12/19 Report - Spindle Whorls & Jupiter Inlet

I was browsing through eBay last night and noticed an object that reminded me of the small stone cylinder that I showed in a post a few days ago. The object that I saw on eBay was a Precolumbian spindle whorl. That is something that I didn't know anything about.

With my curiosity aroused I did some additional research on spindle whorls and found that they were made of a wide variety of types of material including sandstone. The mystery object that I showed looked to be made of a rough stone like sandstone.

My research then led to a great web site that shows photos of a number of sandstone whorls and a lot (and I do mean lot) of other types of artifacts, including some coins.

Here is the link to that web site. You might find it interesting.

http://www.finds.org.uk/database/search/results/material/2/page/18

While I do not believe that my object is a spindle whorl, I do believe it could possibly be one. I haven't positively identified the item yet, but seeing the example of a similarly shaped spindle whorl opened up that possibility to me and also helped me to see the object in a new light. It "might" be older and of a different use than anything I originally considered.

I often say that finding an object is just the beginning. The research that follows is often more fun and more educational than the original find. Not only did I find a nice new web site full of information to browse, but I learned a lot in the process of researching my item even if I haven't yet concluded what it is. There is more research and learning ahead for me on that subject, and I'm glad I learned a little something about spindle whorls.

The same web site offers a large number of photos of found coins. Here is the beginning of the post-medieval coin section.

http://www.finds.org.uk/database/search/results/objecttype/coin/broadperiod/Post+Medieval/page/1

Quite a nice web site for browsing British archaeological finds. Too bad the US educational/scientific community doesn't do such a good job of making things easily accessible for the tax-paying public. There are enough graduate students sitting around wasting time on public assistance that could easily do something worthwhile.


While researching another object (a tin ornament from a Seminole head dress found a number of years ago by a now deceased detectorist near the area of the original fort of Fort Pierce) I located a nice paper discussing the movement of the Jupiter inlet. The article is from The Tequesta and contains a lot of good and interesting information that you might want to read.

Here is the link.

http://ufdc.ufl.edu/UF00101446/00041/16j

The account of the Jupiter inlet is found on pages 14 - 16. The old location is mentioned as well as the new location of sand that was moved from the old inlet to new location.

There are a lot of good hints there.

I was originally trying to locate a good photo of a tin headdress ornament and failed to do so. If anyone can point me to a picture of Seminole head-dresses, I would sure like to hear from you.


Forecast and Conditions.

The wind is out of the northwest again. This is a cool front, not like the last cold front. Seas will increase to about five feet on Monday. That is some improvement but won't be sustained.

It's just pretty much more of the same.


Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net