The purpose of this study was to understand the changes to Spinning Technology in the transition processes in the early and middle Bronze Age by comparing spindle whorls. Spinning Technology refers to the technology of making yarn with fabric and is c...
The purpose of this study was to understand the changes to Spinning Technology in the transition processes in the early and middle Bronze Age by comparing spindle whorls. Spinning Technology refers to the technology of making yarn with fabric and is closely related to clothing life. They use bare hands with no devices or use Spinning like spindle whorls during Jesa. Unlike other artifacts whose research efforts have been active, spindle whorls have no basic discussions, which triggered the investigator to examine Jesasul during Bronze Age through spindle whorls.
The Korean archeological community has not paid attention to Spinning Technologyduring Bronze Age. There were some discussions about the time and space features of spindle whorls, but the attempts to find their meanings as a spinning tool have not been enough. This study thus set out to compare and analyze the attributes related to the forms and functions of spindle whorls and thus understand the changes to Spinning Technology.
It is important to figure out the structural attributes of spindle whorls and the relations between fabric and yarn in order to analyze spindle whorls and examine Spinning Technology. The weight and diameter of spindle whorl has close connections with the types of fabric and the thickness of yarn. Specifically speaking, large and heavy spindle whorls are proper for making long fabric with fewer twists and thick yarn, whereas small and light ones are proper for making short fabric with more many twists and thin yarn.
Spindle whorls were categorized into different forms based on the materials and appearances and compared by the periods in order to examine changes to their shapes. As a result, spindle whorls made of earth in a cone shape or disc shape decreased, and those made of stone in a disc shape increased during the transition processes in the early and middle Bronze Age. By taking into account diameter and weight at the same time, spindle whorls were categorized into small and light ones and large and heavy ones and compared by the periods. As a result, small and light spindle whorls increased, whereas large and heavy ones decreased. Those findings raise a huge possibility that there were differences in the types of fabric and yarn according to periods.
The forms and structural attributes of spindle whorls are closely related to their central holes. Those made of stone are thinner than those made of earth. It is relatively more difficult to drill a hole in a spindle whorl made of stone than one made of earth. When a spindle whorl made of stone is thin, it will be comparatively easier to drill a hole in it, which must be a partial reason they made a spindle whorl with stone. As the number of light spindle whorls increased during the transition processes in the early and middle Bronze Age, the number of thin spindle whorls also increased along with the relative multiplication of spindle whorls made of stone.
The backgrounds of those changes to Spinning Technology are found in the socioeconomic and environmental aspects. The middle Bronze Age witnessed the emergence of a composite social structure unlike the early Bronze Age, which means there were differences in the kinds of fabric usually used by the elite and common households. It is highly likely that fabric related to small light spindle whorls was mainly used by the chiefs(and their group), who increased the production of such fabric by controlling the labor force of common households. The process seems to have caused changes to spindle whorls. The temperature dropped during the transition processes in the early and middle Bronze Age, which poses a possibility that they produced fabric made of thin yarn to improve the warmth retentivity of clothes and that such developments caused changes to spindle whorls.