Spindle whorl, stone

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Spindle whorl

Field collection: Excavation, Finavon Hillfort, Oathlaw, Angus
Collected by: VG Gordon Childe

Donated by Col AD Greenhill Gardyne
Museum number 1971-188-24

Spindle whorls were used from the Bronze Age into the 1800s. The whorl acted as a miniature flywheel on the end of a wooden spindle which was revolved by hand to twist animal or plant fibres into yarn in preparation for knitting or weaving.