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Hundreds of similar stone balls, each the size of a baseball, have been found at various Neolithic sites, primarily in Scotland and the Orkney Islands, but also in England, Ireland, and even Norway.
Some of them are ornately carved, such as the famous Towie ball, discovered in North East Scotland in 1860.
Early researchers suggested a version according to which bullets could be used as weapons, which is why they were sometimes treated as stump points. Another version consisted of attaching a rope to the places where the balls were seen to be able to throw them.
But most archaeologists now believe that these stone balls were nonetheless made for artistic purposes, perhaps to demonstrate a person’s status in the community or to commemorate an important stage in their life, says Vicki Cummings, an archaeologist. from the University of Central Lancashire (England) who conducted excavations on Sandy Island.
The two stone balls found in the grave near Tresnes Beach on Sandy Island, one made of black stone and the other of lighter colored limestone, are some of the earliest and oldest examples of such objects. They are well polished, unlike the carved Towie ball. According to the archaeologist, the balls were carved in the later Neolithic, and the complete crushing of the balls used to be the practice of earlier times.
The two polished balls “are much simpler but beautiful objects,” says Cummings. “They had to take a long time to build, because grinding stones is a time-consuming activity … Actually, you only have sand, water and stone, and a lot of work,” says the researcher.
Neolithic tomb
This is one of the few cases where stone balls have been found in their original archaeological setting, Cummings says, and this may explain the purpose of the mysterious objects.
Each ball was found in different corners of the room where the remains of human remains were found, and other objects, especially pottery shards, were found along the walls of the tomb.
“It was probably the case that people put small plates on the edges and put pots on those plates,” he said. “It seems that the walls and the corners were really important to them.”
In two of the five sections of the tomb, at the entrance, archaeologists have also found cremated human bones, as well as various “knife patterns” that were made by breaking stones found on the beach to form a sharp blade.
“It can be used as a really good tool for a butcher, and in the grave we have found many that really surprise and question why their creators made them,” says Cummings.
Perhaps people used knives to separate the soft tissues of the dead from the bones. “This may mean that they manipulated the remains of people that were placed in a cell; there are many examples of such traditions,” says the archaeologist.
Ancient islands
The Orkney Islands are located in the north of Scotland. They are rich in archaeological sites, including the so-called Neolithic heart of Orkney, near the Ness Brodgar complex, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and the Neolithic village of Skara Brae. All this shows that around 5,000 years ago the islands were abundantly inhabited.
“When you look at the map, the Orkney Islands may seem remote, but when you come here you will find that it is incredibly rich in farmland that is very easy to work on,” says Cummings. “I think the Neolithic people came here and they were very lucky, they found an environment where they could just thrive.”
The excavations at the Warehouse were a joint project of a team from the University of Central Lancashire, led by V. Cummings, and archaeologists from the National Museums of Scotland, led by Hugo Anderson-Whymark.
The ancient tomb is close to the shore and is gradually being destroyed by storms, so researchers have tried to find out as much as possible before the site is completely destroyed, explains V. Cummings.
According to her, the tomb and the Neolithic settlement, which they excavated about a mile from the sea, had previously been further from shore and there had to be more trees in the landscape.
Although the tomb was also excavated in the 1980s, only superficial excavations were carried out that did not reveal the age of the tomb.
During the latest excavations, which lasted about four years, scientists have applied the latest archaeological methods in tomb research, including a three-dimensional photogrammetric model, says Cummings.
According to her, the archaeologists will now conduct an analysis of the data collected during the excavations, which is expected to provide even more information about the people of the Neolithic islands.
Based on Live Science.
