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

the Roman age, too, this type of distaff primarily spread from provinces of the Balcans. The majority of distaffs consisted of a bone rod and a ring completing it. These rods were often decorated with garlands of astragalos motifs. One end of the rod was rounded to the shape of a button while the other end was carved pentagonal (Nos. 527-530.) To the latter end was the bone disc fastened which hindered the unreeling of the yarn. The circular plate on the polygonal rod could not move, but, if necessary, it could be taken from the rod. The other, larger disc was movable on the rod. Spindle (FUSUS) (Nos. 537-540.) Fig. 21. Sitting woman with hand distaff and spindle The other tool used in spinning was spindle. The so-called hand spindle or walking spindle was a 20-30 cm long stick on which the fibre wound. (Fig. 22.) Of the bone objects of the Hungarian National Museum the 1720 cm long bone rods of identical length and thickness as distaffs are considered by me as spindles. (Nos. 537-540.) The surface of the rods is polished smooth except for the two ends which are carved, as opposed to distaffs which were decorated at their whole length. In antique representations distaffs and spindles are represented as of identical size: the smooth, respectively decorated, carved surface conforms to the technique of spinning. Beal considers another bone device spindle. (Nos. 535-536.)

105 The finds of the French researcher defined as spindles are about 7-8 cm long bone sticks one end of which strongly widens and after carving the collar known from pins the bone is cut flat. I have found such objects in the Collection of the Hungarian National Museum; one entirely agrees with the find referred to by Béai while the flat end of the other is markedly widening and perforated in the middle. The finishing of the wider end of these objects suggests that after winding the yarn spindles must have been fastened into something with this end. Thus fixed, the yarn could not unreel from the short stick. Spindle-weight (TURBO) and whorl (VERTICULUS) (Nos. 548-550. and 552-555.) Manuals of antiquity used two Latin terms for spindle weight as if two names had been left on us from antique authors. (Cat. 64.315; Plin. Nat. 37.11.1; Verg.

Aeneis VII.) However, in the course of my investigations I ascertained that the button resp. ring shaped weights used at spinning can be ranged formally into two rather different groups. One being whorls (Nos. 548550.) which are generally flat discs perforated at the middle; the other being spindle weights (Nos. 552-555.) the shape of which may be conic- (No. 552.), globular- or semi-globular(Nos. 554., 555.) or cylindric constructed of several parts (No. 528.) in most cases decorated on the whole surface. There were generally two discs on the distaff (whorls), one of the fixed; if the top of the distaff was decorated figurally then the fixed upper disc could be neglected. Fig. 22. Spinning instruments Spindle weight gave the driving weight necessary for the rotation of the spindle and for twining and it also protected the yarn from slipping down. Beside the fixed distaff, spindle and spindle weight were constantly rotating; this turbinational or circular motion may serve as etymological explanation for the term TURBO. Spindle weight could be removed similarly to