Iron heckle tooth. From BS 1965-71, Brook Street site, Winchester, Hampshire.

Iron heckle, or wool comb tooth

Medieval, probably 13th or 14th century

Found during excavations by the Winchester Excavations Committee in the Brooks area of Winchester in the late 1960s

Teeth like these were mounted into a wooden haft and used for disentangling wool and flax fibres before spinning in late Saxon and medieval times. More information about this object can be found in Professor Martin Biddle's (1990) book, Winchester Studies 7.ii, Object and Economy in Medieval Winchester, catalogue number 61.