SPINDLE WHORLS OF THE SOUTHEASTERN BALTIC REGION (BASED ON THE MATERIALS OF THE KALININGRAD PENINSULA, 1th-8th CENTURIES)
Spindle whorls of the Sambian-Natangian culture of the 1st-5th centuries and the early medieval culture of the Prussians dating to the 6th-8th centuries are found in female graves and at settlements. During the Roman period these items were represented by the types characteristic for neighboring Central European cultures, in particular, the Wielbark culture. Some items are imported. The earliest spindle whorls have been found in inhumation burials of the Early Roman period, they became a typical item of the funerary assemblages starting from the first half - middle of the 2nd century. Characteristic forms of the items existed during a long period, and can be found in the contexts related to the Migration period and the Merovingian dynasty period. The forms of the spindle whorls discovered at the unfortified settlements in the Kaliningrad peninsula dating to the first millennium AD are similar to those found in burials.