![Towriepetrosphere](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a5/Towriepetrosphere.jpg)
Carved stone balls are
petrospheres dated from the late
Neolithic
The Neolithic period, or New Stone Age, is an Old World archaeological period and the final division of the Stone Age. It saw the Neolithic Revolution, a wide-ranging set of developments that appear to have arisen independently in several p ...
, to possibly as late as the
Iron Age
The Iron Age is the final epoch of the three-age division of the prehistory and protohistory of humanity. It was preceded by the Stone Age ( Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic) and the Bronze Age ( Chalcolithic). The concept has been mostl ...
, mainly found in
Scotland
Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...
, but also elsewhere in Britain and Ireland. They are usually round and rarely oval, and of fairly uniform size at around inches or 7 cm across, with anything between 3 and 160 protruding knobs on the surface. They range from having no ornamentation (apart from the knobs) to extensive and highly varied engraved patterns.
[ A wide range of theories has been produced to explain their use or significance, with none gaining very wide acceptance.
They are not to be confused with the much larger smooth round ]stone spheres of Costa Rica
The stone spheres of Costa Rica are an assortment of over 300 petrospheres in Costa Rica, on the Diquís Delta and on Isla del Caño. Locally, they are also known as bolas de piedra (literally stone balls). The spheres are commonly attributed t ...
.
Age and distribution
Carved stone balls date as old as 5,200 years old, coming from the late Neolithic to at least the Bronze Age
The Bronze Age is a historic period, lasting approximately from 3300 BC to 1200 BC, characterized by the use of bronze, the presence of writing in some areas, and other early features of urban civilization. The Bronze Age is the second prin ...
.[
Nearly all have been found in north-east Scotland, the majority in Aberdeenshire, the fertile land lying to the east of the ]Grampian Mountains
The Grampian Mountains (''Am Monadh'' in Gaelic) is one of the three major mountain ranges in Scotland, that together occupy about half of Scotland. The other two ranges are the Northwest Highlands and the Southern Uplands. The Grampian rang ...
. A similar distribution to that of Pict
The Picts were a group of peoples who lived in what is now northern and eastern Scotland (north of the Firth of Forth) during Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages. Where they lived and what their culture was like can be inferred from ear ...
ish symbols led to the early suggestion that carved stone balls are Pictish artefacts.[ The core distribution also reflects that of the Recumbent stone circles. As objects they are very easy to transport and a few have been found on Iona, Skye, ]Harris
Harris may refer to:
Places Canada
* Harris, Ontario
* Northland Pyrite Mine (also known as Harris Mine)
* Harris, Saskatchewan
* Rural Municipality of Harris No. 316, Saskatchewan
Scotland
* Harris, Outer Hebrides (sometimes called the Isle of ...
, Uist
"Uist" is a group of six islands and are part of the Outer Hebridean Archipelago, part of the Outer Hebrides of Scotland.
North Uist and South Uist ( or ; gd, Uibhist ) are two of the islands and are linked by causeways running via the isles ...
, Lewis
Lewis may refer to:
Names
* Lewis (given name), including a list of people with the given name
* Lewis (surname), including a list of people with the surname
Music
* Lewis (musician), Canadian singer
* "Lewis (Mistreated)", a song by Radiohead ...
, Arran, Hawick
Hawick ( ; sco, Haaick; gd, Hamhaig) is a town in the Scottish Borders council area and historic county of Roxburghshire in the east Southern Uplands of Scotland. It is south-west of Jedburgh and south-south-east of Selkirk. It is one ...
, Wigtownshire
Wigtownshire or the County of Wigtown (, ) is one of the historic counties of Scotland, covering an area in the south-west of the country. Until 1975, Wigtownshire was an administrative county used for local government. Since 1975 the area has f ...
and fifteen from Orkney. Outside Scotland examples have been found in Ireland
Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...
at Ballymena, in England at Durham Durham most commonly refers to:
*Durham, England, a cathedral city and the county town of County Durham
*County Durham, an English county
* Durham County, North Carolina, a county in North Carolina, United States
*Durham, North Carolina, a city in N ...
, Cumbria
Cumbria ( ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in North West England, bordering Scotland. The county and Cumbria County Council, its local government, came into existence in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972. C ...
, Lowick, and Bridlington
Bridlington is a coastal town and a civil parish on the Holderness Coast of the North Sea in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. It is about north of Hull and east of York. The Gypsey Race enters the North Sea at its harbour. The 2011 ...
