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Roman and Late Roman Bone Spinning Tools from Stobi, Macedonia

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Roman and Late Roman Bone Spinning Tools from Stobi, Macedonia ROMAN AND LATE ROMAN BONE SPINNING TOOLS FROM STOBI, MACEDONIA Herramientas de hilado romanas y tardo-romanas procedentes de Stobi, Macedonia ZLATKO KOVANCALIEV * ABSTRACT This paper is concerned with bone spinning tools from the archaeological site of Stobi in the Republic of Macedonia. Most of the spinning tools come from burials, although there were a few tools discovered in the settlement. The earliest bone spinning tool dates to the late 1st century B.C. while the youngest are found in contexts from the 6th century A.D. The spinning tools are grouped into spindle whorls, spindles, and distaffs. Possible changes in the thickness of the spun thread in different periods can be seen through the different shape and weight of the presented spindle whorls. The irregular dispersions visible at the bottom side of two of these spindle whorls reveal the method of fastening the whorl to the spindle. Although spindles differ in the shape of their upper end, this cannot be associated with their chronological determination. What is in common for spindles is the burial context of discovery. The case is similar with the hand held distaffs, where three out of the four discovered thus far have bur- ial contexts. By introducing other scholars’ research for these types of distaffs along with the attributes of examples from Stobi, the assumptions of their apotropaic and symbolic use will be discussed. Keywords: Spinning Tools, Bone Tools, Spindle Whorl, Spindle, Distaff. RESUMEN Este artículo se centra en los útiles de hilado en hueso procedentes del yacimiento arqueológico de Stobi, en la República de Macedonia. La mayoría de estos útiles pro- ceden de enterramientos, aunque algunos de ellos fueron documentados en contextos de poblado. El elemento más antiguo ha sido datado en el I siglo BC, mientras que los más recientes provienen de contextos del siglo VI AD. Los útiles de hilado se agrupan en ruedas de huso, husos y ruecas. Posibles cambios en el espesor de las fibras de hilado a lo largo de diferentes períodos puede ser observado en las variaciones en forma y peso de las ruedas de huso estudiadas. Las dispersiones irregulares visibles en * National Institution for Management of the Archaeological Site of Stobi, R. of Macedonia. [email protected] Fecha de recepción: 26/03/2018. Fecha de aceptación: 29/04/2019. http://dx.doi.org/10.30827/CPAG.v29i0.9768 CPAG 29, 2019, 119-131. ISSN: 2174-8063 119 ZLATKO KOVANCALIEV el lado inferior de dos de estas ruedas de huso reflejan que el método de sujeción de la rueda al huso. Aunque los husos difieren en la forma de su extremo superior, esto no puede asociarse con inferencias cronológicas. Lo que tienen en común los husos es el context funerario donde fueron descubiertas. El caso es similar con las sujeciones de mano de las ruecas, donde tres de los cuatro descubiertos provienen de contextos funerarios. Presentando investigaciones previas para este tipo de ruecas con atributos similares a los de Stobi, la consideración de su uso protector y simbólico es también analizada. Palabras clave: Herramientas de hilado, Útiles de hueso, Rueda de huso, Huso, Rueca. INTRODUCTION The Roman city of Stobi is located in the central region of the Republic of Macedonia (fig. 1). In the 1st century CE the city had the rank of municipium, and later it was the capital city of the late Roman province of Macedonia Secunda (Wiseman, 1986:40-42). The site has been excavated since the beginning of the 20th century, and a vast number of bone tools have been discovered, of which 20 Fig. 1.—Location of the Archaeological site Stobi. 120 CPAG 29, 2019, 119-131. ISSN: 2174-8063 ROMAN AND LATE ROMAN BONE SPINNING TOOLS FROM STOBI, MACEDONIA examples can be definitively attributed to the process of spinning. Included are ten spindle whorls, five spindles, and four distaffs, none previously published. They all come from different contexts; most of them came from burials, and few were discovered in the settlement. The aim of this paper is to provide descriptions of these artifacts and through analysis of the context and comparison with similar tools, offer a more accurate interpretation of their chronological and typological determination. Unfortunately, zoological identification of these tools has not yet been conducted. SPINDLE WHORLS A total of 11 bone spindle whorls have been discovered at Stobi to date. Five of them (fig. 2:1,3-6) were discovered