My dad once knew an old watch maker, and he told my dad that on his first ever day as an apprentice he was given a rough lump of metal and a file. There were no time limits, but he had to file a perfect cube, and only once that task was completed could he go on to learn his craft. It's not just skill you need to learn, it's patience, patience, and more patience. Lets face it, if you can craft one of these sphere's, you can craft anything.
A sphere almost 'carves' itself naturally when you roll it around, while a cube is a really anti-natural structure to shape, hence a truly difficult apprentice task. Think of how difficult it would be to file perfect planes without any rounded corners with a file. A sphere is quite the opposite.
@@dominiquelaflamme7804 You never tried to make a gemoetrically precise sphere out of anything, did you? If you dont mill them in form-stones (as was done with stone cannon balls in the late medieval times) , its incredible hard to get it right since you can never measure or set off the curving. It will become irregular fast, and you have no way to measure and correct on a rounded surface. A cube is EASY by comparison, since you can lay on right angles from every direction. Seriously, a precise sphere is much, much harder on the artisan without some form of lathing. Which, to be fair, they might have had. Middle kingsdom egyptian stone vases have been lathe-milled after all. Wooden tool gimmicks dont keep that well. That should be visible in a microscopic analysis, though.
I was told something similar about apprentices having to file a sphere, but thet were given a cube to file to a specific diameter sphere, then when they had finished that, they had to file it back into a cube of specific size. the dimensions given for the sphere and the final cube left virtually no room for error and minimised waste
Seem a lot more like bocce balls than ball bearings. A textured bearing would be more apt to crack and break. Maybe Stonehenge was a grand Bocce stadium. Anyone ever think about that? Just saying. 😂
Yeah, the decorated ones would cause a lot of unnecessary friction. I can't imagine they were able to make a transport contraption with bearing balls and not understand that smooth balls would give the least friction.
When I was five, one of my Matchbox cars (a VW Beetle) got buried under the concrete driveway my father was pouring. Thousands of years from now, archaeologists will find the car and proclaim it to be a cultic object put into a foundation deposit.
One possibility to occurs to me that, if they all had differences, is that they might be significate to their clan/house/family, sort of like an early form of a crest. Something that could be brought to gatherings to show who you were representing. At the end of a lineage they would be placed in a cairn.
yes, I think so to... if there was a gathering and you could not attend, you send an envoy with your ball, so he could speak in your name... (but nevermind, Im sure professional archeologists will tell us it was some spiritual thing, used for ceremonies ;) they never seem to seek for some practical use, with any thing they find)
A bit like the ancient handbags that were carried by the Summarians, maybe the expression " he doesn't have the balls has a long lost meaning" just saying g
It could be a volumetric calibrator. If you fill a pitcher to the brim and drop in a stone it will displace a standard amount of water. If the stone displaces 8oz then repeat 16 times and you've got a standard gallon. The ornamentation is cut more deeply until the standard volume is achieved by comparison with another stone. The difficulty to make the stone increases the buyers confidence that it hasnt beem modified and represents a fair measure.
@@helenswan705 For use in Trade. If you wish to purchase a jug of wine, oil, beer you'd like to pay for the exact amount. Or as a weight for dry goods?
Now that's thinking outside the box. Perhaps could have been used to boil water or cook food. I've seen food cooked like that in (very finely) woven baskets.
@@FieryWACO The knobby ones in particular would be easy to pick up with just a pair of sticks, very interesting ideas. Possibly these 'soup stones' could have enough generational value to a family that an old one would be buried under the foundation of a house for good luck, much as the way some builders still leave coins today. - Problem though; why would they be buried in cairns? soup so good they wanted it beyond the grave? To warm up a cold grave as a heater does ring a bit more true here, particularly given the Northern latitude.
Yeah but regular rocks were used for that too. I guess the smooth, round surface probably works better than a gagged rock, that might crack open and ruin your food.
Neolithic cricket balls. Stonehenge is just a collection of stumps that were just dumped after being found to be too large due to a problem with the measurements given to the builders. Neolithiccricket never caught on.
"cricket " Not baseball or rounders given the circular nature of the pitch? I wonder if excavations might have unearthed any ashes? That would settle it.
@@extremepsych So true, as I find that it's completely bonkers trying to understand why Americans decided to vote that lying, cheating, felon Trump back into the White House!
Bocce ball? Most balls would be stitched with gut parts and sinew, but lawn bowling games would want a harder ball (wood or stone, maybe some of each?)
I wonder. I lived in a log cabin in Canada 25 mi from town, 10 mi from the other cabin out there. No roads, had to walk. It was winter. Once we had a good supply of wood and a moose haunch hanging just out the front door, there wasn't much to do. I imagine the ancients were bored, too. They likely had trap lines, and hauling water from the frozen creek was a daily core, but they needed hobbies.
Could be for a game like Petanque - which is a form of boules. Would explain why the balls are the same size. Decoration would mean you could tell the owner.
@@pwhitewick , no traces of wear. though likely unrelated, they remind me of the figurine of villi and such similar objects because some have a pattern on them.
@@sarumano884 perhaps neolitic rules were very adamant on not knocking the balls together. And nobody wanted their ball broken, they just spend the last 3 months making it.
Training / graduation device for apprentice stone masons. First day on the job you get a block of stone and several years of practice later you turn in a perfect 70mm decorated ball.
Something like this was my feeling too - or maybe it's part of a complicated dowry tradition? It wouldn't be entirely unlike Micronesian rai stones (minus the huge size difference obviously lol)
Given the ornate carving, I could easily see this. My only problem is the uniformity. The idea that stone masons from over such a wide range would all choose to have their apprentices make a masterpiece of the exact same size seems a bit unlikely to me. I am not even sure that such exact measure standards existed at that time.
Why would they train to do such precise and intricate geometrical stonemasonry? The other carved stones in the culture were apparently pretty basic, as far as I'm aware. People only prove they can do jobs that have practical value, but then they'd be put to work doing big pieces of intricate carving. So these, having had such uncommon care taken over them, suggest they're very special objects indeed.
@@lettersquash I don't think they *need* to have an immediately practical use for people to put that amount of effort into. The practice might have a religious significance that isn't immediately clear to us or some other sort of purely artistic appeal
On the Exeter theory: why would so much effort and skill be put into granite ball bearings to move great huge stones that themselves are not finely carved? I think these were demonstration pieces for stone carvers: "So you want to be in the Stone Carvers Guild, Orkney Lodge 208? Go away and don't come back until you carve a stone ball the size of this one but of your own design and decoration."
yep, it's not like everyone is born with the skill to carve stone with designs or patterns. You have to practise first. Start small and one day you can carve the giant picture stones. IDK what you call them. I"m Native American lol. but I see a need for learning the skill on something small first. Someone had to learn to scale stone carvings up. Like in S. America, that one stone that's like a mini replica of the stone city that was built. It's such a mystery to them down there, but I see it as not. You don't have much of a writing system, so you have to literally "jump in and do it"
The stones randomly made me think about otters, which have a favourite stone that they cradle as they lie on their backs in the water. They keep it all their lives, apparently. A left field thought about them copying the otters, and perfecting the stone with human decoration to make it feel special. You could work up a whole nature cult thing out of it. I thought I might as well throw an oddball idea into the mix, and it’s quite cute thinking about them copying otters on their backs playing with their favourite stone in the world.
Reminds me of all those people scouring beaches for "sea" glass, and those varnished "pet" rocks of the 1980s. I wonder if a cult developed - the cricket ball clan?
The fact that they were all different carved leads me to believe they were not for moving large stones at all, but were a stone masons training tool like when you train to be a carpenter and they ask you to make a cabinet.
I have yet to see any data that suggests that the balls were ornately carved before use. It may exist, I just haven't seen it. While I disagree with the megalith moving hypothosis, if it was true then it could be that the balls were originally simply smooth spheres used to move stones and then later carved after they were no longer needed. The biggest problem with the megalith hypothosis (as I see it ) is the uniformity of the balls. While all the balls used to move a single megalith would need to be about the same size, the balls used to move stone "A" wouldn't need to be the same size as those used to move stone "B". I would expect to find much greater size veriance if that was in fact their original purpose.
Hi Paul on holiday in Austria just under Salzburg castle just at the lower entrance to it there is a fantastic model of a ball grinder. It’s made up of two large stones just like a floor mill with the upper stone being turned by a water wheel. The model is amazing and quality of polished stones produced is unreal. Your answer my ly there
@@dandare1001 in Salzburg Austria and Germany they have been making these are ornaments etc from the 1600’s from what I gather. But the process in doing it is simple and very possible to do back in the day of stone hedge possibly. Look up German ball mills
"just under Salzburg castle just at the lower entrance to it there is a fantastic model of a ball grinder." There's a model of my ex-wife at Salzburg Castle?
Yeah, especially if you want to move something over soft or irregular ground Ancient wagons and carts had very large diameter wheels precisely because the smooth roads that did exist didn't always go where you needed to
@@qlue7881this is just part of an experiment I conducted some years ago. The stone balls rotate and transfer the balance point from either foot. The machine can be fitted with four large wheels (see other links in my channel) ua-cam.com/video/dMwAMZuro8w/v-deo.htmlsi=aEkZYA5tJ1jQR9JK
I know of a throwing game called Wibble. The item has to be of a certain weight and size and often ends up decorated. A ball would fit this purpose but one that isn't perfectly spherical (usually ovoid but a sphere with knobbly protrusions would work just as well) is better. It becomes fast paced and injuries have been known to occur. The 'Wibble' is probably not as heavy (and is mostly half the apparent size of your sphere) but I can see that if played in an open area one of these balls could be a 'Wibble'. Ps: Wibbles are hand made (often based on an existing item - eg: kinder egg plastic inner with a ball bearing inside, covered in tape to stop it opening). Just a thought.
Maybe used for a throwing contest, they would need to be the same size/weight for fairness, throwing as far as possible on a grass field would mean they were unlikely to hit each other hence the lack of damage, and the patterns identify who threw the stone that went furthest. Any bigger and the distance thrown would be too small so they would tend to hit those already thrown, any smaller and they would get lost in long grass.
@@binkwillans5138That *could* be the very reason why that form was selected. My reasoning? Considern keyboards. The qwerty layout was originally laid out specifically to slow typists down, the idea being to prevent the mechanisms of early mechanical typewriters becoming terminally mangled. If EVERYONE were effectively hobbled by a form not best suited to task, it would effectively level the playing field. T.B.H I'm not leaning towards this explanation either.
