12. Ball of wool from Roswinkel, ca. 800–600 BC
This ball of wool from the Iron Age (around 600 BC) was found in the (raised) bogs near Roswinkel in southeastern Drenthe. The wool has been so well preserved because it was buried in a wet, oxygen-poor environment, where organic material does not decompose quickly. Several rare balls of wool (rolled-up skeins of wool yarn) from the late Bronze Age and early Iron Age (ca. 1000–500 BC) have been found in the peatlands of Drenthe, including in Smilde.
These balls of wool are a rare example of prehistoric textiles in the Netherlands; they show that women were already spinning wool for textiles back then. They were likely deliberately placed in the peat as ritual offerings for fertility, health, or a healthy flock of sheep.
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