Join Dr Jennifer Beamer for a discussion and live demonstration of spindle spinning in our Hare Gallery.

Making a yarn is as simple as taking a length of fiber, adding twist, and repeating the process. Adding in a stick and a weight to form a spindle can expedite the process, making the spinning quicker and, generally, more efficient. There are various ways of holding the spindle, choosing a fiber to make into a yarn, and what the purpose of that yarn is for, which can lend extensive creativity to the textile production sequence.

Many questions about the material past can be addressed through the archaeological record and be answered. However, the further we look into the prehistoric past, the harder it is to find questions we have some chance of answering. In the absence of textiles to examine, experimental work is the only practical method for researching plausibility. Experimental archaeology can be a useful tool to explore the range of possibilities that past craftspeople had available to them.

The experiment Spindling for Weaving, funded by the Kiernan Experimental Archaeology Award, sponsored by EXARC member John Kiernan, endeavours to solidify through experimentation the types of yarns that could be spun with whorls recovered from Danebury hillfort, and which date to the British Iron Age (800BC – 43CE). This is an unusual assemblage of artefacts because they are considerably heavy when compared to Continental equivalents. As well, there are unresolved questions about their suitability for producing weaving yarns. The overall goals of this experiment will also incorporate moment of inertia, rotational indices, and the development of a reference collection.

Don’t forget to use the hashtag #chalkwhorlspindling if you share your visit to the demonstration on social media.