I have no idea what it was used for, but when Time Team didn't know the purpose of an object, the word ritual always seemed to be put forward. Paul has carried on that tradition.😊
Consider what a modern concept looking at the world in terms of secular vs religious is. We still struggle with separation of church and state. Native Americans didn't see life that way. Did anyone in the past? Or is that a novel mindset of the scientific age?
I think they are a standard unit of measurement for trading with. The ornate surface and perfectly spherical shape would deter tampering. In the south there are highly decorated chalk "drums" that could perhaps stand in for these, the detailed and distinctive decoration would build trust with customers that they are getting the same weight or quantity in repeat transactions.
Yes, I watched a video recently about the giant petroglyphs/pictogrammes in the desert near Nazca in Peru. They worked out how the pictogrammes were made of a double spiral, the two spirals joined at the centre, and at the other end at an altar-like podium. If you follow the lines by walking along them in line you create a very coordinated procession - I imagined people carrying torches. The procession would end when the walkers had been through the whole maze and returned to the "altar". The "priest" would be given authority because of his ability to perform such coordinated compliance among the "congregation". Newgrange is plastered with the same double spirals, they appear to create a pattern that is innately satisfying to the human mind - like spiral sea shells. I think we have a pretty dim appreciation of how impressive it would appear to have one of these balls, and to demonstrate how it would fit into a mysterious engraving. Indiana Jones would have been impressed anyway.
There’s something very significant regarding the uniform size, all but 12 of the 425 being between 69 and 71mm, that cannot be an accident, it suggests a single manufacturer, or a single customer that required the uniform size, it suggests that a go/no go gauge was used in their manufacture, I hadn’t been aware of the above until now, thanks for the info, much food for thought here 🤔.
@@PRH123 all things are possible, but to have over 400 almost identical in size and only a tiny number not conforming I’d rather doubt it was to do with fitting into the fist, unless of course the inhabitants of that area all had identically sized hands 🤔🙂, I think that statistically it’s good evidence that the uniform size was intentional, the only way that over 400 items could be controlled within that specific size range would be either to measure them or use a go/no go gauge (something as simple as a plank with circular holes to pass them through), given that the method of manufacture was most likely relatively simple, ie pounding, chipping and abrading to control almost 100% of parts within 2mm of each other is quite an achievement, the only other way I can think that all of the balls had such similar dimensions would be that their manufacture was in some way automated, ie they were ground between two mill stones each with a hemispherical recess, but I think that highly unlikely as they would most probably have had even greater dimensional similarity were that the case.
@@1234567marks perhaps they wouldn’t have been sizing them with users or customers fists, but with their own, so it would be the manufacturers fist, who were all men between x and y years, not all of whose fists were the same, but say within two millimeters of each other? With the irregular surface also there’s the question of where the measurement of diameter is taken from, the outermost points of the knobbly bits, or the bottom of the trough etc. My danger will Robinson alarm goes off when we hear people these days using the word precision in reference to ancient stonework :)
Looks like milling balls to me. Used all over the world even today. You roll them in a wide wooden bowl to crush all types of seeds into powders. The size of a milling ball is defined by the ability to cup your hand around it very loosely so you can move it rapidly around the bowl while it rolls with hardly any friction in your hand.
@ It might be that the size and hardness of the seeds demand different sizes and patterns on the balls to be effective. But this is just a guess. Milling balls should be pretty valuable and the patterns might just be for identifying owners. Just like boule pétanque balls today, that also happens to have size matching human hands in a similar way.
I found one in local fields when I was a kid, it was stolen from my tent at Glastonbury festival when they took my bag in 2000. Granite but with very fine worn lines on it.
Your videos give me so much sanity. In a world perched on the edge of WW3 a reminder that humans once were able to come together, despite their differences, gives a glimmer of hope
We have found a few here in Cumbria too! I love any object you can trace, as it really helps us understand where people were moving, and maybe even why!
My speculation: it's basically a masterwork piece. At a time when stoneworking was an essential and valued skill it would make sense for people learning the techniques to make small demonstration objects to prove their skill. Make a perfectly spherical ball to fit through a circular template? Good, you've done that. Now decorate it without marring the symmetry? Wonderful! Now you have a piece you can stick in your pocket to show anyone you're trying to persuade to hire you for work.
@@Puffball-ll1ly No, but if each pattern is different, it would act as a type of signature of the mason, it could be forged, but if you were hired, and weren't up to the task, you'd be caught out quickly. Over time, each mason recognises each others work by the type of pattern/how it was carved etc. This still goes on today so isn't far fetched at all. Edit: This would also explain why it would end up buried, to prevent this type of abuse, it get put in it's carvers grave with him.
Knobs and balls on a Sunday, this channel has gone down hill ;o) Seriously very interesting and don't think I have seen/heard of those before, maybe they were used in a sling shot to ritually kill an animal, or a token that that the head of the village held, maybe someone in the village was a very naughty person and their punishment to appease the gods/village was to spend time carving one of these balls which must have taken a while, so many different things these could be. Will have to look into these more.
Holding the ball could indicate who has the floor at a meeting. Once one person was finished speaking, he could pass the ball to another speaker whose turn, it would now be to speak. A differently decorated ball would indicate the family or clan that it belonged to.
Reminds me of those awful ice-breaking games they make you play at "team-bonding" meetings where you each throw the bean bag to someone and they have to reveal an "interesting fact" about themselves!
Were societies that large that you wouldn't already know who a person was, in terms of "*this* clan, *that* close to the head man ; also mated with my cousin and fostering one of my mother-brother's grandchildren" ?
I like the idea in principle but find it hard to believe that so many stone workers so far apart would carve so many spheres within 2mm of each other for such a purpose. Why would a village need to have their talking stone the exact same size as the village five miles away, let alone 100 miles?
@@jeremyvolland8508 Why would they need a "ritual" (that word again!) object for talking to people who they've known all their lives, are probably fairly close relatives, and live less than 2 hours walk away? I've no idea what the purpose of these objects was. But I very much doubt it was that. Communication is a common need. So, what performed this "ritual" purpose in, say, Neolithic Anatolia, or living-memory Australia?
@@a.karley4672 It is not my theory nor do I believe it for the reason I gave above, but to be fair, we must be careful to place our own sensabilities on other people, especially on people in other times. I could easily see a culture having an object that they have given significance to by saying that whoever is holding it has the right to speak. Such an object would make meetings less chaotic and more orderly. It is my understanding that many cultures have used such objects, like the talking stick used by several Native American tribes. We even use something similar today in meetings across the world, it just isn't a physical object but an imaginary object called "the floor".
At 70-71mm diameter, they are a very similar size to cricket balls (71-72mm) and baseball (72-75mm) and tennis balls (65-69mm. They seem meant to be in the hand, they can be heated or chilled, knobbly or smooth. Something to do with massage.
The Scots today are known for their love of chucking stuff about at festivals (cabers, shot puts, curling stones, hammers). If these were the same size as a contemporary ball designed for throwing then why not? I think the knobs would affect the weight too much to make them fair, but the knobbly ones might have been the "jack" that the others had to aim at perhaps? I think we need some experimental archeological re-enactment. I'm sure WC 21 (UK) Productions, Allotment Fox and even Tweedy would give it a go? They could try chucking, sling shot, and bowling/skittles type games. What if they were given shields so they could attack each other paint ball style?
I love this content and Paul is awesome. At the same time, every time something like this crops up, when we ha have no friggin idea, it ends up as, in so many museum cases, a "ritual object."
Now we know,, they had no balls in the South. Good thing that changed with time. But of course: stooooooones! And what marvelous pieces of craftsmenship they are. Bringing granite to take a sperical shape is hard for me with my tools, but making it by hand with the earliest tools mankind could use? Impressive. Very impressive. Great video!
*Many* of the carved stones are NOT granite, but relatively soft, easily carved, stones. IIRC, the stone ball found at Skara Brae was made of soapstone from Unst (in the Shetlands), while the main distribution of them are all within a day or two walk of Portsoy, which also has outcrops of "soapstone" (talc-rich meta-ultrabasics ; soft, carveable) around the harbour. (The harbour is an inlet in the coast _because_ the rock is soft!) That's not a serious hypothesis, because there are a *lot* of other source rocks than Portsoy. There has, I believe, been a lot of ink spilled over trying to trace stone balls to their progenitor rock outcrops, but no clear outcome to the attempted correlations. Hypothesis : Ugghg (who grew up near Portsoy) went to Orkney to marry some relative (politics, politics!) and took a stone ball as a keepsake. Uhggh from Unst did similarly, going to Skara Brae. "Quinie" fae Auchquortihes (the RSC pictured at the head of Wiki's Recumbent Stone Circle article) took a ball made of the distinctive lineated gabbro of the Auchquirthies RSC "recumbent" with her when she "out-married" into the "Fisher-folk" of the Buchan coast. This is a quite hard rock (trust me, I'm a geologist!) and it is very definitely not a granite.
he just disappeared but didn’t recognize. He talked on and on, but wasn’t there. Is this the correct sign to him, how they handled that stones and moved the megalithics from place to place? They disappeared. This was the best part of his video.
Fantastically interesting! I theorise that there may be more that are plain & get overlooked, which biases the sample for the most complex patterns. I'm always surprised by the sophistication of the stone agers; they seem to have been able to build impressive structures, travel & trade over long distances, and produce intricate decoration. Anyway, I have a few theories, but I'm sure the linked paper disproves them. One guess is an early measurement tool, kind of like an ancient tape measure. The lobes/patterns would: - Differentiate from any old round rock, plus making it personal & precious. - Allow you to easily track how many 'rolls' of the stone you have made. - If pressed into soft earth/clay, let you make precise and consistent measurements. That kind-of explains why these are so consistent in size but not weight or hardness, and found across a medium-sized area. You'd want to use the same measuring standard as the people close-ish to you, but you don't care much past that. People love to customise and decorate their tools. They could all be gifts from one or two groups to other groups. They're all the same size because they are mostly made by the same few people with the same tools, and then they are traded/gifted. That also explains why they are mostly confined to one county with a few outliers as you are most likely to collaborate with local groups plus a few extras from further away.
Really interesting and thought provoking. The answer could be in any of those lists...we will never know but have a lot of fun speculating. Thank you for another Sunday evening's entertainment. 😊😊😊
If found only a few on each place, they could be legal documents, like an official legal document showing a feudal lord's right to serve as appointed by the king, for example. They are all the same size because they all have the same rank and every location has its own characteristic but they were all made in the same place to size. Just speculating wildly ofc.
