https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/mysterious-neolithic-stone-balls * Want to see fewer ads? Become a Member. [small-gast] THE GASTRO OBSCURA BOOK An eye-opening journey through the history, culture, and places of the culinary world. Just released! The Gastro Obscura book is here! Order Now * Trips + Upcoming Trips + All Trips Trips Blog [second-edi] Get the Atlas Obscura book Shop Now >> Upcoming Trips View All Trips >> [blank-11b9] Oaxaca: Tastes of Past & Present [blank-11b9] Iceland in Winter: Natural Wonders & Ancient Legends [blank-11b9] Searching for Russia's Northern Lights [blank-11b9] Shifting Tides: Art in New Orleans * Experiences Quick Links + Online Courses + Online Experiences Upcoming Experiences View All Experiences >> [blank-11b9] Online Art & Evolution w/ Megan McGrath: Drawing Birds [blank-11b9] Online Mixology Around the World: Global Cocktails with Mixellany [blank-11b9] Online A Toast to Curiosity: The Gastro Obscura Book Launch Party [blank-11b9] Online Foraging, Food, and Myth: Halloween Harvest * Courses Upcoming Courses View All Courses >> [blank-11b9] Online Mixology Around the World: Global Cocktails with Mixellany [blank-11b9] Online Think Like A Museum: Curate Your Personal Collection with Alexis Hyde [blank-11b9] Online A Lockpicking Practicum With Schuyler Towne [blank-11b9] Online Creative Ice Cream Making: Telling Stories With Flavor With Hannah Spiegelman [blank-11b9] Online School of Rot: Decomposition & Composting With Annie Novak * Places + Top Destinations + Newly Added Places + Most Popular Places + Random Place + Lists + Itineraries + ------------------------------------------------------------- Add a Place + ------------------------------------------------------------- Visit Our Forums Newly Added Places View All Places >> This is the third giant Spitz Clock since 1881. Santa Fe, New Mexico Spitz Clock 35.6878, -105.9389 Sunnyside Conservatory San Francisco, California Sunnyside Conservatory 37.7319, -122.4408 William Hilleary House Bladensburg, Maryland William Hilleary House 38.9390, -76.9378 One of the Cornhill Devils. London, England The Cornhill Devils 51.5133, -0.0848 Top Destinations View All Destinations >> Countries + Australia + Canada + China + France + Germany + India + Italy + Japan Cities + Amsterdam + Barcelona + Beijing + Berlin + Boston + Budapest + Chicago + London + Los Angeles + Mexico City + Montreal + Moscow + New Orleans + New York City + Paris + Philadelphia + Rome + San Francisco + Seattle + Stockholm + Tokyo + Toronto + Vienna + Washington, D.C. * Foods Newly Added Places to Eat & Drink View All Places to Eat >> [blank-11b9] Brunswick Stew Monument [blank-11b9] Teal McDonald's Arches The building's exterior Haunted Margaritas Whistle Stop Restaurant Trains Whistle Stop Restaurant The sign that mentions the site's significance. Site of Alice's Restaurant * Stories Most Recent Stories View All Stories >> Pustulus Maximus and Balsac the Jaws of Death of GWAR performing in October 2019 in San Francisco. The Artist Collective That Brings Heavy Metal Fever Dreams to Life Four children in their Halloween costumes gathered around a jack-o-lantern in the 1960s. Welcome to Atlas Obscura's Fright Club! Dyckman Oval in 1937 as seen from the intersection of Nagle Avenue and Academy Street. Revisiting Dyckman Oval, A Lost Landmark From the Heyday of Black Baseball Brewing beer at Jamestown. The Brides 'Imported' to Colonial America for Their Brewing Skills This Pacific footballfish, a type of rare anglerfish, has been preserved by scientists at the Natural History Museums of Los Angeles County. The Dark Art of Displaying Deep-Sea Fish * Sign In Join * Sign In ----------------------------------------------------------------- Join * What's near me? Why Were These Mysterious Stone Orbs Stashed All Over Neolithic Britain? Two new ones just turned up in a tomb on a remote Scottish island. by Hannah Seo September 30, 2021 Why Were These Mysterious Stone Orbs Stashed All Over Neolithic Britain? Copy Link Facebook Twitter Reddit Flipboard Pocket Two of these polished stone balls were found in a Neolithic tomb on a remote Scottish island. Two of these polished stone balls were found in a Neolithic tomb on a remote Scottish island. Mike Lawlor In This Story [blank-11b9] Destination Guide Orkney If you sail to the island of Sanday in the Orkney archipelago in northern Scotland, you'll see the silhouettes of neighboring islands on the horizon. Upon arrival you'll see white, sandy beaches that trail into rough, once-agricultural terrain, and experience its erratic weather--sun then fog then rain then clear skies all in the same day. Nestled there, on a shallow cliff, is a mound of earth and rocks: a prehistoric tomb dating to around 3500 