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LANCUM-DA8F83: Ribble Valley, Lancs.: Miscast spindle whorl

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WEIGHT

Unique ID: LANCUM-DA8F83

Object type certainty: Certain
Workflow status: Awaiting validation Find awaiting validation

Roman or Medieval lead weight, most probably it would have been used as spindle whorl. However, it is mis-shapen, most probably miscast. The perforation is not intact and the reverse of the whorl has not been cast properly - perhaps the pieces of the mould got mis-aligned during the casting process and thus the then liquid lead could not be cast into its final shape. Thus, this object is propably a wasteproduct which for whatever reason did not re-enter the recycling process. The decoration is very faint on the surviving surface and may have comprised of a star.

It has been noted that the weight of a spindle whorl is demostrative of the thickness of yarn produced, with lighter spindle whorls (3-5g) being used for spinning cotton and heavier ones (30-35g) for spinning wool (Margeson, S. 1993, 184). This example weighs 32.21g and so it seems likely that it may have been intended to spin a heady material such as wool.

The dating of unstratified spindle whorls is difficult. However, Egan (1998, 256) has argued that there was an apparent lack of interest in developing decorative versions of spindle whorls during the Medieval period, compared to the decorative examples of Roman and Saxon periods. Although decorated examples are known from the Medieval period, it seems more likely that such a decorative example is earlier and this artefact therefore dates to the Roman or Saxon period.

Class: Lead

Subsequent actions

Subsequent action after recording: Returned to finder

Chronology

Broad period: ROMAN
Subperiod from: Late
Period from: ROMAN
Period to: MEDIEVAL
Date from: Circa AD 100
Date to: Circa AD 1200

Dimensions and weight

Quantity: 1
Weight: 32.21 g
Diameter: 34 mm

Discovery dates

Date(s) of discovery: Monday 1st January 1990 - Monday 1st January 1996

Personal details

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Materials and construction

Primary material: Lead
Manufacture method: Cast

Spatial metadata

Region: North West (European Region)
County or Unitary authority: Lancashire (County)
District: Ribble Valley (District)
Parish or ward: Clitheroe (Civil Parish)

References cited

No references cited so far.

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Timeline of associated dates

Audit data

Recording Institution: LANCUM
Created: 18 years ago
Updated: 13 years ago

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