Another thought provoking video. I have no theory better than yours. PS I like the 'disappearing Paul' at 3:18 : I had to rewind to make sure I wasn't seeing, or rather not seeing, things.
Many moons ago, I found one of these stone balls in one of the fields on our farm and have had it ever since. It resembles green schist and - although not perfectly round - measures 70mm. I've no idea if it is neolithic or not, but it's always been a curiosity kept on my bookcase since the early 80's.
Please, please report it to the guy who has made the database and did the legwork that made this video possible. His name is Chris Stewart-Moffit. He probably still can be found theouh Aberdeen University. The guy has literally travelled the length and breadth of Britain just to measure, photograph these stones and find out what rock it’s made of. Knowing the exact findspot is fantastic, very important because so few have that record, most of them it’s just a general area like a parish. He wrote an interesting book called “The Circular Archetype in Microcosm: The Carved Stone Balls of Late Neolithic Scotland”
Really great video and thought provoking. Because they are so size specific and so location specific and don't have much standardised wear on them and took a lot of time and effort to make, that does't tie up with weapons, games, weights, or construction or other practical purposes like manufacturing knitwear (especially as the variety of individualised decorations seems prohibitive to a standardised manufacturing process for etc). There are also too many other simpleer or less time consuming options for weapons, games etc that are more practical to dedicate such time and efforts, so it does seem more likely to be social/ceremonial in some way like your theory. I's speculate like a version of a tribe's crest/emblem, or a unifying thing to check if you are 'part of the team'. E.g. someone has agreed that tribes or groups can be part of a larger team if they have one of these carvings, but only if it fits inside a certain sized receptical to 'prove' you are part of a larger group of tribes or economic or trade or defence group. Maybe that's why there are a small number of odd sizes, others tried to pretend they were part of the team after being initially rejected for whatever reason, but were never given an artifact to make the correct dimensions against for their own ball? It's fun to speculate! Who knows, but great video.
They look like cooking stones, for people who used tightly woven watertight baskets to cook in. Of course by now the basketry would be long gone. Since plant based baskets can't be placed on a fire, the stones would be heated in the fire until very hot, then placed in the basket to do the cooking. Often , it was a mush made of grains or acorns, etc. that was cooked this way. The different carvings made it easy to tell whose stone was whose in a communal hearth . Edit to add that they were also used to heat water in the baskets for either herbal tea drinking or cooking the mush.
Using granite for cooking stones isn't really a good idea, especially if it was ever in a lake or stream for any period of time. Granite put into a fire to heat is far more likely to explode than other stones like sandstone or other porous rock.
I would guess that they were something symbolic, perhaps akin to the globe that Charles held during his coronation. It’s a symbol of authority. Alternatively, I think back to the days of Athens, when voting was taken via white or black stones. Perhaps they symbolized specific individuals or lineages, and they were drawn to indicate who might be the gods’ choice for a task (like leadership in a crisis) or blame (who caused a drought or disaster).
There could be a simple solution to these stone balls. Here’s a few ideas. A stone masons test. Trade stones. Tribal tribute stones ( American Indians would pass a staff among their allies in time of war to understand who was willing to go to war with them. Each tribe would add a feather that signified their allegiance. These stones could also be used to make an agreement with other groups to help or to provide something for an endeavor.
and same size and shape so as not to be pretentious or insult the other tribes. A gift that could be easily matched because they were all the same size so they would not insult the one that would perhaps give their ball in return. In some tribes stealing a valued item like this would mean you are worthy as an ally.
They remind me of the Bolas used in hunting in places like Patagonia. Two or three were attached together on long ropes and then swung around your head and thrown to bring down game by winding around the hind legs. The carved shapes on the balls make winding the rope around them easier to attach. The balls would have to be of equal weight and size or your aim would not be true and it would also determine how far you could fling them. Something simple and effective still in use today usually has origins in the distant past.
@@jb-zr4ez But then, wouldn't you find at least some of them on threes? And if you had A Famous Bolas Hunter in the tribe, wouldn't he be likely buried with them?
Love this Paul, to me they are games pieces, made to or by the owner and individual to them, hence being buried in the homes and locality of their homes. A lovely enigma.
I love that idea that they are used for meetings. Kind of like a microphone without the mic. Or maybe they were awards or prizes for contests and competitions?
Doesn’t explain precise uniformity of size. Games is my bet, particularly given common origin with game-obsessed ppl who invented golf, Cricket, rugby, soccer, etc. Also explains ritual significance. For comparison, some sports stadiums now have to take measures to prevent bereaved spreading relatives’ ashes on the pitch.
They are weights to weigh stuff. If one ball was originally carved a bit too heavy you would carve off a bit more and more until you have the same weight as the master ball. Say a standard amount of 1 ball weight sold for x amount. It could either be a bowl type scale or have the grain in one sack and the ball in another. The fact that no matter the pattern of carving they all weigh about the same tells me they were used for the same thing. Suspended in a sling or bag and the bag of grain or other foodstuff weighed against it would seem like a good shopkeepers tool. If you have a granary and farmer John stored 100 bushels and farmer Ed stored 50 bushels well, you have to account for the outflow and you only want a few pounds at a time to store in your crock in the kitchen area. You have to weigh it. They date back to the early village life styles. That looks to me the weight of a small sack of grain for flour. At least if I was a Neolithic housewife I would be making sure I wasn't cheated.. I would want the seller or grain storage guardian to use a standardized weight system so I knew I got the full amount for my token or trade goods.
The shape would have been useful for weaving weights. They could also be used for winding yarn. Net fishing weights. Anchor stones. Balls for children to play with. Throwing stones for hunting or battle. Bocce ball type game. So many possibilities.
LOL!! Let’s get real here: sometimes, the simplest explanation is the best. The 70mm size of these balls isn’t just an arbitrary choice; it’s ideal because they fit perfectly in the hand, making them easy to handle. All that ceremonial interpretation and nonsense fades in light of practicality-they’re suitable for games. Think about it-throwing or, better yet, juggling is a natural fit. Forget elaborate theories; maybe the Scots didn’t just “toss the caber” but originally "juggled with their balls" as these 70mm balls are a perfect size and weight. 😂
It has to be asked if these were granite type stones (one of the hardest stones to carve any detail on) do we have the technology today to create with such detail?
Hi Paul, you know I thought the Stonehenge stones came from Wales until I saw your video of a couple of years ago. Didn't know the latest theory was Scotland. Perhaps only some of them? It would be a mammoth achievement doing that today incredible that it was done back then. They look ornamental to me, as they are consistently sized then maybe a ball game. The Scots did invent golf I think. Maybe it's as you said it's a conch. It casts my mind back to the Lord of the Flies. Yet another intriguing mystery, perhaps an opportunity to do an update on the theories that arise on here. As always great video, all the best!!
A bunch of them do come from a very specific hillside in Wales. But recently an odd one out has been tracked back to Scotland. Possibly from a different era of activity.
The Bluestones of Stonehenge DID come from Wales, multiply proven, and the Scotland theory is just for the one 'Altar Stone' as it's known; made from a rock that according to Archaeologists / Geologists is only found in an area in and around north east Scotland. SOME of the other Stonehenge stones came from the area as seen and mentioned in the video.. The only definite enough thing about the knobbly balls, or rarer smooth ones, is maybe connected to why the greatest number, or most of them, were found in the area of Scotland shown on the map.. The Exeter Students idea is surely just too inventive, and unlikely, and a conflict with the majority, knobbly variety of the balls; and there looks like only one clear enough clue, and then only a maybe; that the balls are all a male hand, holding size; but this in itself does not support any theories while there is no evidence or known about supporting knowledge to explain why? they are holdable.
Possibly used as a badge of office, a status symbol, I have a greenstone ceremonial axe head from that period which clearly had only a ceremonial purpose. Possibly they could have been used for a game like bowls or boules, hence the uniform size. Like a chess game maybe each design held a certain value in the game. One thing for certain is that they had nothing to do with transporting or moving heavy objects because nobody would create extra resistance in a ball by carving shapes and lumps into it.
Maybe not a game to hit other balls and get chipped, but what if like ten pin bowling to knock over wooden pegs. Similar hand sized ball like cricket, baseball, tennis etc, Grandad's lucky ball gets buried under the new house for luck.
Archeologist 1: We have no idea what this thing was used for. Archeologist 2: It must therefore have been used for some religious or ceremonial purpose. Interestingly, those balls could have been a sort of money since they would meet all the criteria for a good money. This isn't as crazy as it sounds because humans have been using otherwise-useless objects for money since forever. One of my favorite examples is the Amazonian tribe which made coils of colorful bird feathers which they used as money when trading amongst themselves.
The interesting thing is "ceremonial" can mean all kinds of things. Having a sunday roast? that's a ceremony. Going around once a year dressed up in spooky costumes to playfully extort calorie dense food from the neighbors? That's a ceremony. Putting a dead tree in your home and decorating it with open fires and useless tad? That's a ceremony. Putting milk in before tea or vice versa, but the same every time? That's a ceremony.
Hi Paul. Round stones like these are quite common in Africa where they were or are used to mill grain to brake it down into meal or even flour. I dont think that the stones are round when the start being used but are gradually worn down to fit into the palm of a hand. You would also come across the stone bowl that was also milled out over time by the constant grinding of the round stone against it. Maybe your ones were used to mill wheat into flour?
Good idea, though the decoraction would suggest that's not the use. It could be that these were made as decorative representations of the milling stones, but then where are the actual milling stones they represent?
At primary school (60 years ago) we were told that moving the Stone Henge stones was relatively simple - logs and goose fat - and I am sure somewhere I have seen footage and illustrations that shows a reinactment. As for the balls - that were found mainy on the coastal region of Scotland - where the Vikings landed - so either they were weapons, strung up in a sling to crack people around the head or weights for fishing lines that we knew were made of twisted horse hair - these sized weight would be perfect pre lead weight - on a moving tide(with thick horse hair - drag) you would need about a 5lb + weight to get the bait down to seabed where the big cod were. Ornamental weights were a bit of fun to bring them luck etc.
@@impartialreview-r7f Much of the decoration is practical in as much as when one is tehthering a line to these balls the rounded decor and carved detail will help the horse hair fishing line lock tight onto each ball - smooth balls would allow the lines to slip and come loose. Worth reminding ourselves that there was no TV in those days and making an impressive 'anything' would be a sign of social standing(maybe). On the very different subject of 'hunting' - I have never ever listened to ANY historian that talks sense when it comes to this topic, even Ray Mears hasn't got his imagination flowing enough to fully realize how and what was involved in catching large prey. HERE IS A FIRST FOR EVERYONE(in brief);- A tribe wouldn't and didn't go off hunting with flint tipped spears - that is a bonkers notion regularly trotted out - these very large flint spear heads that are found were used to tip large stakes - these would be carefully and strategically placed in a pattern amongst brush and then the 'tribes' would 'herd' the beasts ONTO these stakes and their own weight would drive the stakes home and subsequently impel the animals. Other techniques(less involved) would be using the landscape to drive animals off high drops etc. This is the original meaning of the word 'Herding'.