B.C. The tomb sits on a low-lying peninsula, where growing storms and agitated seas are eroding it away. So, in August and September 2021, a group of archaeologists made their way there, to Tresness, the site of that lone Neolithic tomb, with their sights set on excavation. The research team was anxious to study the tomb before it was lost; it contains a single chamber, presumably for someone important. "What we discovered was an exceptionally well-preserved monument," says Hugo Anderson-Whymark, a curator of prehistory at National Museums Scotland who co-led the research. There were no remains, but inside the monument were a couple rare finds: two polished stone balls, each about the size of a tennis ball. The first day of excavation at the tomb site. The first day of excavation at the tomb site. Mike Lawlor The other leading archaeologist of the excavations, Vicki Cummings of the University of Central Lancashire, unearthed both of the orbs herself. With the first, she remembers pulling her trowel back and immediately noticing that something was different. "It was really exciting," she says. "I said after the first one, 'I'll never find anything like that ever again in my career,' and then I found another one. It's very rare that you would find two such amazing objects, it was incredible." But these two balls aren't exactly a unique find--they're part of a widely distributed mystery left by the Neolithic inhabitants of the British Isles. More than 500 stone balls like them have been discovered to date. For centuries, no one paid them much attention. Farmers or builders would randomly discover them in fields, and then either keep them or donate them without another thought. It wasn't until archaeologist Sir Daniel Wilson published illustrations of the orbs in 1851 that people began to take notice. "Suddenly you saw, from 1850 onwards, lots of them coming out the woodwork," says Anderson-Whymark. "There were about 100 known by the early 20th century." But because of the way that many of them were found--without archaeological context--scholars didn't know where most came from. That's why Cummings was so floored by what she found. Discovering not one but two, in their original location in a tomb, is incredible--only a few have ever been found in their original context. Also, most of the 20 balls that have been found in the Orkney Islands are carved and etched with patterns and designs. These, on the other hand, were polished smooth. The most famous of all of these artifacts is the Towie ball. This whimsically named object is an ornately carved, lobed orb discovered in northeast Scotland in 1860, and likely had some deep cultural meaning to the people who made or handled it some 5,000 years ago. Other stone orbs are covered in little stud-like projections. National Museums Scotland has 3-D models of some of them. Anderson-Whymark says they're "some of the finest examples of Neolithic art." A photogrammetry model of the Neolithic site. A photogrammetry model of the Neolithic site. Hugo Anderson-Whymark The smooth and carved stone balls are part of different but related Neolithic traditions, says Anderson-Whymark. The few examples of polished orbs tend to be found along the west coast, appear to be older, and are usually associated with graves. The carved balls, on the other hand, are more common in the east, are from later parts of the Neolithic, and are found in settlements. But the decorations on them often match decorations found on other types of artifacts at grave sites. No one knows exactly what the stone balls are for. Anderson-Whymark says there have probably been 25 to 30 theories over the years: weights and measures, or weapons, or tools for winding nets and braiding ropes. The theory he and Cummings support is that they were markers of status and importance. The sheer amount of time, effort, and care it would have taken to create a stone ball, even just a plain polished one, says Cummings, attests to the status they must have carried. But it's also likely their meaning and use evolved over time. One of the stone balls (at center) as it was excavated. One of the stone balls (at center) as it was excavated. Mike Lawlor "I think the answer is, if you have one fixed idea for what these were used for, then it's probably not going to prove to be right, because we're dealing with objects that were used over several hundred years," says Anderson-Whymark. Plus, they've been found all over the British Isles, "So they might have been used in different ways in different places." But regardless of where you look, they clearly meant a lot to the communities who had them, he says. People are fascinated with the stone balls, says Cummings, because "they seem both tangible and intangible ... familiar and unfamiliar all