Monday, December 28, 2015

Professional spinners

14 Incredible Archaeological Discoveries Made In 2015
see http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/archaeological-finds-2015_5678360be4b0b958f6574ff4?utm_hp_ref=science



The more we look, the more we find ancient artifacts that demonstrate a professional craftsmanship that cannot be acquired by subsistence workers (e.g., women spinning in the home). This does not mean that women were not spinning in the home, just as a brewery does not mean that women were not making beer in homes. However, the presence of fine gold, breweries, and fine mosaics means that there were classes of full time professional craftsmen. If there professional goldsmiths, brewers and builders, then there were also classes of professional spinners and weavers.

From Anglo-Saxon times, textile centers in Europe imported English wool, and had factories making cloth. That does not mean that home spinners and weavers in England did not make textiles, Rather it means that at the time there were classes of full time professional spinners and weavers that produced high-end textiles.

You know that the above was not worn with  "homespun" clothing.
The clothing was a fine as the gold work,
it just did not survive as well.



2 comments:

purplespirit1 said...

You and your "women spinning in the home". Yet another sexist, condescending blog post. Your wife must have incredibly low self esteem to stay with you.

Aaron said...

A spinner working alone in a croft is limited as to space and capital equipment. In contrast, a hand spinning factory can share the overhead of more capital equipment among many spinners. and can have more expertise than an single spinner can have. The Victorian myth of croft spinners violates basic industrial economics and engineering. On the other hand, the Victorian hand spinners had very low expectations as to the quality of their spinning

My wife happens to be the very best in the world at what she does, and with due modesty, she knows it. Nobody, but nobody can write a winning environmental services proposal that maximizes profit and minimizes risk like she can. There are better editors, there are better graphic designers, but as far as putting out a winning document, she is the best.

While we were at Bechtel she developed a deep knowledge of industrial economics and engineering. This knowledge lets her develop "win themes" that are profitable.

It takes a team to spin the yarns for an elaborate tapestry. And, it takes a team to put out a good proposal. The best science professionals tend to be as independent as cats. It turns out that one my wife's great skills is that she can herd cats. This is an important skill for any manager producing large technical documents.

My wife tells me that I am the most analytical person that she knows. I am the person that can develop a dispassionate, multi-dimensional analysis of a situation. What you call "sexist, condescending" is merely a engineering and economic analysis of per spinner quantity and quality of production. Unlike you, I know how extremely productive a DRS wheel can be, and how hard it is to keep running and producing a specific grist.