The intricate carvings and uniform dimensions tend to support your theory that these stones were of symbolic or religious significance. Their size makes them portable, so as you suggest, they could have played a totemic role at clan/tribe meetings - perhaps being arranged in a temporary 'stone circle' in a pagan ceremony. It's an intriguing puzzle - though probably rather less of a puzzle for our Stone Age ancestors. Thank you for a really fascinating video.
It might have already been mentioned here, but I think they're a kind of currency, their value reckoned by their uniqueness and difficulty to create. Being a unique and rare currency, it would thus also suit as a status symbol for anyone who posseses one.
As a currency you would expect to find them over a larger area, and of a more consistent decoration, otherwise how do you compare value, I like the idea of the "talking stone" but it is in a very restricted area, maybe the start of a governing system that remained in the northeast, with those found elsewhere being family that had travelled but still held a family stone, (in days of yore you would still carry your ring as a seal of your authority even though the people you met may have no knowledge of its status).
I like this idea, and maybe the designs related to clans, individuals, or even the land energies and features? But, I can see no reason the size would be so consistent, except for it being from one manufacturer, which itself seems unlikely.
We may be over thinking this a bit. Tiny balls to move large stones over an uneven surface unlikely. I think they just loved lawn bowling. Each stone personalized and possibly experimental. Later made of wood with no trace left. Great story! Keep us posted, thanks!
@pwhitewick Some time ago Japanese kids would hammer aluminium foil into perfect shiny spheres just for fun. No idea how that relates to this but worth a mention.
What if the balls and the circle were used together for a game like croquet? Maybe the stone circles are fancy versions of goal posts but they typically used wooden goal posts. Stone Henge could be their version of a stadium lol
ye but that was a time u didnt get much spare time so to feed n train some1 t make them just to 'play' meaning u need more free time seems a bit extravagant
Why can’t they be purely ornamental and showed the skill of the worker who made them? Think of all the stuff we keep on shelves and windowsills today 😂
@@pwhitewickmaybe with them all being clustered in one area means that one person, or group of people was making and trading them. The few outliers come from people moving on to live elsewhere…. They become a family heirloom which is why some get buried under things for good luck?
@@andrewduke1489 Sold in the gift shops of Neolithic Aberdeen. Six months later people all over Scotland were saying "why on earth did I buy this junk on my holidays". I know the feeling! :o)
Here in the Southeastern United States, we have thousands of such balls of identical motifs. They were carved from greenstone, soapstone or clay. Here they were used for heating water for cooking, They would be heated then dropped into soapstone or ceramic pots for boiling water to cook vegetables. Hundreds of such ceramic bowls have found at Poverty Point, Louisiana, USA. Go online and see how remarkably similar their motifs were to those in Scotland.
@@impartialreview-r7f The decorations are identical to those balls in Scotland. I am a historic/prehistoric preservation architect, so the only ones I have seen are in museums. Soapstone darkens over time from magnesium oxide, Our greenstone does not darken. Look up the website for Poverty Point National Historic Landmark.
How did Exeter Uni think the balls were used to move the stones? Did I miss something? Just don't understand that picture with the balls sandwiched in wood.
Think of them as ball bearings. Lower wooden section is a rail. Top wooden section the big stones sit on. Push big stones and the top wooden section rolls. Grab lower wooden rail and balls as they come out the rear and run to the front with them. Very ingenious but I suspect over engineered. Strap fifteen oxen to the stones and pull, with a few guys levering the stone with big planks as required. A team of clearers ahead to get rid of small obstacles. Should be able to cover ten miles a day with different teams of oxen.
@@vsvnrg3263 The sling seaweed in front of it on a sledge theory works but you'd have to carry tons of seaweed to make it viable. I think it was just reading the landscape, bodies, brute strength and experience.
Perhaps the useful bits that went with the balls were made of wood, for a game or ritual or skill, where the wooden parts needed a weight. The ball needed symmetry to fit into the wooden framework properly, but was itself unaffected by its use. It was an important family object that, once retired, would be built into a new house.
Balls are memorials to ancestors, usually passed in previous year. Purchased at a site like Stonehenge or the site on the river nearby. It’s kind of a pilgrimage to the site in honor of the deceased loved one. Much more useful than a stone over the body that family must visit to see as at a cemetery.
Oh God, my brain melted at the “all within 1mm of each other”. What other activity is so precise about the size of balls? Is cricket 5,000 years old and does it come from Scotland? That French version of bowls, perhaps. I like the suggestion of bearings but no, its got to be sport hasn’t it?
Maybe a very early and VERY durable form of family crest? We, as a species, have made many such items: Crests, Rings, Banners, Tatoos, Brandings, you name it someone did it. The amount of work and time going into these balls indicates that they were of very significant importance for sure - and besides religious reasons identifying a family's current Patriarch, especially in a rough environment where dying was surely quite an easy thing to do, would be of the utmost importance for the social structure of the culture. Troubling is the fact that their finding in such a small geographic area would then indicate a very rapid ending of that same culture. After all, if the families had just moved away they would surely have taken their most valuable posession, the Family Stone, with them.
More than half the people must have belonged to one family then, because out of the ones that are carved rather than blank, more than half have six knobs.
Time 5:53, "We have no balls here in the South." You'll get no disagreement from the Geordies! Ha, ha, just kidding mate, couldn't resist. Love your show!
First saw these balls on Orkney years ago. I am stone sculptor and was amazed how well formed and intricate there were. For people that didn't posses metal tools, it was simply amazing. I concur with you somewhat. I think they're represented each group/ clan. When there were gathering together. So there could plan things out. By putting they're clan tokens in a line, each clan would get a say in the procedures.Without leaders I should imagine. Democratic Socialism at work and working very nicely thank you.
I believe a key thing said here was that the balls are 70mm and rarely of more than 1-2mm. In my mind that removes it from being concidered to be a speaking stone. Such stone would likely be more focused on a specific shape rather than, for the time, very specific measurements. To fit a measurment takes more effort than decorations. Measument forces you to compare and adjust, often over and over again. I would concider the real value of the balls being the size and roundness. the decoration a consequence of it having a real value in the sociaty that used it. They valued the ball so they decorated it.
The consistent size is absolutely fascinating, the only thing in nature I can think of that is consistent in size that everyone has access to is the thumb, with the average male thumb being 2.75 inches or just under 70mm.
Perhaps they were used for determining water drainage pathways, by climbing the highest point of land being surveyed for a potential route to transport the megaliths, and releasing a large amount of the stone balls to observe the routes they take as they roll downhill? Perhaps this is why so many were found in a very challenging topographical area? Or maybe each stone ball represents a person who has passed away? Another thought, could they have been installed into the ceilings of cairns in-between two lintels, being held in place by pinch force? As an early warning detection system for a shifting ceiling, as a significant seismic event could shift the lintels, releasing the stone sphere onto the ground, where it would be readily seen and recognized for it's significance being on the ground. This would indicate a need to re-sure the ceiling back to stability.
Slingshots were a common weapon in ancient Britain, used for hunting and military practice. The decorations would almost certainly indicate that these balls were weapons. Apparently, a skilled slinger could hit a target smaller than a person from 130 yards away. The ridges carved on these balls probably balanced them to travel in straight line to do maximum damage on impact .
These are obviously difficult to make and therefore expensive at the time. I really like the comment about the model ball grinder in Austria. But why should these items have just one purpose? Paul’s theory is good, especially for softer, decorated balls. And French Boules are often decorated. But the plain hard balls are intriguing. They look industrial. There was a fascinating video a few years ago about a number of hard balls found in the Orkneys, and a theory that they could be used with hollowed out tree trunks as runners for big stones. Paul dismisses this as none have been found in the south of England, but hang on, if they were used as runners people would want these expensive balls at the sources of the big stones, not the destinations. And when people stopped shifting big stones, people would naturally re-purpose these lovely balls in the ways described, and they would spread around different tribes and locations?
My dad once knew an old watch maker, and he told my dad that on his first ever day as an apprentice he was given a rough lump of metal and a file.
There were no time limits, but he had to file a perfect cube, and only once that task was completed could he go on to learn his craft.
It's not just skill you need to learn, it's patience, patience, and more patience.
Lets face it, if you can craft one of these sphere's, you can craft anything.
A sphere almost 'carves' itself naturally when you roll it around, while a cube is a really anti-natural structure to shape, hence a truly difficult apprentice task. Think of how difficult it would be to file perfect planes without any rounded corners with a file. A sphere is quite the opposite.
My first job as an apprentice was exactly the same.
@@dominiquelaflamme7804 You never tried to make a gemoetrically precise sphere out of anything, did you?
If you dont mill them in form-stones (as was done with stone cannon balls in the late medieval times) , its incredible hard to get it right since you can never measure or set off the curving.
It will become irregular fast, and you have no way to measure and correct on a rounded surface.
A cube is EASY by comparison, since you can lay on right angles from every direction.
Seriously, a precise sphere is much, much harder on the artisan without some form of lathing.
Which, to be fair, they might have had. Middle kingsdom egyptian stone vases have been lathe-milled after all. Wooden tool gimmicks dont keep that well.
That should be visible in a microscopic analysis, though.
I was told something similar about apprentices having to file a sphere, but thet were given a cube to file to a specific diameter sphere, then when they had finished that, they had to file it back into a cube of specific size.
the dimensions given for the sphere and the final cube left virtually no room for error and minimised waste
Ancient test craft.
I don't know what they were for, but with regard to being used to move large stones, that's an awful lot of decoration for a glorified ball bearing.
@@neilmarsh1904 not if you want to stear the block,wedges balls,add a groov to a ball and turn a lotta weight.
obviously it's the original version of the Game Boules, the decorations are to keep track of which ones are your balls
@@RogerPlant-q7r no damage to any of the ball's... And what were the knobby bumpy ones for? Did you watch the video?
Seem a lot more like bocce balls than ball bearings. A textured bearing would be more apt to crack and break. Maybe Stonehenge was a grand Bocce stadium. Anyone ever think about that? Just saying. 😂
Yeah, the decorated ones would cause a lot of unnecessary friction. I can't imagine they were able to make a transport contraption with bearing balls and not understand that smooth balls would give the least friction.
