Ludmila Avilova

The article considers a series of fi nds from several royal burials of the Bronze Age in Anatolia. The fi nds comprise spindles with spindle whorls, of bronze and precious metals. The author compares the objects in question and the replicas of carpenters’ tools, also made of precious metals, which are known in elite complexes of the Near East. The precious “implements”, unsuitable for practical usage, fi nd their place among the supreme symbols of royal power (regalia, weapons and vessels). The sacralization of labor through making symbolic (non-functional) tool replicas of precious metals was an important feature of early stratifi ed societies. Such objects had a strong semantic charge, visualizing the hierarchical structure of society. Their presence in burial complexes refl ects a major notion of the cult of the dead, that the deceased ancestor (king-priest or queenpriestess) provide for the well-being of the living descendants, the family and, broader, of the community, the state, and the world order in general. The spindle is also included in the list of objects that have symbolic meaning: as a tool it belonged to the sphere of everyday women’s activities, yet it was also part of the sacred aspect of these activities, being connected with procreation and magic healing practices.