Spindle Whorl

A 3D model of decorated stone spindle whorl with concentric ring of punched dots and central perforation, used as a weight for a wooden drop spindle. The weight helped give the spindle momentum in the twisting, or spinning, of raw wool fibers into yarn for later making into textiles. Dated 500BC-500AD. Physical object held at the Timespan Museum. Part of the Iron Age Kildonan reconstruction. A collaborative project between Open Virtual Worlds, a research team within the School of Computer Science, University of St Andrews and Timespan Museum. 3D digitisation was done by Catherine Cassidy and Iain Oliver with archaeological assistance provided by Jacquie Aitken.  Digitisation funded by the EU Northern Periphery and Arctic Programme 2014-2020 through the “Connected Culture and Natural Heritage in a Northern Environment” (CINE) project.