Finds of textile and spindle-whorls in burials of the Sargat culture: new data

The article deals with results of the analysis that is being undertaken for textile materials and ceramic spindle-whorls, which were found in a female burial of the Sargat culture in the middle Irtysh river basin (Novopokrovka IV cemetery, kurgan 1, grave 4). The authors introduce to scientific audience new finds considered rare to the Trans-Uralian and West Siberian forest-steppe such as silk and wool. The study yielded technological features of the textile samples, i.e., wool tabby weave and silk hairnet. The analyzed fragments could be parts of a hairdress with sprang cap. Spindle-whorls were produced from wheel-made pottery sherds with smoothed edges. The use-wear traces inside a hole of the first artifact are linear, such technological traces caused by perforation. The second spindle-whorl does not have such traces, however the surface is even, smooth and dense, which allows to assume that it used to be spindle or other item attachment. Concentric-shaped artifacts with a center-placed hole made of various materials in varying techniques are mostly flywheels or weights spun onto small objects. In archaeological publications such finds are usually interpreted as spindle-whorls with further attribution to weaving and spinning and among other grave goods as a marker of female burials. The authors do not dispute the spindle-whorl attribution or intended use, but consider them in a close context to textile finds. By these means, the research enhances our understanding of the various lifestyle aspects of semi-nomadic population in the West Siberian forest-steppe during the Early Iron Age.