While we had a great array of finds, including pottery, from the big longhouse this year one find really stuck out: a small circular stone, with a central whole, thought to be a spindle whorl, effectively a weight fitted to a spindle while hand spinning textiles, to increase and maintain the speed of the spin. The stone, which is only around 5cm in diameter, has been carefully shaped to be symmetrical, but what has really excited the team are the symbols and designs carved onto one surface…


Spindle whorls are often been decorated - the spinning action would bring life to these shapes much like the old spinning top toy. While we certainly have abstract shapes on the Glenshee example, some of the symbols look like they could be writing, but we'll have to wait until we have an expert look at these.