Chalcolithic Bone Spindle Whorls in Bulgaria: Finds from the “Tilkiyuk” Settlement Mound (Sadievo, Southeastern Bulgaria)
Chalcolithic Bone Spindle Whorls in Bulgaria: Finds from the “Tilkiyuk” Settlement Mound (Sadievo, Southeastern Bulgaria)

Summary/Abstract: This study is focused on the collection of bone spindle whorls found at the Tilkiyuk settlement mound near the village of Sadievo, southeastern Bulgaria. The twelve animal bone spindle whorls are dated to the second half of the Chalcolithic period in Bulgaria (4600/4550 – 4100/3800 BC). The objects are made of the caput femoris of large ruminant species, and only one is made of scapula. The lack of whorls with trapezoidal and conical cross-section among the Tilkiyuk archaeological finds, usually made of the most common raw material (clay), posed the question about the specific development of local textile production in the settlement. These types of whorls are made of animal bones (and possibly wood), while ceramic sherds were used for flat spindle whorls. Standardization is observed in the production of bone spindle whorls – the same raw material, the same technological methods, and the same preference for two specific shapes only. The Tilkiyuk inhabitants had very good knowledge of these implements and their production. The earliest appearance of bone spindle whorls could be associated with the Middle Chalcolithic period (Maritsa IV–Karanovo V culture), but their greatest prevalence in the Late Chalcolithic cultural complex of Kodzhadermen-Gumelnitsa-Karanovo VI is a very distinctive pattern that was established in many Chalcolithic sites in Bulgaria.

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