When I was five, one of my Matchbox cars (a VW Beetle) got buried under the concrete driveway my father was pouring. Thousands of years from now, archaeologists will find the car and proclaim it to be a cultic object put into a foundation deposit.
You're an optimist!
i found my matchy vw when i was rebuilding the back step of our house. so i can relate to your story.
When archaeologists dig up my driveway they'll be announcing strange 21st century burial practices....
Matchbox! I was a Corgi kid. Parents were unpersuasive.
Only if all other evidence of matchbox cars was lost or destroyed.
One possibility to occurs to me that, if they all had differences, is that they might be significate to their clan/house/family, sort of like an early form of a crest. Something that could be brought to gatherings to show who you were representing. At the end of a lineage they would be placed in a cairn.
Exactly my thought. Pre cursor to a tartan or coat of arms. They are the same size as to not offend - theyre all equal.
yes, I think so to... if there was a gathering and you could not attend, you send an envoy with your ball, so he could speak in your name... (but nevermind, Im sure professional archeologists will tell us it was some spiritual thing, used for ceremonies ;) they never seem to seek for some practical use, with any thing they find)
@@jlaakso1706 could be. They would be an ideal size to tie onto a ceremonial mace, perhaps the patterns and nobbly bits helped with securing them.
Totemic objects pertaining to clans. That sounds good to me.
A bit like the ancient handbags that were carried by the Summarians, maybe the expression " he doesn't have the balls has a long lost meaning" just saying g
It could be a volumetric calibrator. If you fill a pitcher to the brim and drop in a stone it will displace a standard amount of water. If the stone displaces 8oz then repeat 16 times and you've got a standard gallon. The ornamentation is cut more deeply until the standard volume is achieved by comparison with another stone. The difficulty to make the stone increases the buyers confidence that it hasnt beem modified and represents a fair measure.
great idea, they beat archimedes to it. But why did they need a standard liquid measure?
@@helenswan705 For use in Trade. If you wish to purchase a jug of wine, oil, beer you'd like to pay for the exact amount. Or as a weight for dry goods?
@@helenswan705 to sell beer.
@@helenswan705 trade
@@helenswan705trade
Stone bed warmers. Perhaps boiled in a vessel while the fire was lit and then placed in the bed area to warm it up?
Now that's thinking outside the box. Perhaps could have been used to boil water or cook food. I've seen food cooked like that in (very finely) woven baskets.
Kegal balls
@@FieryWACO
The knobby ones in particular would be easy to pick up with just a pair of sticks, very interesting ideas.
Possibly these 'soup stones' could have enough generational value to a family that an old one would be buried under the foundation of a house for good luck, much as the way some builders still leave coins today.
- Problem though; why would they be buried in cairns? soup so good they wanted it beyond the grave? To warm up a cold grave as a heater does ring a bit more true here, particularly given the Northern latitude.
Yeah but regular rocks were used for that too. I guess the smooth, round surface probably works better than a gagged rock, that might crack open and ruin your food.
@@josephd.5524 A lot of stones just explode if you heat them. It should be easy enough to test, if you can get a museum to burn one. 😅
Neolithic cricket balls. Stonehenge is just a collection of stumps that were just dumped after being found to be too large due to a problem with the measurements given to the builders. Neolithiccricket never caught on.
You beat me to it! It's the old Imperial / Metric confusion.
Shades of Spinal Tap?
@@AndyGadget Spinal Tap inspired, yes.
LBW could have proven fatal.
"cricket "
Not baseball or rounders given the circular nature of the pitch?
I wonder if excavations might have unearthed any ashes?
That would settle it.
@bakedbean37 yes, they were the rejected oversize stumps. They were just dumped there.
People continue to assume that ancient people didn't have hobbies
Exactly. How can one pretend to understand our ancestors if we don't 1st study and understand our current world.
@@extremepsych So true, as I find that it's completely bonkers trying to understand why Americans decided to vote that lying, cheating, felon Trump back into the White House!
Bocce ball? Most balls would be stitched with gut parts and sinew, but lawn bowling games would want a harder ball (wood or stone, maybe some of each?)
I wonder. I lived in a log cabin in Canada 25 mi from town, 10 mi from the other cabin out there. No roads, had to walk. It was winter. Once we had a good supply of wood and a moose haunch hanging just out the front door, there wasn't much to do. I imagine the ancients were bored, too. They likely had trap lines, and hauling water from the frozen creek was a daily core, but they needed hobbies.
I think the long dark winters had a lot to do with their existence. Sitting around, bored, carve a rock. I mean it was the neoLITHIC age after all.
Could be for a game like Petanque - which is a form of boules.
Would explain why the balls are the same size.
Decoration would mean you could tell the owner.
Yup, game would be my second choice for sure.
dutch ; Kaatsen, the slang word ketsen means to bump (banging)
Yes, but no cracks or chips that you might expect from slamming two or more rocks together.
@@pwhitewick , no traces of wear. though likely unrelated, they remind me of the figurine of villi and such similar objects because some have a pattern on them.
@@sarumano884 perhaps neolitic rules were very adamant on not knocking the balls together. And nobody wanted their ball broken, they just spend the last 3 months making it.
Training / graduation device for apprentice stone masons. First day on the job you get a block of stone and several years of practice later you turn in a perfect 70mm decorated ball.
Something like this was my feeling too - or maybe it's part of a complicated dowry tradition? It wouldn't be entirely unlike Micronesian rai stones (minus the huge size difference obviously lol)
Given the ornate carving, I could easily see this. My only problem is the uniformity. The idea that stone masons from over such a wide range would all choose to have their apprentices make a masterpiece of the exact same size seems a bit unlikely to me. I am not even sure that such exact measure standards existed at that time.
Funny how much of the ancient World is locked into the metric system, heh ? ; )
Why would they train to do such precise and intricate geometrical stonemasonry? The other carved stones in the culture were apparently pretty basic, as far as I'm aware. People only prove they can do jobs that have practical value, but then they'd be put to work doing big pieces of intricate carving. So these, having had such uncommon care taken over them, suggest they're very special objects indeed.
@@lettersquash I don't think they *need* to have an immediately practical use for people to put that amount of effort into. The practice might have a religious significance that isn't immediately clear to us or some other sort of purely artistic appeal
My wife keeps walking in at the wrong moments...."hard wood"...."balls"...."knobs"....😅
Awks!
Bwhahahahahaha
But then she subscribes anyway… 😂
Fnaarr, fnaarr!
@@infidelcastro5129 The words "neolithic" and "archaeology" put her right off!
On the Exeter theory: why would so much effort and skill be put into granite ball bearings to move great huge stones that themselves are not finely carved?
I think these were demonstration pieces for stone carvers:
"So you want to be in the Stone Carvers Guild, Orkney Lodge 208? Go away and don't come back until you carve a stone ball the size of this one but of your own design and decoration."
yep, it's not like everyone is born with the skill to carve stone with designs or patterns. You have to practise first. Start small and one day you can carve the giant picture stones. IDK what you call them. I"m Native American lol. but I see a need for learning the skill on something small first. Someone had to learn to scale stone carvings up. Like in S. America, that one stone that's like a mini replica of the stone city that was built. It's such a mystery to them down there, but I see it as not. You don't have much of a writing system, so you have to literally "jump in and do it"
The stones randomly made me think about otters, which have a favourite stone that they cradle as they lie on their backs in the water. They keep it all their lives, apparently. A left field thought about them copying the otters, and perfecting the stone with human decoration to make it feel special. You could work up a whole nature cult thing out of it. I thought I might as well throw an oddball idea into the mix, and it’s quite cute thinking about them copying otters on their backs playing with their favourite stone in the world.
Otters also use the stone to open shellfish I seem to recall?
Reminds me of all those people scouring beaches for "sea" glass, and those varnished "pet" rocks of the 1980s. I wonder if a cult developed - the cricket ball clan?
The fact that they were all different carved leads me to believe they were not for moving large stones at all, but were a stone masons training tool like when you train to be a carpenter and they ask you to make a cabinet.
I have yet to see any data that suggests that the balls were ornately carved before use. It may exist, I just haven't seen it. While I disagree with the megalith moving hypothosis, if it was true then it could be that the balls were originally simply smooth spheres used to move stones and then later carved after they were no longer needed. The biggest problem with the megalith hypothosis (as I see it ) is the uniformity of the balls. While all the balls used to move a single megalith would need to be about the same size, the balls used to move stone "A" wouldn't need to be the same size as those used to move stone "B". I would expect to find much greater size veriance if that was in fact their original purpose.
I reckon they piled up the roman dodecahedrons into a tower, then bowled these stone balls at them to knock them over.
Hahaha.... DONE
Was it it called "Angry Dodecahedrons"? I played that mobile app.
I actually think they may have been some kind of balls you throw or hit in a game like curling. Just a tough
Bearings for a flour mill.
They were Celtic and Gaul dodecahedrons. We were the superior civilisation.
Hi Paul on holiday in Austria just under Salzburg castle just at the lower entrance to it there is a fantastic model of a ball grinder. It’s made up of two large stones just like a floor mill with the upper stone being turned by a water wheel. The model is amazing and quality of polished stones produced is unreal. Your answer my ly there
What were the stones used for?
@@dandare1001 in Salzburg Austria and Germany they have been making these are ornaments etc from the 1600’s from what I gather. But the process in doing it is simple and very possible to do back in the day of stone hedge possibly. Look up German ball mills
I will google 'ball grinder'
@@rodmehta5356 😂😂
"just under Salzburg castle just at the lower entrance to it there is a fantastic model of a ball grinder."
There's a model of my ex-wife at Salzburg Castle?
It seems to me that spherical objects are a lot more complex and time consuming to make when you can easily use cylindrical ones to help move things.
And a bit small I think.
Yeah, especially if you want to move something over soft or irregular ground
Ancient wagons and carts had very large diameter wheels precisely because the smooth roads that did exist didn't always go where you needed to
@@qlue7881this is just part of an experiment I conducted some years ago. The stone balls rotate and transfer the balance point from either foot. The machine can be fitted with four large wheels (see other links in my channel) ua-cam.com/video/dMwAMZuro8w/v-deo.htmlsi=aEkZYA5tJ1jQR9JK
They look naturally made apart from the carvings.
