It has, I believe, been suggested more than once that some of the perforated stones, pieces of burnt clay, pieces of chalk and like objects may be and are net-sinkers, and there is some justification for Dr. Kimakovicz-Winnicki’s statement that the pyramidic forms are not warp weights; but it does not follow that all the perforated articles are either spindle-holders or net-sinkers, yet that is what his subsequent statements lead one to infer. It is, however, difficult to prove that these perforated articles are warp weights.

Fig. 34.—Side view and section of chalk warp weight found at Great Driffield. Of three of the weights the following dimensions were taken:

7¾"(19·7 cm.)long,2 lbs. 3 oz.(1·0 k)
6"(15·2 ” )”1 lb. 8 oz.(0·7 k)
63/8"(16·2 ” )”1 lb. 3 oz.(0·6 k)

Hull Museum.

Fig. 35.—“Chalk weight, 6" × 4" × 2" (15·2 cm. × 10·2 × 5·1), similar to those found in pits, at Mount Caburn and Cissbury near Worthing, Sussex. Found with eighteen more in the filling of pit 7, Winkelbury Hill.” Excavations in Winkelbury Camp, by Lieut.-Gen. Pitt-Rivers (Excavations in Cranbourne Chase, Vol. II., 1888). As Pitt-Rivers also found at Winkelbury the fragment of a comb and a chalk spindle whorl, which are textile tools, we may safely presume these fashioned pieces of chalk are warp weights.

In 1875 several flat irregular oblong perforated pieces of soft chalk were found in enlarging the cattle market in Great Driffield, Yorkshire; they were found in a hole about three feet deep with Anglo-Saxon potsherds, animal remains, and bits of iron. They can now be seen in the Mortimer Collection in the Hull Museum. They consist of pieces of chalk, similar to those which drop annually in thousands upon thousands down the cliffs from the boulder clay between Bridlington and Flamborough. On some a shoulder has been cut, [Fig. 34], most have one perforation, but in a few specimens, where the thin portion above the hole has been broken off, a second hole has been made. None of them can stand unsupported. Owing to the soluble nature of the chalk they could not have been used as net-sinkers in the sea (about nine miles off) for they would quickly dissolve in salt water, and the same holds good in regard to fresh water, although in a lesser degree. But I do not think they were used even in fresh water as net-sinkers, for it was a characteristic of primitive peoples, with whom time was of no account, to do their work thoroughly—what they made was intended to last, and chalk net-sinkers would not have lasted. That these were found in a limited quantity, I believe about seventeen in number, tends to show that they are warp weights, for only a few are required for every loom, in spite of the considerable number shown in the non-technical illustration of Penelope’s loom. Not being able to find any other use for these pieces of chalk, and judging that they are suitable for the purpose, I should say they are warp weights. In this case the weaver has made the most of what nature has given him; in other parts of England he has had to fashion the weight out of the rough chalk, [Fig. 35].