Ancient Greek baked-clay spool (TRC 2014.0797).In 2014 a small collection of 15 ancient Greek textile tools was donated to the TRC. The gift included 11 baked-clay loom weights; two spindle whorls (TRC 2014.0802 and TRC 2014.0803); and a spool (TRC 2014.0797) and a fragment of a spool (TRC 2014.0798). They came from different archaeological sites in Greece and ranged in date, from the Archaic (circa 750-480 BCE) to the Classical (479-323 BCE), and perhaps Roman Period (30 BCE-180 CE).
Baked clay or stone loom weights (they can also be found made of bone or metal) were used on a specific type of loom: the warp-weighted loom. They helped ensure an even tension in weaving. Loom weights are common finds at many archaeological sites, all over the world. They might even be considered the common cold of archaeological objects. But I cannot describe the thrill that went through me when I got to examine these pyramid-shaped artefacts, when putting together a digital and online exhibition for the TRC. To hold in my hands something that had been used 2,500 years ago, no matter how ubiquitous it might have been, was tremendously exciting
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Baked-clay whorl from Early Bronze Age Greece (TRC 2014.0802).We can learn a lot from these humble-looking objects, and not only what type of loom was used. Different sizes and shapes of loom weights could affect thread count (number of threads per centimetre in a weave), thus the fineness of the weaving. Changes in shape and size over time also point to stories of technological innovation, and its spread by immigration, trade or war.
We can also learn about gender roles: weaving was considered women’s work in ancient Greece. Hence the great shock of Greek historian Herodotus (484-425 BCE) when he discovered that in Egypt, men wove—and that they wove from the bottom up, not from the top down (as on a warp-weighted loom) (Herodotus, The Histories, Book 2, chapter 35).
Fortunately, in the case of ancient Greece, there is also other evidence about textiles and textile technology. There are references to both textiles and textile production throughout Greek literature: think of clever Penelope, weaving by day, then unpicking her work at night, in the Odyssey (Books 2, 19, 24); or of Helen weaving the story of the Trojan War in the Iliad (Iliad 3.121). There are also pictures of women weighing balls of wool, filling baskets with wool, spinning, weaving and finally folding and stacking completed textiles, on vases, wall paintings, even on a marble stele (Athens, NM1914).
You can see what else we can learn from loom weights at the TRC’s online exhibition. No wonder holding these lumps of baked clay gave me such a thrill.
Online TRC exhibition: Ancient Greek loomweights in the TRC collection
Shelley Anderson, 26 January 2022