. A single example was found in Norway in a medieval cairn. Recent theory is that the Norway example was carried home by a Viking from an expedition to Scotland.[ The larger (90mm diameter) balls are all from Aberdeenshire, bar one from Newburgh in Fife.
By the late 1970s, a total of 387 had been recorded.][ Of these, by far the greatest concentration (169) was found in Aberdeenshire. By 1983 the number had risen to 411][ and by 2015 over 425 balls had been recorded.][ A collection of over 30 carved balls from Scotland, Ireland and northern England is held by the ]British Museum
The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It docum ...
.[
]
Archaeological context
Many of the balls have not had their discovery site recorded and most are found as a result of agricultural activity. Five were found at the Neolithic settlement of Skara Brae
Skara Brae is a stone-built Neolithic settlement, located on the Bay of Skaill on the west coast of Mainland, the largest island in the Orkney archipelago of Scotland. Consisting of ten clustered houses, made of flagstones, in earthen dams ...
and one at the Dunadd
Dunadd (Scottish Gaelic ''Dún Ad'', "fort on the iverAdd") is a hillfort in Argyll and Bute, Scotland, dating from the Iron Age and early medieval period and is believed to be the capital of the ancient kingdom of Dál Riata. Dal Riata was a ki ...
hillfort. The distribution of the balls is similar to that of mace-heads, which were both weapons and prestige objects used in ceremonial situations.[ The lack of context is likely to distort the interpretation. Random finds are only likely to have been picked up and entered a collection if they were aesthetically appealing. Damaged and plain balls were less likely to find a market than decorated examples so some more decorated examples might be fraudulent.
Balls of plain sandstone with the facets from shaping still clearly visible were found at ]Traprain Law
Traprain Law is a hill east of Haddington, East Lothian, Scotland, It is the site of a hill fort or possibly ''oppidum'', which covered at its maximum extent about . It is the site of the Traprain Law Treasure, the largest Roman silver hoard ...
in East Lothian. A significant number have already been found here and are known from other southern Scottish Iron Age sites. They may date from the fourth to third centuries BC. These balls are not ornamented and do not have knobs.[
In 2013, archaeologists discovered a carved stone ball at ]Ness of Brodgar
The Ness of Brodgar is an archaeological site covering between the Ring of Brodgar and the Stones of Stenness in the Heart of Neolithic Orkney World Heritage Site in Orkney, Scotland. Excavations at the site began in 2003. The site has provided ...
, a rare find of such an object ''in situ'' in "a modern archaeological context".[ Early, undecorated, polished stone balls have also been found 'in-situ' inside a 5,500 year-old tomb at Tresness on Orkney by Professor Vicki Cummings.]
Physical characteristics
Materials
Many balls are said to be made of " greenstone", but this is a general term for all varieties of dark, greenish igneous rocks, including diorites
Diorite ( ) is an intrusive igneous rock formed by the slow cooling underground of magma (molten rock) that has a moderate content of silica and a relatively low content of alkali metals. It is intermediate in composition between low-silic ...
, serpentinite
Serpentinite is a rock composed predominantly of one or more serpentine group minerals, the name originating from the similarity of the texture of the rock to that of the skin of a snake. Serpentinite has been called ''serpentine'' or ''se ...
, and altered basalt
Basalt (; ) is an aphanitic (fine-grained) extrusive igneous rock formed from the rapid cooling of low-viscosity lava rich in magnesium and iron (mafic lava) exposed at or very near the surface of a rocky planet or moon. More than 90 ...
s. Including Old Red Sandstone, 43 are sandstone, 26 greenstone, 12 quartzite
Quartzite is a hard, non- foliated metamorphic rock which was originally pure quartz sandstone.Essentials of Geology, 3rd Edition, Stephen Marshak, p 182 Sandstone is converted into quartzite through heating and pressure usually related to tec ...
, and 9 were serpentinite
Serpentinite is a rock composed predominantly of one or more serpentine group minerals, the name originating from the similarity of the texture of the rock to that of the skin of a snake. Serpentinite has been called ''serpentine'' or ''se ...
; these had been carved. Some were made of gabbro
Gabbro () is a phaneritic (coarse-grained), mafic intrusive igneous rock formed from the slow cooling of magnesium-rich and iron-rich magma into a holocrystalline mass deep beneath the Earth's surface. Slow-cooling, coarse-grained gabbro is ch ...
– a difficult material to carve. Round and oval natural shaped sandstones are sometimes found.
