Spindle

Item number E74950-0 from the National Museum of Natural History.

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Notes

This object is on loan to the Anchorage Museum at Rasmuson Center, from 2010 through 2027.The Anthropology Conservation Lab condition report for this object by Michele Austin, 12-24-2008, describes it as a spindle constructed from a shaft of wood with a bone whorl. The whorl is seated in place with a small piece of woven cloth acting as a wedge. The condition report identifies this as a spindle for making yarn. It notes that the original cataloguing identified the object as a "fire stick", and that a type of spindle was used to start fires in Tlingit culture, but the spindle fire sticks or starters described by Emmons do not match the description of this spindle (Emmons, George T. 1991. The Tlingit Indians. Seattle: University of Washington Press: 158-159). Source of the information below: Smithsonian Arctic Studies Center Alaska Native Collections: Sharing Knowledge website, by Aron Crowell, entry on this artifact http://alaska.si.edu/record.asp?id=615 , retrieved 1-13-2012: Drop spindle, Tlingit Drop-spindles with stone weights were used to twist mountain goat wool into yarn for the weft (cross strands) of woven blankets. The spinner attached a starter-piece of yarn to the wooden shaft, let the tool dangle in the air, and then spun the circular stone weight. She kept the spindle turning as she gradually added new fibers into the yarn, skillfully drawing out a twisted strand of the length she needed.