_Switzerland--Lake dwellings._--Figs. 345 and 346 show stone
spindle-whorls from prehistoric Swiss lake dwellings. These are in the U.
S. National Museum, and with them are dozens of others of the same kind
and style from all other parts of Europe. Fig. 347 shows a stone
spindle-whorl from Lund, Sweden. It is in the U. S. National Museum and
was contributed by Professor Jillson. Figs. 348, 349, and 350 represent
terra-cotta spindle-whorls from the Swiss lakes. These specimens were
selected to show the different patterns, to illustrate their unlikeness
instead of their likeness, to give an understanding of the various kinds
of whorls rather than that they were all one kind, a fad which should be
kept in mind during this argument.
[Illustration: Figs. 345 and 346. STONE SPINDLE-WHORLS. Neolithic. Swiss
lake dwellings. U. S. National Museum.]
[Illustration: Fig. 347. STONE SPINDLE-WHORL. Neolithic. Lund, Sweden.
Cat. No. 5281, U. S. N. M.]
[Illustration: Fig. 348. TERRA-COTTA SPINDLE-WHORL. Neolithic or Bronze
Age. Swiss lake dwellings. Cat. No. 100642, U. S. N. M.]
[Illustration: Fig. 349. TERRA-COTTA SPINDLE-WHORL. Neolithic or Bronze
Age. Swiss lake dwellings. Cat. No. 190642, U. S. N. M.]
[Illustration: Fig. 350. TERRA-COTTA SPINDLE-WHORL. Swiss lake dwellings.
Cat. No. 100647, U. S. N. M.]
_Italy._--Figs. 351, 352, and 353 show terra-cotta spindle-whorls from
Orvieto, Italy, 78 miles north from Rome. Figs. 354 and 355 represent
spindle-whorls from Corneto, Italy, 63 miles north from Rome. As remarked
above, they have been chosen to represent the different kinds. There are
thousands of these whorls found in Italy. In the Archæological Exposition
at Turin, 1884, the number was so great that they were twined about the
columns, thereby providing a place of storage as well as a place of
display.
[Illustration: Figs. 351, 352, and 353. PREHISTORIC TERRA-COTTA
SPINDLE-WHORLS. Orvieto, Italy. Cat. Nos. 101671, 101672, U. S. N. M.]
_Wurtemburg._--Dr. Charles Rau procured for, and there is now in, the U.
S. National Museum a spindle (fig. 356) with its whorl which had been in
use for spinning from 1860 to 1870, and which he obtained in Wurtemburg,
Germany, from the woman who had used it.
[Illustration: Figs. 354 and 355. PREHISTORIC SPINDLE-WHORLS. Corneto,
Italy. Cat. No. 101773, U. S. N. M.]
_France._--The author has seen the French peasants in Brittany spinning
their thread in the same way, and once took a photograph of one in the
hamlet of Pont-Aven, Morbihan, but it failed in development. In 1893
Mr. Harle purchased at St. Gerons, Ardeche, a merchant's entire stock of
modern porcelain spindle-whorls. The manufactory was located at
Martres-Tolosane, and the trade extended throughout the Pyrenees. He
presented a series to the Société d'Anthropologie at Paris, July,
1893.[313]
[Illustration: PLATE 21. SPINDLE-WHORLS OF MODERN PORCELAIN FROM SOUTHERN
FRANCE. Cat. No. 169598, U. S. N. M.]
[Illustration: Fig. 356. MODERN SPINDLE AND WHORL USED FOR SPINNING
THREAD. Wurtemburg, Germany.]
The U. S. National Museum has lately received, through the kindness of the
École d'Anthropologie, a series of nine of these porcelain whorls (pl.
21). The wheel and modern machines for spinning have penetrated this
corner of the world, and these whorls are the last emblem of an industry
dating slightly after the advent of man on earth and already old in that
locality when Roland crossed the mountain pass near there and sounded his
"Oliphant," calling for help from Charlemagne. These are the death chant
of the industry of hand spinning in that country.