in one go." They are beautiful, tactile, and heavier than people think, and people become mesmerized when they touch them today. "People in the past seem very tangible, they seem very knowable," Cummings says. "But actually, when you start to study the kind of things they get up to, they are very, very strange--they are almost alien in their differences from us nowadays." The stone balls capture that difference, with just the right combination of the mundane and the mysterious. Read next Podcast: Magical Summer Memories, Vol. 4 - The Magic of Water Join us for a daily celebration of the world's most wondrous, unexpected, even strange places. [blank-11b9] neolithicstoneartifactstombsmysteryfoundarchaeology Want to see fewer ads? Become a Member. Want to see fewer ads? Become a Member. Using an ad blocker? We depend on ad revenue to craft and curate stories about the world's hidden wonders. Consider supporting our work by becoming a member for as little as $5 a month. Continue Using Ad-Block Support Us Keep Exploring [blank-11b9] spiders Found: Neolithic Spiderweb Stones in Denmark They may have more to do with the sun than with arachnids. Vittoria Traverso February 13, 2018 [blank-11b9] art Found: A Rare Carved Stone That Could Rewrite Art History A miniature masterpiece from the Greek tomb of the "Griffin Warrior." Vittoria Traverso November 7, 2017 [blank-11b9] archaeology Why Prehistoric Barrows Are Back in Funerary Fashion The United Kingdom is experiencing a revival of interest in an ancient burial method. Matthew Taub June 10, 2021 [blank-11b9] skulls Solved: The Mystery of a Lonely Human Skull in an Italian Cave Scientists found answers in a single piece of evidence. Gemma Tarlach March 5, 2021 [W1siZiIsIj] Video * Wonder From Home Show & Tell With a Pull-Tab Archaeologist 10:07 [W1siZiIsIj] Video * PinDrop An Ancient Cemetery, Resurrected 1:51 [W1siZiIsIj] Video Inside Ohio's Experimental Archaeology Lab 7:29 Want to see fewer ads? Become a Member. From Around the Web THE GASTRO OBSCURA BOOK Taste the World! An eye-opening journey through the history, culture, and places of the culinary world. Order Now Gastro Obscura Book [] See Fewer Ads Become an Atlas Obscura member and experience far fewer ads and no pop-ups. Learn More Get Our Email Newsletter [ ] [Subscribe] Thanks for subscribing! View all newsletters >> Follow Us * * * * * Places * Recently Added * Most Popular * Random * Nearby * Add a Place Foods * Latest * Food & Drink * Stories * Places * Add a Food Trips * All Trips * Trips Blog * Art & Culture Trips * Food Trips * Hidden City Trips * History Trips * Photography Trips * Wildlife & Nature Trips * FAQ Experiences * All Experiences * Online Experiences * Online Courses * Online Experience FAQ * Online Course FAQ Community * Membership * Travel Forum * Latest Posts * Top Posts Company * About * Contact Us * FAQ * Work With Us * Advertising * Press * Unique Gifts * Privacy Policy * Cookie Policy * Terms of Use [] (c) 2021 Atlas Obscura. All rights reserved. Questions or Feedback? Contact Us Thanks for sharing! Follow us on Twitter to get the latest on the world's hidden wonders. Like us on Facebook to get the latest on the world's hidden wonders. Follow us on Twitter Like us on Facebook Want a Free Book? Sign up for our newsletter and enter to win the second edition of our book, Atlas Obscura: An Explorer's Guide to the World's Hidden Wonders. [ ] Subscribe No Thanks Visit AtlasObscura.com Atlas Obscura: An Explorer's Guide to the World's Hidden Wonders Stay in Touch! Follow us on social media to add even more wonder to your day. Follow us on Twitter Like us on Facebook Follow Us on Instagram No Thanks Visit AtlasObscura.com No purchase necessary. Winner will be selected at random on 11/01/ 2021. Offer available only in the U.S. (including Puerto Rico). Offer subject to change without notice. See contest rules for full details. Add Some Wonder to Your Inbox Every weekday we compile our most wondrous stories and deliver them straight to you. [ ] Subscribe No Thanks We'd Like You to Like Us Like Atlas Obscura and get our latest and greatest stories in your Facebook feed. No Thanks This website uses cookies Atlas Obscura and our trusted partners use technology such as cookies on our website to personalise ads, support social media features, and analyse our traffic. Please click below to consent to the use of this technology while browsing our site. To learn more or withdraw consent, please visit our cookie policy. I Accept Gastro Obscura book rendering Taste the World! Celebrate the culinary wonders of the globe and find food's central place in our lives through history, culture, and travel. A must-read for anyone who eats. --Dan Barber, chef and author of The Third Plate Order Now [p] Quantcast