CHAPTER IV

Spindle- Whorls

By H. ST. GEORGE Gray,. M.A., F.S.A.

The spindle-whorls from the Meare West Village have been recorded in tabular form, in the same manner as those found in the Glastonbury Lake Village were described1. This method will perhaps be best for the working archaeologist.

At Glastonbury the whorls were classified under fourteen Tables. At Meare the classification of 216 specimens has extended to sixteen Tables2, as follows;-

I. Flat Spindle-whorls of Lias stone, of oblong . cross-section...................................................................... 27
II. Flat Spindle-whorls of Lias stone, with decidedly rounded edges ; surfaces generally more or less flat ...... 43
III. Whorls of Lias, with incomplete holes...................................................................................................... 2
IV. Flat Discs of Lias, not perforated ............................................................................................................ 7
V. Spindle-whorls of stone, chiefly Sandstone,and excluding Lias ................................................................. 36
VI. Whorls of Sandstone, with incomplete holes ............................................................................................ 24
VII.

Discs of Sandstone, without any indication of drilling ................................................................................

 4
VIII. Stone Spindle-whorls, of globular form .................................................................................................... 5
IX. Spindle-whorls of sandy Shale, perhaps from Fuller’s Earth ..................................................................... 5
X. Fossils adapted for use as Spindle-whorls ............................................................................................... 2
XI. Spindle-whorls of Baked Clay ................................................................................................................ 41
XII. Spindle-whorls formed from flat pieces of Pottery ................................................................................... 8
XIII.

Spindle-whorl of Antler ..........................................................................................................................

 1
XIV. Spindle-whorls made from the Heads of Femora of and Humeri Animals ................................................. 9
XV. Spindle-whorl of Kimmeridge Shale ........................................................................................................ 1
XVI. Spindle-whorl of Tin ............................................................................................................................... 1
Total . .
216

1 See Glaston. Lake Village, pp. 587-601.
2 The sixteenth Table, however, describes a whorl of tin. The lead and tin whorls found at Glastonbury were described in the chapter (No. V) on’ Objects of Lead and Tin ‘.

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