If you spin with a distaff of the type shown here, you can walk and spin (with a spindle) at the same time. Other types of distaffs are attached to stools on which the spinsters sit, or to the ...

These objects were placed on top of a spindle which gave it momentum when ... the Iron Age and into the 17 th century when the spinning wheel became more common. The whorl from Tønsberg, made ...

Spindle whorls form a device similar to the wheel and axle to help the spindle ... researchers studying ancient whorls would be skilled in spinning themselves, which the study authors were not.