in burials, while the remaining six (fig. 1:2,7-9; fig.2:10,11) were found in the settlement. Three of the spindle whorls (fig. 2:1,3-4) were discovered along with their respective spindles (fig. 3:14-16). Using criteria by Biró (1994:50) the spindle whorls from Stobi can be divided into two groups: spindle whorls which are flat discs (verticulus) and spindle weights (turbo) the shape of which may be conic or semi-globular. Flat Discoid Spindle Whorls - Verticulus Five of the spindle whorls (fig. 2:1-6) belong to this group. They have a diameter between 2.2-3.4 cm, a perforation with a diameter between 0.7-1.2 cm, and thickness of between 0.2-0.9 cm. Their surface is smooth and polished, and one or both sides are decorated with incised grooves. Similarly decorated spindle whorls were discovered at Salona in Croatia (Ivčević, 2002a:474; Ivčević, 2002b:Sl.25- 37), in Hungary (Biró, 1994:548-550, Pl.LXIV), at the Nicopolis and Istrum in Bulgaria (Roberts, 2007:76, fig. 3.5, no.3.176), and at Zeugma in Turkey (Charles, 2013:fig. 14,17). In terms of dating, the earliest is the spindle whorl (fig. 2:2) that was discovered in a context from 75-25 B.C. Another the spindle whorl (fig. 2:6) was discovered in an early 1st century burial, and a third whorl (fig. 2:5) is dated to between the second half of the 1st and the first half of the 2nd century A.D. The other three spindle whorls (fig. 2:1,3,4) have a wider date range of the 1st-4th century A.D. Spindle Whorl Weights - Turbo Five spindle whorls belongs to this group, of which four (fig. 2:7-9; fig. 3:10) have a lower spherical and upper flat side, and only one (fig. 3:11) has an irregular conical shape. The surface of four of the weights from Stobi (fig. 2:7,8; fig. 3:10,11) is undecorated, and only one (fig. 3:10) is decorated with multiple incised circle CPAG 29, 2019, 119-131. ISSN: 2174-8063 121 ZLATKO KOVANCALIEV Fig. 2.—Flat discoid spindle whorls – Verticulus, 1-5 (Inv. Nos. РН-95-121/2, MF-72-27, РН-92- 436/3, РН-92-436/4, РН-92-418); Spindle whorl weights – Turbo, 6-9 (Inv. Nos. РН-16-57, MF-67-6, РН-95-421, РН-16-17). 122 CPAG 29, 2019, 119-131. ISSN: 2174-8063 ROMAN AND LATE ROMAN BONE SPINNING TOOLS FROM STOBI, MACEDONIA Fig. 3.—Spindle whorl weights – Turbo, 10-11 (Inv. Nos. РН-16-18, РН-01-08); Spindles with an upper end in the shape of an arrow, 12-13 (Inv. Nos. РН-95-111, РН-92-304); Spindles with their upper end modeled with grooves and rings, 14-16 (Inv. Nos. РН-95-121/1, РН-92-436/1, РН-92- 436/2); Distaffs, 17-20 (Inv. Nos. РН-95-116, РН-10-159, MF-71-140, НК-09-84). CPAG 29, 2019, 119-131. ISSN: 2174-8063 123 ZLATKO KOVANCALIEV and dot motifs. On the lower side of two of the spindle whorls (fig. 2:9; fig. 3:10) irregular depressions with a smooth surface are formed along the edge of the perforation (figs. 4 and 5). These result from the attachment of the thread to the spindle. During the initial spin of the spindle during the free fall, the thread may slip and disconnect from the spindle due to the weight of the spindle whorl. Tying a knot at the lower side of the spindle whorl is one possible solution to prevent this. In these cases, the friction of the knot against the spindle whorls causes the formation of these irregular depressions. Spindle whorls (turbo) similar to those from Stobi have been discovered in Serbia. They are decorated with incised concentric circles, grooves, rosettes, radially distributed concentric circles, and dots, and they are dated between the 4th-6th century A.D. (Petković, 1995:43, T. XXIX, XXX; Špehar, 2010:kat.br. 517-530). Two of the spindle whorls (fig. 3:10-11) were discovered in a closed context dated to the 5th century A.D. There is little data about the context of the other spindle whorls in this group. SPINDLES Only five spindles have been discovered at Stobi to date (fig. 3:12-16), far fewer than the number of whorls that have been discovered. Stone spindle whorls are one of the most common finds in the residential complex of the 6th century CE above the semi-circular court at Stobi, but the absence of spindles suggests that they were made of wood and therefore have not been preserved. All of the spindles discovered at Stobi originate from burials. This is not unexpected since spindles and distaffs are often deposited in female burials during the Roman period. They are regarded as a symbol of femininity or married status (Biró et al., 2012:22). Two groups of spindles can be distinguished: spindles formed with an upper end in the shape of an arrow and spindles which upper end is decorated with grooves and rings.
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