Cyprus Spinning
Cyprus had large scale wool productions, more than just in the home, as early as the late Bronze Age. In the first millennium BCE, spinning and weaving was done both inside the house as well as in workshops.
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Spindles were two-piece constructions, with stone or terracotta for the whorl and wood for the spindle.[1]
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I really wanted to find out more about the wheels in Cyprus, but research is being stubborn. I'll see if I can find more on it later.
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Clay spindle whorl from Cyprus.[4]
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A woodblock engraving of a Cyprus woman spinning. It’s interesting that she has the wheel tilted. I like it.[5]
References
[1] Joanna S. Smith, “Changes in Weaving on the Warp-Weighted Loom on Cyprus,” Cahiers Du Centre d’Etudes Chypriotes, no. 49 (December 1, 2019): 129–44, https://doi.org/10.4000/cchyp.461.
[2] Terracotta Spindle Whorls, Met Museum, accessed June 22, 2025, https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/240498.
[3] Tristam Ellis, Spinning Wheel in Cyprus, July 15, 2011, photograph, Getty Images, July 15, 2011, https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/illustration/spinning-wheel-in-cyprus-royalty-free-illustration/184314918?adppopup=true.