Rights Holder: The Portable Antiquities Scheme
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Unique ID: LANCUM-A76A56
Object type certainty: Certain
Workflow
status: Awaiting validation
Cast lead-alloy weight, probably a spindle whorl dating from the medieval period, that is c. AD1200-1500. The weight is circular, with a large perforation in the centre that held the spindle. The surface is very worn. Unlike many other spindle whorls of the same date range, this example has a very distinct moulded decoration: There are five moulded flat knops on the outside of the whorl with incised (probably also moulded) lines between each two knops.
Lead weights like these are common finds, but only rarely from excavated contexts which is why date and origin are difficult to pinpoint. Decorated lead-alloy weights are very rare finds in excavations, but are often found by metal detectorists. They are usually biconical or cylindrical in shape and are decorated on both faces with raised dots and radiating lines or zig-zag ribs. They have been found in ploughsoil over the site of Roman buildings, and in an excavated context dating from the 13th to the 15th century at an Austin Friary (Geake 2001). It is thus very difficult to date the decorated lead weights, and it seems that they could have been in use at any time between the Roman and Late Medieval periods. Helen Geake writes: "Dating of lead whorls is difficult. The drop spindle with which they were used continued in use until the end of the medieval period in London and Winchester (Egan 1998, "The Medieval Household: Daily Living c1150 - c1450"; and Biddle, 1990, "Object and Economy in Medieval Winchester"), and for perhaps a century longer in Norfolk (Margeson, 1993, "Norwich Households: Medieval and Post Medieval finds from Norwich Survey Excavations 1971 - 78"). The excavated assemblage from Winchester contains one lead whorl from a mid to late 10th century context." Undecorated spindle whorls can therefore date from the Roman, Early Medieval or Medieval periods. It has been pointed out that the weight of a spindle whorl is suggestive of the thickness of yarn produced, with lighter spindle whorls (3 - 5 grams) being used for spinning cotton and the heavier ones (30 - 35 grams) for spinning wool (Margeson 1993, 184). According to this, this lead whorl was probably used for spinning wool.
Subsequent action after recording: Returned to finder
Broad period: MEDIEVAL
Period from: MEDIEVAL
Period to: MEDIEVAL
Date from: Circa AD 1200
Date to: Circa AD 1500
Quantity: 1
Weight: 46.97 g
Diameter: 26.2 mm
Date(s) of discovery: Sunday 13th April 2014
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Primary material: Lead Alloy
Manufacture method: Cast
Completeness: Complete
Grid reference source: From finder
Unmasked grid reference accurate to a 100 metre square.
No references cited so far.