Examples made from hornblende
Hornblende is a complex inosilicate series of minerals. It is not a recognized mineral in its own right, but the name is used as a general or field term, to refer to a dark amphibole. Hornblende minerals are common in igneous and metamorphic rock ...
gneiss
Gneiss ( ) is a common and widely distributed type of metamorphic rock. It is formed by high-temperature and high-pressure metamorphic processes acting on formations composed of igneous or sedimentary rocks. Gneiss forms at higher temperatures a ...
and granitic gneiss were noted, both very difficult stone to work. Granitic rocks were also used and the famous Towie example may be serpentinised picrite
Picrite basalt or picrobasalt is a variety of high-magnesium olivine basalt that is very rich in the mineral olivine. It is dark with yellow-green olivine phenocrysts (20-50%) and black to dark brown pyroxene, mostly augite.
The olivine-rich p ...
. The highly ornamented examples were mainly made of sandstone or serpentine.[ A significant number have not as yet been fully inspected or tested to ascertain their composition.
]
Experimental archaeology
Full replicas have been made using authentic manufacturing techniques (pecking and grinding) by A.T. Young.[ It was shown that they could be made using prehistoric technology with no recourse to the use of metal tools.][
]
Size, shape, and knobs
Of the 387 carved stone balls known in 1976 (now about 425), 375 are about 70 mm in diameter, but twelve are known with diameters of 90 to 114 mm. Only 7 are oval. They are therefore about the size of tennis balls or oranges. Nearly half have 6 knobs.
:
Ornamentation
The decoration used falls into three categories:
* those with spirals
* those with concentric circles
* those with patterns of straight incised lines and hatchings
More than one design is used on the same ball and the standard of artwork varies from the extremely crude to the highly expert which only an exceptionally skilled craftsman could have produced. Some balls have designs on the interspaces between the knobs which must be significant in the context of the speculated use of these artefacts.
Twenty-six of the six-knobbed balls are decorated. The Orkney examples are unusual, being either all ornamented or otherwise unusual in appearance, such as the lack, bar one example, of the frequently found six-knobbed type. Metal may have been used to work some of the designs.
The Towie ball has some design similarities with the carvings on the Folkton Drums. These were found in a tumulus
A tumulus (plural tumuli) is a mound of earth and stones raised over a grave or graves. Tumuli are also known as barrows, burial mounds or ''kurgans'', and may be found throughout much of the world. A cairn, which is a mound of stones bu ...
in England and are made of chalk
Chalk is a soft, white, porous, sedimentary carbonate rock. It is a form of limestone composed of the mineral calcite and originally formed deep under the sea by the compression of microscopic plankton that had settled to the sea floor. Ch ...
with elaborate carvings, among which are distinct oculi
An oculus (; ) is a circular opening in the center of a dome or in a wall. Originating in antiquity, it is a feature of Byzantine and Neoclassical architecture. It is also known as an '' œil-de-boeuf'' from the French, or simply a "bull's- ...
or eyes.[ Concentric carved lines on stone balls appear to be stylised oculi. This ball also has a roughly triangular arrangement of three dots in an interspace between the knobs. This appears to be identical to the arrangement of dots found on the Parkhill silver chain terminal ring, found near Aberdeen, a Pictish artefact. It is possible that the dots represent a name, as some of the Pictish symbols at least are thought to represent personal names.][
Spirals or plastic ornament which is similar to Grooved Ware is found on the Aberdeenshire examples, this being a type of late Neolithic pottery not known in the north-east but common in Orkney and Fife. The New Grange carvings in Ireland show strong similarities to those found on some balls. A continuous spiral is found on one and elements of chevrons, zig-zags and concentric triangles are also found, stimulating comparisons with ]petrosomatoglyph
A petrosomatoglyph is a supposed image of parts of a human or animal body in rock. They occur all over the world, often functioning as an important form of symbolism, used in religious and secular ceremonies, such as the crowning of kings. Some a ...
symbolism. Mostly the different knobs have different or sometimes no ornamentation. A 'golf-ball' variety of ornamentation is found on a few balls. The carving does not appear to have any practical purpose in general, however it has been suggested that one type, with very distinct knobs, was used for processing copper ores (see under 'Function'). Some of the bold triangles and criss-cross incisions seem to be more Iron Age in character than Neolithic or Bronze Age.[
]
Function
Suggested ceremonial use
* The possible use of the balls as oracles has been suggested. The way in which the ball came to rest could be interpreted as a message from the gods or an answer to a question.
* An alternative or supplementary use could have been as the 'right to speak' where discussions are controlled by the requirement for the speaker to hold the carved stone ball or if not, then keep their peace and listen to the views of others. The balls are of a size that fits comfortably in one hand.
