Contribution to the study of spinning bowls: examples from Early Iron Age Thrace

Abstract

The identification of a specific group of ceramic and stone vessels with a handle on the interior, known in the literature as spinning bowls, has become possible due to the detailed Egyptian wall paintings and wooden models presenting different stages of textile production. These vessels were used for spinning, plying, or perhaps both, and were discovered in various regions and periods from the beginning of the 5th millennium BC until the Roman period. The article presents five ceramic bowls with a single interior handle discovered in inland Thrace and dated to the Early Iron Age, thus complementing the chronological and spatial distribution of this class of artefacts. The vessels were used for spinning flax or other plant-based material and were part of the small-scale, domestic textile production in Early Iron Age Thrace. The limited number of recorded examples, as well as their current absence in the preceding Bronze Age and the following Late Iron Age, is discussed. Like many other everyday items, after their primary use, the spinning bowls in Thrace acquired some symbolic meaning and were deposited at ritual sites.

Keywords

• Spinning bowls
• Early Iron Age
• Thrace
• fabric production