This item is one of many that the SHARP team have excavated over the years. It is known as a heckle tooth or fibre processing spike. This fine example, made from iron, was found by Simon Lock whist excavating in Trench 20 in 2015.
As the picture below demonstrates, the spikes or teeth were set into a wooden block in rows of 2 or more. They were known to have been used in preparing both wool and flax fibres. Similar spikes were used for hundreds of years but most of the heckle teeth found at Sedgeford come from a secure Anglo-Saxon context.
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