Leverage : ua-cam.com/video/E5pZ7uR6v8c/v-deo.html
I know of a throwing game called Wibble. The item has to be of a certain weight and size and often ends up decorated. A ball would fit this purpose but one that isn't perfectly spherical (usually ovoid but a sphere with knobbly protrusions would work just as well) is better. It becomes fast paced and injuries have been known to occur. The 'Wibble' is probably not as heavy (and is mostly half the apparent size of your sphere) but I can see that if played in an open area one of these balls could be a 'Wibble'.
Ps: Wibbles are hand made (often based on an existing item - eg: kinder egg plastic inner with a ball bearing inside, covered in tape to stop it opening). Just a thought.
Wibble sounds like a Fibble !
Maybe used for a throwing contest, they would need to be the same size/weight for fairness, throwing as far as possible on a grass field would mean they were unlikely to hit each other hence the lack of damage, and the patterns identify who threw the stone that went furthest. Any bigger and the distance thrown would be too small so they would tend to hit those already thrown, any smaller and they would get lost in long grass.
Early Olympics 👍
Clever
Those Picts, they LOVE tossing don't they?
No. Round is the wrong shape for throwing.
@@binkwillans5138That *could* be the very reason why that form was selected.
My reasoning? Considern keyboards. The qwerty layout was originally laid out specifically to slow typists down, the idea being to prevent the mechanisms of early mechanical typewriters becoming terminally mangled.
If EVERYONE were effectively hobbled by a form not best suited to task, it would effectively level the playing field.
T.B.H I'm not leaning towards this explanation either.
I have no idea what it was used for, but when Time Team didn't know the purpose of an object, the word ritual always seemed to be put forward. Paul has carried on that tradition.😊
Consider what a modern concept looking at the world in terms of secular vs religious is. We still struggle with separation of church and state. Native Americans didn't see life that way. Did anyone in the past? Or is that a novel mindset of the scientific age?
Every archeologist in the world at 4:45pm on a Friday: "Eh - let's just say it was for 'ceremonial purposes'. Pub?"
I think they are a standard unit of measurement for trading with. The ornate surface and perfectly spherical shape would deter tampering. In the south there are highly decorated chalk "drums" that could perhaps stand in for these, the detailed and distinctive decoration would build trust with customers that they are getting the same weight or quantity in repeat transactions.
He doesn’t does he? That what the absolute worst thing about Time Team.
I have one I found in North Norfolk.
I found it fascinating that the balls fit very well into the cup in the center of the carved neolithic spirals. I think that is significant.
Yes, I watched a video recently about the giant petroglyphs/pictogrammes in the desert near Nazca in Peru.
They worked out how the pictogrammes were made of a double spiral, the two spirals joined at the centre, and at the other end at an altar-like podium.
If you follow the lines by walking along them in line you create a very coordinated procession - I imagined people carrying torches.
The procession would end when the walkers had been through the whole maze and returned to the "altar".
The "priest" would be given authority because of his ability to perform such coordinated compliance among the "congregation".
Newgrange is plastered with the same double spirals, they appear to create a pattern that is innately satisfying to the human mind - like spiral sea shells.
I think we have a pretty dim appreciation of how impressive it would appear to have one of these balls, and to demonstrate how it would fit into a mysterious engraving.
Indiana Jones would have been impressed anyway.
There’s something very significant regarding the uniform size, all but 12 of the 425 being between 69 and 71mm, that cannot be an accident, it suggests a single manufacturer, or a single customer that required the uniform size, it suggests that a go/no go gauge was used in their manufacture, I hadn’t been aware of the above until now, thanks for the info, much food for thought here 🤔.
Yes
I've thought for a long time that they could be weights for weaving. Particularly the knobby ones. To facilitate wrapping the weft(?) threads
You might be overthinking it from your modern point of view. Perhaps the size is something that say, fits well in the fist.
@@PRH123 all things are possible, but to have over 400 almost identical in size and only a tiny number not conforming I’d rather doubt it was to do with fitting into the fist, unless of course the inhabitants of that area all had identically sized hands 🤔🙂, I think that statistically it’s good evidence that the uniform size was intentional, the only way that over 400 items could be controlled within that specific size range would be either to measure them or use a go/no go gauge (something as simple as a plank with circular holes to pass them through), given that the method of manufacture was most likely relatively simple, ie pounding, chipping and abrading to control almost 100% of parts within 2mm of each other is quite an achievement, the only other way I can think that all of the balls had such similar dimensions would be that their manufacture was in some way automated, ie they were ground between two mill stones each with a hemispherical recess, but I think that highly unlikely as they would most probably have had even greater dimensional similarity were that the case.
@@1234567marks perhaps they wouldn’t have been sizing them with users or customers fists, but with their own, so it would be the manufacturers fist, who were all men between x and y years, not all of whose fists were the same, but say within two millimeters of each other? With the irregular surface also there’s the question of where the measurement of diameter is taken from, the outermost points of the knobbly bits, or the bottom of the trough etc.
My danger will Robinson alarm goes off when we hear people these days using the word precision in reference to ancient stonework :)
Looks like milling balls to me. Used all over the world even today. You roll them in a wide wooden bowl to crush all types of seeds into powders. The size of a milling ball is defined by the ability to cup your hand around it very loosely so you can move it rapidly around the bowl while it rolls with hardly any friction in your hand.
We have a winner! Your explanation is the most logical. The knobs would have focused pressure for extra milling power.
@ It might be that the size and hardness of the seeds demand different sizes and patterns on the balls to be effective. But this is just a guess. Milling balls should be pretty valuable and the patterns might just be for identifying owners. Just like boule pétanque balls today, that also happens to have size matching human hands in a similar way.
I found one in local fields when I was a kid, it was stolen from my tent at Glastonbury festival when they took my bag in 2000. Granite but with very fine worn lines on it.
Nice little trick there at 3:18 :-)
Woodland elf trick🧝♂️
I spent waaaaaay to long doing that!
@@pwhitewick worth it
Thanks for pointing that out. I must have blinked and missed it. But once seen the effect is great.
I was watching half-distracted but my eye caught the effect and almost jumped to pause! 😂
Your videos give me so much sanity.
In a world perched on the edge of WW3 a reminder that humans once were able to come together, despite their differences, gives a glimmer of hope
We have found a few here in Cumbria too! I love any object you can trace, as it really helps us understand where people were moving, and maybe even why!
adammorganibbotson, were these cumbrian finds indicated on that map that was shown?
My speculation: it's basically a masterwork piece. At a time when stoneworking was an essential and valued skill it would make sense for people learning the techniques to make small demonstration objects to prove their skill. Make a perfectly spherical ball to fit through a circular template? Good, you've done that. Now decorate it without marring the symmetry? Wonderful! Now you have a piece you can stick in your pocket to show anyone you're trying to persuade to hire you for work.
But ownership of the ball does not mean you made it
@@Puffball-ll1ly No, but if each pattern is different, it would act as a type of signature of the mason, it could be forged, but if you were hired, and weren't up to the task, you'd be caught out quickly. Over time, each mason recognises each others work by the type of pattern/how it was carved etc.
This still goes on today so isn't far fetched at all.
Edit: This would also explain why it would end up buried, to prevent this type of abuse, it get put in it's carvers grave with him.
@@longrange1977 My understanding is that many balls had very similar carvings, and a masterpiece doesn't explain such an exacting size match.
Knobs and balls on a Sunday, this channel has gone down hill ;o) Seriously very interesting and don't think I have seen/heard of those before, maybe they were used in a sling shot to ritually kill an animal, or a token that that the head of the village held, maybe someone in the village was a very naughty person and their punishment to appease the gods/village was to spend time carving one of these balls which must have taken a while, so many different things these could be. Will have to look into these more.
Hear me out. You throw a few of these in the dryer with your furs and they come out just that more fluffy.
Holding the ball could indicate who has the floor at a meeting. Once one person was finished speaking, he could pass the ball to another speaker whose turn, it would now be to speak. A differently decorated ball would indicate the family or clan that it belonged to.
Reminds me of those awful ice-breaking games they make you play at "team-bonding" meetings where you each throw the bean bag to someone and they have to reveal an "interesting fact" about themselves!
Were societies that large that you wouldn't already know who a person was, in terms of "*this* clan, *that* close to the head man ; also mated with my cousin and fostering one of my mother-brother's grandchildren" ?
I like the idea in principle but find it hard to believe that so many stone workers so far apart would carve so many spheres within 2mm of each other for such a purpose. Why would a village need to have their talking stone the exact same size as the village five miles away, let alone 100 miles?
@@jeremyvolland8508 Why would they need a "ritual" (that word again!) object for talking to people who they've known all their lives, are probably fairly close relatives, and live less than 2 hours walk away?
I've no idea what the purpose of these objects was. But I very much doubt it was that.
Communication is a common need. So, what performed this "ritual" purpose in, say, Neolithic Anatolia, or living-memory Australia?
@@a.karley4672 It is not my theory nor do I believe it for the reason I gave above, but to be fair, we must be careful to place our own sensabilities on other people, especially on people in other times.
I could easily see a culture having an object that they have given significance to by saying that whoever is holding it has the right to speak. Such an object would make meetings less chaotic and more orderly. It is my understanding that many cultures have used such objects, like the talking stick used by several Native American tribes. We even use something similar today in meetings across the world, it just isn't a physical object but an imaginary object called "the floor".
At 70-71mm diameter, they are a very similar size to cricket balls (71-72mm) and baseball (72-75mm) and tennis balls (65-69mm.
They seem meant to be in the hand, they can be heated or chilled, knobbly or smooth. Something to do with massage.
The balls are for throwing at anything that threatens the person. Humans are great throwers. I recall as a kid carrying rocks because of dogs.
Good idea on both of you.
The Scots today are known for their love of chucking stuff about at festivals (cabers, shot puts, curling stones, hammers).
If these were the same size as a contemporary ball designed for throwing then why not?
I think the knobs would affect the weight too much to make them fair, but the knobbly ones might have been the "jack" that the others had to aim at perhaps?
I think we need some experimental archeological re-enactment.
I'm sure WC 21 (UK) Productions, Allotment Fox and even Tweedy would give it a go?
They could try chucking, sling shot, and bowling/skittles type games.
What if they were given shields so they could attack each other paint ball style?
I think they are sliotars from the game Hurling....
Hurling was used to settle disputes between tribes in Ireland. It was more than just a game/sport.
I love this content and Paul is awesome. At the same time, every time something like this crops up, when we ha have no friggin idea, it ends up as, in so many museum cases, a "ritual object."
I'm impressed that Paul did not resort to the "r word" as an explanation!
To be fair, many societies had a lot of rituals.
