eoples, 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.

In the Museum at Devizes there are several hard pieces of perforated
and fashioned chalk which offer more conclusive evidence. Of these
Mrs. M. E. Cunnington, the Curator, writes me: "All the weights here
have holes bored right through. Two large ones stand easily on the
floor. Others are more irregular in form and will not stand upright.
This latter type is, as far as I am aware, the more usual in this part
of the country. They are commonly cut out of the hard chalk, and weigh
about 3 or 4 lbs. (1.5-2 Kilos). We think these weights are loom
weights because we find them with Romano-British remains, as at
Westbury, and late Celtic remains on our chalk uplands, far from water
where fishing could have been carried on. With the same remains we
find weaving combs, numerous spindle whorls and other tools of bone
that were also probably used in weaving operations." The Westbury, in
Wiltshire, referred to, is some thirty miles in a straight line from
the mouth of the Severn, and about forty miles from the English
Channel. These pieces of chalk cannot therefore have been used as
net-sinkers, leaving out of consideration their composition; they were
found with weaving tools and they fit the position. So far the
ingenuity of our ablest archaeologists at home and abroad has not
succeeded in ascribing the use of these objects to anything else than
net-sinking or warp tension. The adaptability of the articles for use
as warp weights, the small groups in which they are found, the
discovery of weaving implements in the closest proximity, our
knowledge of the Greek representations of warp-weighted looms, the
Olafsson illustration, and the loom in the Copenhagen Museum all tend
to prove that these articles are really