Spinning
The origins of spinning fibre to make string or yarn are lost in time, but archaeological evidence in the form of representation of string skirts has been dated to the Upper Paleolithic era some 20,000 years ago.[1] There has also been recent discovery of plied cord spun by Neanderthals and dating back 41,000-52,000 years.[2] In the earliest type of spinning, tufts of animal hair or plant fibre are rolled down the thigh with the hand, and additional tufts are added as needed until the desired length of spun fibre is achieved.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hand_spinning#:~:text=The%20origins%20of%20spinning%20fibre,of%20spun%20fibre%20is%20achieved.
Early Spinning 10,000 years ago.
Woman spinning. Detail from an Ancient Greek attic white-ground oinochoe, ca. 490 BC, from Locri, Italy. British Museum, London.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hand_spinning#/media/File:Woman_spinning_BM_VaseD13.jpg
And this Roman rope maker, sculpted on a sarcophagus, uses his thigh to support the spindle, while a voluminous mass of fibres is attached to the ceiling. The carving looks crude because of damage and erosion, but it must have once been of fine quality.
https://herculeaf.wordpress.com/2016/12/16/spinning-a-thread-through-voynich-q13a/
The (lineen) fibres they used were spun wet, so they are placed in buckets of water on the floor. This gave them the freedom to work two spindles at once, presumably doubling their output. The buckets are on the floor, but the universal rule still applies: the hand which holds the fibres is higher than the one which flicks the spindle. It is also interesting to note that the figure on the left is using his thigh for a more balanced spin, just like in the Roman example.
A man from Ramallah spinning wool. Hand-tinted photograph from 1919, restored.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hand_spinning#/media/File:Ramallah_spinner2.jpg
Anasazi around 1500 BCE
Early civilization in Arizona and southern Colorado.
The Navajo tribes were originally from northwestern Canada. They migrated south sometime in the 1300s or 1400s and learned spinning and weaving from the Pueblo people who spun cotton. The Spaniards didn't bring sheep into the Americas until the late 1500s, so the Navajo started their spinning careers with cotton.
