Pre-Columbian, Ecuador, Manabi culture, ca. 500 BCE and 500 CE. A group of wonderful, diverse, fired black pottery spindle whorl beads, each with different incised patterns consisting of circles, lines, and zoomorphic figures like birds and fish. Size of each bead (approximately): 0.5" W x 0.3" H (1.3 cm x 0.8 cm). Length of strand: 26.5" L (67.3 cm)

Spindle whorls are perforated disks that were used in the production of spun fiber, and as a result are the most common evidence for the production of textiles in pre-Columbian Latin America, especially in regions where there are few textiles remaining. However, they were not just utilitarian objects. For example, an excavation in the early 2000s in Belize found almost 200 broken spindle whorls in what archaeologists interpreted as a ritual deposit. Some researchers have suggested that the intricate decorations on spindle whorls were part of the attachment that women felt to the objects they used to produce goods, meaning that they took great pride and probably a sense of identity in their work.

Provenance: private Orange County, California, USA collection acquired before 2000

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#122303

Each has light wear, but the details remaining are excellent.