Now we know,, they had no balls in the South. Good thing that changed with time.
But of course: stooooooones!
And what marvelous pieces of craftsmenship they are. Bringing granite to take a sperical shape is hard for me with my tools, but making it by hand with the earliest tools mankind could use? Impressive.
Very impressive.
Great video!
STONES!!!!
*Many* of the carved stones are NOT granite, but relatively soft, easily carved, stones. IIRC, the stone ball found at Skara Brae was made of soapstone from Unst (in the Shetlands), while the main distribution of them are all within a day or two walk of Portsoy, which also has outcrops of "soapstone" (talc-rich meta-ultrabasics ; soft, carveable) around the harbour. (The harbour is an inlet in the coast _because_ the rock is soft!) That's not a serious hypothesis, because there are a *lot* of other source rocks than Portsoy.
There has, I believe, been a lot of ink spilled over trying to trace stone balls to their progenitor rock outcrops, but no clear outcome to the attempted correlations.
Hypothesis : Ugghg (who grew up near Portsoy) went to Orkney to marry some relative (politics, politics!) and took a stone ball as a keepsake. Uhggh from Unst did similarly, going to Skara Brae. "Quinie" fae Auchquortihes (the RSC pictured at the head of Wiki's Recumbent Stone Circle article) took a ball made of the distinctive lineated gabbro of the Auchquirthies RSC "recumbent" with her when she "out-married" into the "Fisher-folk" of the Buchan coast. This is a quite hard rock (trust me, I'm a geologist!) and it is very definitely not a granite.
3:26 where'd you go past that tree!
Saw that myself must be a tree portal
Came here for this. Theory explained I reckon
he just disappeared but didn’t recognize. He talked on and on, but wasn’t there. Is this the correct sign to him, how they handled that stones and moved the megalithics from place to place? They disappeared.
This was the best part of his video.
Really Really good Paul, and very thought provoking.
Thank you.
This was so interesting. I live up here in Scotland but not aware of those Stone Age balls being found up North. We live and learn. Thank you.
Fantastically interesting! I theorise that there may be more that are plain & get overlooked, which biases the sample for the most complex patterns. I'm always surprised by the sophistication of the stone agers; they seem to have been able to build impressive structures, travel & trade over long distances, and produce intricate decoration.
Anyway, I have a few theories, but I'm sure the linked paper disproves them.
One guess is an early measurement tool, kind of like an ancient tape measure. The lobes/patterns would:
- Differentiate from any old round rock, plus making it personal & precious.
- Allow you to easily track how many 'rolls' of the stone you have made.
- If pressed into soft earth/clay, let you make precise and consistent measurements.
That kind-of explains why these are so consistent in size but not weight or hardness, and found across a medium-sized area. You'd want to use the same measuring standard as the people close-ish to you, but you don't care much past that. People love to customise and decorate their tools.
They could all be gifts from one or two groups to other groups. They're all the same size because they are mostly made by the same few people with the same tools, and then they are traded/gifted. That also explains why they are mostly confined to one county with a few outliers as you are most likely to collaborate with local groups plus a few extras from further away.
Really interesting and thought provoking. The answer could be in any of those lists...we will never know but have a lot of fun speculating. Thank you for another Sunday evening's entertainment. 😊😊😊
Hahaha!
Paul, you’ve explained this with knobs on! Haha. Very enjoyable, and interesting, as always.
If found only a few on each place, they could be legal documents, like an official legal document showing a feudal lord's right to serve as appointed by the king, for example. They are all the same size because they all have the same rank and every location has its own characteristic but they were all made in the same place to size.
Just speculating wildly ofc.
Another thought provoking video. I have no theory better than yours. PS I like the 'disappearing Paul' at 3:18 : I had to rewind to make sure I wasn't seeing, or rather not seeing, things.
The very first cricket ball, duh!! Lol. Great vid!
Well....
There are quite a few cricket clubs in Aberdeenshire. Really there are. I've played Inverurie, Stoneywood Dyce, Fochabers
Up north probably rather golf than cricket.
Flintshire First eleven
Hate to see the bat!
Many moons ago, I found one of these stone balls in one of the fields on our farm and have had it ever since. It resembles green schist and - although not perfectly round - measures 70mm. I've no idea if it is neolithic or not, but it's always been a curiosity kept on my bookcase since the early 80's.
Definitely worth talking to a local archaeologist!
Please, please report it to the guy who has made the database and did the legwork that made this video possible. His name is Chris Stewart-Moffit. He probably still can be found theouh Aberdeen University. The guy has literally travelled the length and breadth of Britain just to measure, photograph these stones and find out what rock it’s made of. Knowing the exact findspot is fantastic, very important because so few have that record, most of them it’s just a general area like a parish. He wrote an interesting book called “The Circular Archetype in Microcosm: The Carved Stone Balls of Late Neolithic Scotland”
What an incredible thing to have found one of these yourself.
Really great video and thought provoking. Because they are so size specific and so location specific and don't have much standardised wear on them and took a lot of time and effort to make, that does't tie up with weapons, games, weights, or construction or other practical purposes like manufacturing knitwear (especially as the variety of individualised decorations seems prohibitive to a standardised manufacturing process for etc). There are also too many other simpleer or less time consuming options for weapons, games etc that are more practical to dedicate such time and efforts, so it does seem more likely to be social/ceremonial in some way like your theory. I's speculate like a version of a tribe's crest/emblem, or a unifying thing to check if you are 'part of the team'. E.g. someone has agreed that tribes or groups can be part of a larger team if they have one of these carvings, but only if it fits inside a certain sized receptical to 'prove' you are part of a larger group of tribes or economic or trade or defence group. Maybe that's why there are a small number of odd sizes, others tried to pretend they were part of the team after being initially rejected for whatever reason, but were never given an artifact to make the correct dimensions against for their own ball? It's fun to speculate! Who knows, but great video.
I'm beginning to wonder if there's an ancient order of pranksters who place weird spheres all over the world just to confuse future generations.
One stonecarver w a balls fetish
They look like cooking stones, for people who used tightly woven watertight baskets to cook in. Of course by now the basketry would be long gone. Since plant based baskets can't be placed on a fire, the stones would be heated in the fire until very hot, then placed in the basket to do the cooking. Often , it was a mush made of grains or acorns, etc. that was cooked this way. The different carvings made it easy to tell whose stone was whose in a communal hearth . Edit to add that they were also used to heat water in the baskets for either herbal tea drinking or cooking the mush.
Makes sense :)
Using granite for cooking stones isn't really a good idea, especially if it was ever in a lake or stream for any period of time. Granite put into a fire to heat is far more likely to explode than other stones like sandstone or other porous rock.
Paul, I was thinking along a similar lines as about the purpose of the ball. Well done.
Hello from 🇨🇦. The only thing that I can think of, is that it is for lawn bowling game.
You'd expect damage from striking other balls - these recovered stones don't have that - btw, that was my thought too, game balls.
Maybe just for playing catch
@@macfilms9904Would that be the case if it was bowling i.e knocking over wooden pins of some kind?
@justicar5 but then it would be weird for them to be almost ritualisticly buried under important buildings maybe? They are mysterious!
@macfilms9904 true, but people get real weird about sports.
Those are the original Rolling Stones😊 Wow that was an awesome video👍👍👍
I would guess that they were something symbolic, perhaps akin to the globe that Charles held during his coronation. It’s a symbol of authority.
Alternatively, I think back to the days of Athens, when voting was taken via white or black stones. Perhaps they symbolized specific individuals or lineages, and they were drawn to indicate who might be the gods’ choice for a task (like leadership in a crisis) or blame (who caused a drought or disaster).
There could be a simple solution to these stone balls.
Here’s a few ideas.
A stone masons test.
Trade stones.
Tribal tribute stones ( American Indians would pass a staff among their allies in time of war to understand who was willing to go to war with them. Each tribe would add a feather that signified their allegiance. These stones could also be used to make an agreement with other groups to help or to provide something for an endeavor.
and same size and shape so as not to be pretentious or insult the other tribes. A gift that could be easily matched because they were all the same size so they would not insult the one that would perhaps give their ball in return. In some tribes stealing a valued item like this would mean you are worthy as an ally.
@ I like it
Hi Paul,
Thank you for yet another weeks upload with yet another great video 😀
My parents found several polished stone balls on their property just outside of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA. This is fascinating.
It's amazing what people can do when they've got nothing but time on their hands.
Figure stuff out. Why ever not.
@@pwhitewick If I didn't have my job taking up most of my daylight hours, I'd be building something new every day.
Better carving stone balls than stealing your neighbor's cattle, I'll opine.
They remind me of the Bolas used in hunting in places like Patagonia. Two or three were attached together on long ropes and then swung around your head and thrown to bring down game by winding around the hind legs. The carved shapes on the balls make winding the rope around them easier to attach. The balls would have to be of equal weight and size or your aim would not be true and it would also determine how far you could fling them. Something simple and effective still in use today usually has origins in the distant past.
@@jb-zr4ez But then, wouldn't you find at least some of them on threes? And if you had A Famous Bolas Hunter in the tribe, wouldn't he be likely buried with them?
Love this Paul, to me they are games pieces, made to or by the owner and individual to them, hence being buried in the homes and locality of their homes. A lovely enigma.
Always a Sunday treat!
I love that idea that they are used for meetings. Kind of like a microphone without the mic. Or maybe they were awards or prizes for contests and competitions?
The meeting idea is probably my favourite.
Doesn’t explain precise uniformity of size. Games is my bet, particularly given common origin with game-obsessed ppl who invented golf, Cricket, rugby, soccer, etc. Also explains ritual significance. For comparison, some sports stadiums now have to take measures to prevent bereaved spreading relatives’ ashes on the pitch.
They are weights to weigh stuff. If one ball was originally carved a bit too heavy you would carve off a bit more and more until you have the same weight as the master ball. Say a standard amount of 1 ball weight sold for x amount. It could either be a bowl type scale or have the grain in one sack and the ball in another. The fact that no matter the pattern of carving they all weigh about the same tells me they were used for the same thing. Suspended in a sling or bag and the bag of grain or other foodstuff weighed against it would seem like a good shopkeepers tool. If you have a granary and farmer John stored 100 bushels and farmer Ed stored 50 bushels well, you have to account for the outflow and you only want a few pounds at a time to store in your crock in the kitchen area. You have to weigh it. They date back to the early village life styles. That looks to me the weight of a small sack of grain for flour. At least if I was a Neolithic housewife I would be making sure I wasn't cheated.. I would want the seller or grain storage guardian to use a standardized weight system so I knew I got the full amount for my token or trade goods.
