certain I've seen iron age spools, which is why I ask here - I can not find the reference myself. From a purely practical perspective, you are right, of course.

I've seen examples of early iron age spool-shaped objects in metal, bone and ceramic that used to be thought of as spools but have since been recategorised as a specialist form of loom weight (see work by Margarita Gleba et al).

I DO have a picture of what we think is a weaving shuttle (not clear if it's for nets or textiles), dated to 5th century AD, from Somerset..if that's of any interest?

[M. Demetrius]

You're probably right, Matt, about the IA "spools". I'm pretty sure that's what I've seen, though I still can't remember where to find the photos. They'd work just fine as loom weights, naturally.

Spinners who want to accumulate enough wool yarn to warp and weave a piece of cloth (say, a tunic) probably wouldn't use drop spindles for all the yarn, but maybe the fiber or the weight could be removed from the original spindle. My rough estimate is that it will take approximately a mile of yarn to weave a typical sleeveless Roman tunic. (this based on 12 threads per inch, reasonably compact weave, with not-too-fine yarn, two panels about 50" x 60"). That would either require one ultra-ginormous spindle, or moving the thread from the spindle to a holding place, seems to me.

[Medicus matt]

Spinners who want to accumulate enough wool yarn to warp and weave a piece of cloth (say, a tunic) probably wouldn't use drop spindles for all the yarn, but maybe the fiber or the weight could be removed from the original spindle. My rough estimate is that it will take approximately a mile of yarn to weave a typical sleeveless Roman tunic. (this based on 12 threads per inch, reasonably compact weave, with not-too-fine yarn, two panels about 50" x 60"). That would either require one ultra-ginormous spindle, or moving the thread from the spindle to a holding place, seems to me.

You're right there David.
We had a weaving shed set up at Chedworth Villa for a couple of summers and the ladies span, dyed and wove enough cloth to make a sleeved tunic..came to pretty much spot on a mile of wool yarn in total.

They did drop the weights from the spindles and fit them to new ones to keep spinning, rather than rewind all the yarn onto another spindle/bobbin. Then, when they started to warp up the loom, they set up the warps and started the tablet woven selvedge on a warping board based on one we'd seen in a Swedish museum.
During the whole process, the only thing they wanted that we had no evidence for in a 5th century context was some sort of shuttle.

[M. Demetrius]

Makes you wonder how much thread it takes to weave a modern full-sized bedsheet, doesn't it? There's frequently over 200 threads per inch.... hock:

Could it be that a simple disk of wood slid onto the two ends of the spindle would give the "look" and function of a modern bobbin? It is important to keep the yarn from getting tangled or unrolled onto itself, modern times or ancient. Some things don't change, after all.

So that would appear to be a "spool". (neat segue back to the topic, eh?) :wink:

[Martin Moser]

Hi,

this might be what you are looking for:



The bobbin also has a hole drilled down the shaft, presumably as a needle container. Neat, eh? :-) )

Literature: Bettina Hedinger, Urs Leuzinger: Tabula rasa: Holzgegenstände aus den römischen Siedlungen Vitudurum und Tasgetium. Frauenfeld; Stuttgart; Wien 2002