#FindsFriday – Loomweights

This week for #FindsFriday, we are answering the age old question… what is a loom weight??

Loom weights are often made from fired clay, or sometimes stone, and when found on an archaeological site, loom weights are indicative of textile production at the siteor nearby. They are incredibly important for our understanding, as many of the other objects involved in textile production such as the wooden looms do not survive

Although made in a variety of shapes, the triangular loom weight originated from the Middle Iron Age and were used into the early Roman period. In the Iron Age, the warp-weighted loom was in use, and loom weights would have been used to bundle up the warp threads that would hang from the loom, and keep them taut for weaving

In 2021, at the Heckfords, Great Bentley site, CAT found a selection of triangular loom weight fragments dated to the Late Iron Age/early Roman period (pictured).

To learn more about the Heckfords loom weights, check out CAT Report 1740: https://cat.essex.ac.uk/