Possible 12,000-Year-Old Spindle Whorls Identified in Israel

By Free Republic | Created at 2024-11-19 05:47:00 | Updated at 2024-11-24 04:36:34 4 days ago

Possible 12,000-Year-Old Spindle Whorls Identified in Israel
Archaeology Magazine ^ | November 14, 2024 | editors / unattributed

Posted on 11/18/2024 9:36:08 PM PST by SunkenCiv

More than 100 perforated soft limestone pebbles uncovered at the early village site of Nahal Ein-Gev II, which is located near the Sea of Galilee, may have been used as spindle whorls to produce yarn or cord some 12,000 years ago, according to a Haaretz report. The village was inhabited by the Natufians, who lived in the southern Levant between 15,000 and 11,500 years ago. Talia Yashuv and Leore Grosman of Hebrew University explained that prior to the invention of the spindle whorl, fibers were twisted together manually in a long and laborious process. In contrast, using a spindle whorl to twist fibers together would have made the task faster. All of the drilled pebbles recovered in the village site were "ugly," Yashuv added, explaining that they had not been polished or burnished like a bead, and they varied in size. Analysis of the holes in the pebbles showed that each one had been drilled from two directions, so that two flint drill bits would have met in the middle, creating an hourglass shape within the stones. This shape would have kept the spindle element from whirling off, Yahuv suggested. And, when the hole was off-center in partially worked stones, they were discarded, she noted. Because sheep had not yet been domesticated, the researchers concluded that it was unlikely that the villagers were spinning wool with their innovative "wheel and axle" technology.

(Excerpt) Read more at archaeology.org ...

TOPICS: History; Science; Travel
KEYWORDS: galilee; godsgravesglyphs; nahaleingevii; natufians; seaofgalilee; spindlewhorls

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Nahal Ein-Gev II site in northern Israel facing the Sea of GalileeNaftali Hilger

1 posted on 11/18/2024 9:36:08 PM PST by SunkenCiv

To: StayAt HomeMother; Ernest_at_the_Beach; 1ofmanyfree; 21twelve; 24Karet; 2ndDivisionVet; 31R1O; ...

I'd managed to lose track of the link to a similar story (or maybe it was this one), and don't remember who sent it, but you have my thanks!

2 posted on 11/18/2024 9:37:21 PM PST by SunkenCiv (Putin should skip ahead to where he kills himself in the bunker.)

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