Mária T. Biró: The Bone Objects of the Roman Collection. (Catalogi Musei Nationalis Hungarici. Seria Archeologica 2; Budapest, 1994)

VI. BONE OBJECTS OF EVERYDAY USE AND TOOLS MADE OF BONE - 4. Tools of women's housework: sewing needles, spinning and weaving equipments

straight line a more solid yarn or strap could also be used for sewing, for the smoothed, thin eye of the needle made the passing of the strap easy. (Nos. 505-509.) Where the eye is circular and pointed like a pencil the yarn had to be made of soft material, because the wide needle eye was not suitable for passing strap or leather. The eye of the needle is the biggest with this type. In the case of one of the needles from Dunapentele it is 1.5 cm long. (No. 506.) The needle itself is rather long, too, 12, 5 cm long and its end is broken. We have no exact knowledge what these almost 15 cm long needles and at least 1 cm thick yarns were used for (perhaps for netting). Group B.: (No. 511-520.) The hole of the majority of needles is not regular; it consists of two or three interlocking bores. It looks as if a heated needle was pierced into the bone, thus burning out the needle eyes. (Nos. 509-512.) Here, too, the eyes of the needles may be of flat or of circular cross-section, the latter pointed like a pencil. (Nos. 513-520.) These needles are dated by A. Dular to the lst-2nd centuries. All the needles from Tác were registered by me from the layer preceding the Marcomannic wars. Group C.: (Figs. 521-526.) With this type the hole made for passing the yarn is a regular circle and the eye is always flat. Still, there are specimens where it is well discernible that the yarn has worn a deep groove. (No. 524.) Outside Pannónia this needle type has not been registered so far; in all probability this is the most seldom occurring type; in the Hungarian National Museum, too, they occur in the smallest number of all types. Spinning (Distaffs, spindles, spindle weights and whorls) (Figs. 527-555.) The popular tools of spinning and weaving were made in all cultures of wood or of bone. The optimal forms of the tools used for these working processes have very early developed and there was no need to change them even later on. Thus, the identification of archaeological finds is helped by the great number of contemporary antique representations (Figs. 19-21.) and by parallels from the folk-lore. Finds unearthed are more diversified and richer in varieties than those surviving on the antique representations of the working process from the Mediterranean. The assistance given by ethnographic explorations and collecting activity is indispensable for their determination. It is made possible by the preserving of forms of popular tools throughout thousand of years. First we had to find out which tools could be made of bone in these houseworks. In spinning distaff, spindle and spindle-weight could be made of bone while in weaving shuttle, loop stick and comb for weaving. These tools were made by artisans because the carving needed not only skill but also certain equipments. Spindles and distaffs could be produced only on lathe. Distaff (COLUS) (Nos. 527-530.) Fig. SO. Heracles with belt distaff Distaff is the rod on which when spinning the bast is fastened. Their parallels from the folk-lore are 50-100 cm long. Romans were also acquainted with large-sized belt distaff, kept while spinning under one's left armpit. In Rome in the Capitolium Museum on the Heracles representations of one of the Omphale mosaics the hero has stuck such a distaff into his belt.

104 (Fig. 20.) Belt distaffs were made of wood. Judging from Graeco-Roman relics smaller, 1520 cm long distaffs held in one's left hand while spinning were more popular than belt distaffs. From contemporary representations we know that distaffs held in the hand and spindles were roughly of the same size therefore from the archaeological finds it is difficult to distinguish the two bone rods of nearly similar size. Distaffs were perhaps more decorative. On vase paintings it seems as if on the top of the distaffs there were a ring or some larger ornament to hinder the unrolling of yarn. The bone rods with a ring at one end and the carved figure of a woman holding her child at the other end were distaffs. Such ringed distaffs are still used in Bulgaria. In