did you know that by the time fallow deer were introduced to the british isles in the eleventh century, drop spindle spinning was already at least an eight thousand year old craft?
it is thought by archaeologists and anthropologists that spinning developed from cordage rolling, where plant fibres and animal sinews would be rolled on the lap. this practice emerged between forty and thirty-four thousand years ago and is still practiced all over the world.
true spinning began with tying fibres to a rock and spinning the rock over ten thousand years ago and quickly developed into the drop spindle which consists of a stick and a whorl (or weight) around nine thousand years ago. the earliest drop spindles tend to be found in the fertile crescent and egypt, though it is not known whether this is where they first developed or where they preserved best.
there are many arguments about when and where the spinning wheel was invented. but when the normans were taking rule of england in the eleventh century, it would be another two hundred years before spinning wheels began to be used there and another three hundred years yet before wheels began to displace drop spindles within the british isles.
drop spindle spinning is so magical to me. i cannot help but imagine all the other people across time learning the same skills as me. it makes me feel a feeling i do not have a word for. i feel bound tightly with people i could not speak with but i could understand perfectly.
