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Related: About this forumEnigmatic Stone Balls from 5,000 Years Ago Continue to Baffle Archaeologists
By Tom Metcalfe, Live Science Contributor | June 18, 2018 07:13 am ET
- click for image -
The 3D models of the carved balls of stone, including the spiral-carved Towie ball (center), are now posted online.
Credit: National Museums Scotland
Some of the most enigmatic human-made objects from Europe's late Stone Age intricately carved balls of stone, each about the size of a baseball continue to baffle archaeologists more than 200 years after they were first discovered.
More than 500 of the enigmatic objects have now been found, most of them in northeast Scotland, but also in the Orkney Islands, England, Ireland and one in Norway.
Archaeologists still don't know the original purpose or meaning of the Neolithic stone balls, which are recognized as some of the finest examples of Neolithic art found anywhere in the world. But now, they've created virtual 3D models of the gorgeous balls, primarily to share with the public. In addition, the models have revealed some new details, including once-hidden patterns in the carvings on the balls. [See More Photos of the Intricately Carved Stone Balls]
Hugo Anderson-Whymark, a curator at National Museums Scotland who created the online models, explained that many functions have been proposed for the stone balls over the years.
More:
https://www.livescience.com/62843-enigmatic-stone-balls-scotland.html?utm_source=ls-newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=20180618-ls
The Velveteen Ocelot
(115,879 posts)JoeOtterbein
(7,702 posts)Maybe the different carvings, some of which have also been on "burial chambers" according to the article, were the "brands" of different "teams" of the times?
Definitely cool!
Sophia4
(3,515 posts)My young grandson loves to collect sticks and stones. It's just a natural thing to try to make them more interesting than nature does.
Sophia4
(3,515 posts)Maybe it was a sort of sport.
And making the stones, carving them, was probably also a lot of fun.
JoeOtterbein
(7,702 posts)we likely had just has much fun 5000 years-ago. For good reason if throwing, hitting and kicking are your thing because you would likely also be better at killing predators as well as prey. But round objects are almost impossible to find on land, so we had to make them ourselves. Just as we do with the many types of "round objects" we play with now.
Or maybe the different carvings were to identify how the which balls where used for different sports. Like we have baseballs. basketballs etc. now.
Sophia4
(3,515 posts)JoeOtterbein
(7,702 posts)just like now. The original tailgate party! Thanks for the super-smart idea Sophia!
eppur_se_muova
(36,301 posts)... hence the origin of kilts.