Pole lathe
Torno de pértiga (pole lathe)
- Date
- c. 200 BCE · confidence low
- Place
- Glastonbury Lake Village, Somerset, England, United Kingdom
- Credited to
- European Iron Age craftsmen (Celts)
- Field
- Tools
⚠️ Disputed: the sources disagree.
What it is
A wood lathe whose reciprocating rotation is driven by a cord tied to a treadle and a springy pole, leaving the turner both hands free. It is inferred from the turned bowls and bracelets of the European Iron Age.
No Iron Age pole lathe has survived; its existence is inferred from the turned objects of Glastonbury and other settlements, which could have been made on a bow lathe.
What it led to
- turned tableware, table legs and handles in the medieval workshop
- the turner's trade in Europe for two thousand years
- a stepping stone to the flywheel treadle lathe