Description

Summary: 1 bone bobbin perforated in centre with flared ends, find no# 895, from Context 2916, Blackberry Field, Potterne, a late bronze/ early iron age settlement excavated by Lawson et al 1983-85

Research results

A Bronze Age bone or antler balance arm, found in a late Bronze Age Midden in Potterne, excavated by Lawson et al. 1983-1985. Originally identified as a bobbin, more recently it was realised that this is one of only 18 known Bronze Age balance arms in Europe; a pan would have hung from either end of the arm which was suspended from its central perforation. From their relative scarcity it is assumed that the majority must have been made of wood, or other more perishable materials.

This object was examined by Hermann et al. (2020) who created replica pieces of this and other complete balance arms in order to gain an insight into their production, as well as thier use. The hard bone was found to be difficult to drill and work into shape (and indeed one of the attempted Potterne replica's broke during production!). The oblique perforations at the terminals were argued to be further indirect evidence of the use of a lathe in the Bronze Age, as their position corresponds with divots left by the tool which could have been used as a guides, the use of a lathe also reduced the time it took to finish the tool from days to hours. These bone balance arms were also found to be surprisingly strong, in some cases able to take weights of up to over 25kg before breaking!