Suggested practical use
* Some of the balls have grooves or interspaces between the knobs into which leather could be tied so as to make a device such as a bolas
Bolas or bolases (singular bola; from Spanish and Portuguese ''bola'', "ball", also known as a ''boleadora'' or ''boleadeira'') is a type of throwing weapon made of weights on the ends of interconnected cords, used to capture animals by entan ...
. Their use as weapons was suggested by many researchers but in recent years this idea has fallen from favour.
* One suggestion saw the balls as movable poises on a primitive weighing machine, following the logic of the remarkable uniformity in size shown by a good number of these carefully made objects. However, it has been shown that their weights vary so considerably that mathematically they could not be considered part of a system of weight measurement.
* 'Sink stones' (fishing weights) found in Denmark and Ireland have some slight similarities, these artefacts being used in conjunction with fishing nets.[
* Another possible use for the stones would be in the working of hides. Into the 20th century leatherworkers polished leather, parchment, and hides, by tying the skins to a frame using a ball at each corner of the hide then rubbing down material being worked with stones. The corners of the hides were wrapped around the balls which allowed the bindings to hold fast without slipping off. In more modern times, the balls were often made from scraps of the material being worked and the leather was cut away from the balls when the polishing was finished. This caused the balls to grow in size until the process had to be started over by replacing the oversized balls with scraps and beginning a new ball.
]
Megalith construction aid
A theory on the movement of megalithic stones for monuments has been put forward as a result of an observed correlation between standing stone circles and a concentration of carved stone balls. The suggestion is that the stone balls might have been used like ball bearing
A ball bearing is a type of rolling-element bearing that uses balls to maintain the separation between the bearing races.
The purpose of a ball bearing is to reduce rotational friction and support radial and axial loads. It achieves this ...
s for transporting big stones.[
Many of the late Neolithic stone balls have diameters differing by only a millimetre, suggesting that uniform size was important for their purpose. This led to the suggestion that they might have been meant to be used together, or interchangeably.
By mapping find-sites in Aberdeenshire, Scotland, it can be shown that often these small stone spheres were found in the vicinity of Neolithic megalithic circles.
To test the proposal, experimental archeologists built a model system, substituting hard wooden balls made to the same size. The balls were placed into grooves cut in parallel longitudinal wooden 'sleepers'; these supported an overlying carrying-board that the giant test stone rode on. At least in the situation tested, the model showed such heavy transport to be practical.][
]
Platonic solids
The carved stone balls have been taken as evidence of knowledge of the five Platonic solids
In geometry, a Platonic solid is a convex, regular polyhedron in three-dimensional Euclidean space. Being a regular polyhedron means that the faces are congruent (identical in shape and size) regular polygons (all angles congruent and all edges c ...
a millennium before Plato described them. Indeed, some of them exhibit the symmetries of Platonic solids, but the extent of this and how much it depends on mathematical understanding is disputed, as configurations resembling the solids can naturally arise when placing knobs around a sphere. There does not appear to be much special attention given to the Platonic solid arrangements over less symmetrical arrangements of knobs over the balls, and some of the five solids do not appear.[
]
See also
* List of prehistoric artworks
* Brain balls In Irish history and legend, brain balls () are small stone-like balls claimed to have been made from the heads or brains of enemies. No examples that modern analysis confirms as human have survived.
Description
In literature and legend
In Geoff ...
, in Irish archaeology proposed balls made from calcification of enemy's brains
* Dodecahedra
In geometry, a dodecahedron (Greek , from ''dōdeka'' "twelve" + ''hédra'' "base", "seat" or "face") or duodecahedron is any polyhedron with twelve flat faces. The most familiar dodecahedron is the regular dodecahedron with regular pentagon ...
* Roman dodecahedron
A Roman dodecahedron or Gallo-Roman dodecahedron is a small hollow object made of copper alloy which has been cast into a regular dodecahedral shape: twelve flat pentagonal faces, each face having a circular hole of varying diameter in the midd ...
* Marble (toy)
A marble is a small spherical object often made from glass, clay, steel, plastic, or agate. They vary in size, and most commonly are about in diameter. These toys can be used for a variety of games called ''marbles'', as well being placed in mar ...
References
Sources
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External links
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{{Prehistoric technology, state=expanded
Archaeological artefact types
Prehistoric art
Rock art in Europe
Ball games
Bronze Age Scotland
Archaeological sites in Aberdeenshire
Neolithic Scotland
English sculpture
Irish sculpture
Scottish sculpture