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Thailand Spinning

According to Wikipedia (not a great source, but it’s where I start), not much is known about Thailand before the 13th century. [1] I'm wondering if that's why I'm not finding anything.

 

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So this spinning wheel was gifted to the US National Museum during the STL world fair in 1904.[2] It looks like an Indian wheel that's lost several strings to me! It also looks like it lost its spindle.

 

Whorls for cotton thread have been found in excavation sites in Sukhothai.[3] But I’m not sure what these would have looked like. My guess would have been a takli, especially with all the other Indian influences they have had, but I wouldn’t consider the takli a two piece spindle.

Found that they used hemp as a major fiber type.[3] The hemp is treated very similarly to flax, where it's dried and retted, then the fibers are spun. That's been spun in Thailand since 3,000 BCE.[3]

The silk has been dated to 1,000-300 BCE.[3] How did it get there? Not sure. It's very similar to Chinese silk. One theory is that they had their own silk worms to play with, but Northern Thailand definitely had silk in the first century BCE.

Cotton was imported from India as early as 100 CE.[3] With the date of these imports, it's likely that cotton was also grown, just in small amounts. By the 12th century cotton was a cash crop.​

thailand spinning.jpg

References

[1] “History of Thailand.” Wikipedia, June 7, 2025. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Thailand.

[2] “Thai Spinning Wheel 19th C.,” Original catalog card describes this as a spinning wheel. Part of an acquisition in 1905 by the US National Museum, from the St. Louis World’s Fair of 1904, of Thai (Siamese) textile-working tools and equipment from the Royal Siamese Commission., n.d., National Museum of History , Bering Center.

[3] Jackson, “Thai Traditional Fabrics: 3,000 Years in 15 Minutes,” My Thailand , May 20, 2019, https://www.mythailand.blog/2019/01/14/thai-traditional-fabrics/amp/.

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