The shape would have been useful for weaving weights. They could also be used for winding yarn. Net fishing weights. Anchor stones. Balls for children to play with. Throwing stones for hunting or battle. Bocce ball type game. So many possibilities.
LOL!! Let’s get real here: sometimes, the simplest explanation is the best. The 70mm size of these balls isn’t just an arbitrary choice; it’s ideal because they fit perfectly in the hand, making them easy to handle. All that ceremonial interpretation and nonsense fades in light of practicality-they’re suitable for games. Think about it-throwing or, better yet, juggling is a natural fit. Forget elaborate theories; maybe the Scots didn’t just “toss the caber” but originally "juggled with their balls" as these 70mm balls are a perfect size and weight. 😂
Well... I can't see why not! But why so location specific?
@@pwhitewick Local game that never caught on elsewhere?
@@pwhitewick Isn't there a sport in that area where they toss iron balls down paved roads? Could this be the same game?
It has to be asked if these were granite type stones (one of the hardest stones to carve any detail on) do we have the technology today to create with such detail?
@@FieryWACOa kind of shotput game? A contest to see how far they could be thrown?
Early golf ball!! But more likely a pétanque type of game.
Hi Paul, you know I thought the Stonehenge stones came from Wales until I saw your video of a couple of years ago. Didn't know the latest theory was Scotland. Perhaps only some of them? It would be a mammoth achievement doing that today incredible that it was done back then.
They look ornamental to me, as they are consistently sized then maybe a ball game. The Scots did invent golf I think.
Maybe it's as you said it's a conch. It casts my mind back to the Lord of the Flies.
Yet another intriguing mystery, perhaps an opportunity to do an update on the theories that arise on here.
As always great video, all the best!!
Agree. Maybe rather than the Scots though who came from the West we might think of the Pictlands where the balls are found
7cm is about the diameter of a cricket ball. Does this mean the neolithic "Scots" invent neolithic cricket?
A bunch of them do come from a very specific hillside in Wales. But recently an odd one out has been tracked back to Scotland. Possibly from a different era of activity.
The Bluestones of Stonehenge DID come from Wales, multiply proven, and the Scotland theory is just for the one 'Altar Stone' as it's known; made from a rock that according to Archaeologists / Geologists is only found in an area in and around north east Scotland. SOME of the other Stonehenge stones came from the area as seen and mentioned in the video.. The only definite enough thing about the knobbly balls, or rarer smooth ones, is maybe connected to why the greatest number, or most of them, were found in the area of Scotland shown on the map..
The Exeter Students idea is surely just too inventive, and unlikely, and a conflict with the majority, knobbly variety of the balls; and there looks like only one clear enough clue, and then only a maybe; that the balls are all a male hand, holding size; but this in itself does not support any theories while there is no evidence or known about supporting knowledge to explain why? they are holdable.
@@paulberen Thanks for your detailed reply Paul, much appreciated👍👍
Possibly used as a badge of office, a status symbol, I have a greenstone ceremonial axe head from that period which clearly had only a ceremonial purpose. Possibly they could have been used for a game like bowls or boules, hence the uniform size. Like a chess game maybe each design held a certain value in the game. One thing for certain is that they had nothing to do with transporting or moving heavy objects because nobody would create extra resistance in a ball by carving shapes and lumps into it.
They were simply Gaming Balls, and the ornate ones were the winning trophies ...
Petanque or boules springs to mind. They don't look unlike the 'balls' used in France
Maybe not a game to hit other balls and get chipped, but what if like ten pin bowling to knock over wooden pegs. Similar hand sized ball like cricket, baseball, tennis etc, Grandad's lucky ball gets buried under the new house for luck.
Yeah I think that - decorated so you knew which was yours
Isn't there a sport in that area where they toss iron balls down paved roads? Could this be the same game?
Petanque sized... But there would be marks from collisions. Fascinating!
Archeologist 1: We have no idea what this thing was used for.
Archeologist 2: It must therefore have been used for some religious or ceremonial purpose.
Interestingly, those balls could have been a sort of money since they would meet all the criteria for a good money. This isn't as crazy as it sounds because humans have been using otherwise-useless objects for money since forever. One of my favorite examples is the Amazonian tribe which made coils of colorful bird feathers which they used as money when trading amongst themselves.
Not at all far fetched. Recall the famous stone money of the island of Yap.
The interesting thing is "ceremonial" can mean all kinds of things.
Having a sunday roast? that's a ceremony.
Going around once a year dressed up in spooky costumes to playfully extort calorie dense food from the neighbors? That's a ceremony.
Putting a dead tree in your home and decorating it with open fires and useless tad? That's a ceremony.
Putting milk in before tea or vice versa, but the same every time? That's a ceremony.
this stoneballs are very hard material. So for what reason they did such a hard work?
Hi Paul. Round stones like these are quite common in Africa where they were or are used to mill grain to brake it down into meal or even flour. I dont think that the stones are round when the start being used but are gradually worn down to fit into the palm of a hand. You would also come across the stone bowl that was also milled out over time by the constant grinding of the round stone against it. Maybe your ones were used to mill wheat into flour?
Good idea, though the decoraction would suggest that's not the use. It could be that these were made as decorative representations of the milling stones, but then where are the actual milling stones they represent?
At primary school (60 years ago) we were told that moving the Stone Henge stones was relatively simple - logs and goose fat - and I am sure somewhere I have seen footage and illustrations that shows a reinactment.
As for the balls - that were found mainy on the coastal region of Scotland - where the Vikings landed - so either they were weapons, strung up in a sling to crack people around the head or weights for fishing lines that we knew were made of twisted horse hair - these sized weight would be perfect pre lead weight - on a moving tide(with thick horse hair - drag) you would need about a 5lb + weight to get the bait down to seabed where the big cod were. Ornamental weights were a bit of fun to bring them luck etc.
Why would they be so decorative?
@@impartialreview-r7f Much of the decoration is practical in as much as when one is tehthering a line to these balls the rounded decor and carved detail will help the horse hair fishing line lock tight onto each ball - smooth balls would allow the lines to slip and come loose. Worth reminding ourselves that there was no TV in those days and making an impressive 'anything' would be a sign of social standing(maybe).
On the very different subject of 'hunting' - I have never ever listened to ANY historian that talks sense when it comes to this topic, even Ray Mears hasn't got his imagination flowing enough to fully realize how and what was involved in catching large prey. HERE IS A FIRST FOR EVERYONE(in brief);- A tribe wouldn't and didn't go off hunting with flint tipped spears - that is a bonkers notion regularly trotted out - these very large flint spear heads that are found were used to tip large stakes - these would be carefully and strategically placed in a pattern amongst brush and then the 'tribes' would 'herd' the beasts ONTO these stakes and their own weight would drive the stakes home and subsequently impel the animals. Other techniques(less involved) would be using the landscape to drive animals off high drops etc. This is the original meaning of the word 'Herding'.
3:18 -- tricky tricky!!!
I spotted that too, do you think it was an Easter egg, placed to check we are watching closely?
@@tonylee-delisle7954 -- Yup -- or Paul has more magical powers than we suspected!!!! 🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔
The intricate carvings and uniform dimensions tend to support your theory that these stones were of symbolic or religious significance. Their size makes them portable, so as you suggest, they could have played a totemic role at clan/tribe meetings - perhaps being arranged in a temporary 'stone circle' in a pagan ceremony. It's an intriguing puzzle - though probably rather less of a puzzle for our Stone Age ancestors. Thank you for a really fascinating video.
For Cricket, of course!
They had yet to invent the bat or stumps or rules but they had got as far as the ball 😉
LBW would smart a bit?
Thanks for making this video. It is great to know that you read he comments.
My pleasure!
It might have already been mentioned here, but I think they're a kind of currency, their value reckoned by their uniqueness and difficulty to create. Being a unique and rare currency, it would thus also suit as a status symbol for anyone who posseses one.
Yup I do like this notion
I dunno
The differences in ornamentation would make them all have different values
As a currency you would expect to find them over a larger area, and of a more consistent decoration, otherwise how do you compare value, I like the idea of the "talking stone" but it is in a very restricted area, maybe the start of a governing system that remained in the northeast, with those found elsewhere being family that had travelled but still held a family stone, (in days of yore you would still carry your ring as a seal of your authority even though the people you met may have no knowledge of its status).
I like this idea, and maybe the designs related to clans, individuals, or even the land energies and features? But, I can see no reason the size would be so consistent, except for it being from one manufacturer, which itself seems unlikely.
We may be over thinking this a bit. Tiny balls to move large stones over an uneven surface unlikely. I think they just loved lawn bowling. Each stone personalized and possibly experimental. Later made of wood with no trace left. Great story! Keep us posted, thanks!
Whenever an archaeologist says "religious" I say "apprentice piece." What better advert for your skills than a carved sphere?
Yup. Fair assessment.
@pwhitewick
Some time ago Japanese kids would hammer aluminium foil into perfect shiny spheres just for fun. No idea how that relates to this but worth a mention.
Might even be both.
We know of priest kings, but what about priest carvers or priest masons?
I like how Paul casually vanishes at 3:18 whilst walking along the path.
What if the balls and the circle were used together for a game like croquet? Maybe the stone circles are fancy versions of goal posts but they typically used wooden goal posts. Stone Henge could be their version of a stadium lol
Haha, now there is a thought!
@@pwhitewick It would be cool but I actually think it's more likely they were used as currency.
ye but that was a time u didnt get much spare time so to feed n train some1 t make them just to 'play' meaning u need more free time seems a bit extravagant
@@katejackson7432 I would disagree about the spare time, especially in the winter.
@@asahearts1 maybe but winter now might have free time but i never thought of winter being easy
I like the simple idea of the ball is passed around as the symbol of or for each person's turn to speak
Why can’t they be purely ornamental and showed the skill of the worker who made them? Think of all the stuff we keep on shelves and windowsills today 😂
Yup, good call. I just felt with so much work going into them...
@@pwhitewickmaybe with them all being clustered in one area means that one person, or group of people was making and trading them. The few outliers come from people moving on to live elsewhere…. They become a family heirloom which is why some get buried under things for good luck?
@@andrewduke1489 Sold in the gift shops of Neolithic Aberdeen. Six months later people all over Scotland were saying "why on earth did I buy this junk on my holidays". I know the feeling! :o)
@@surreygoldprospector576They could have come with tee-shirts that said "I went to Aberdeen and all I got was these balls" 😊
@@surreygoldprospector576 yep, we haven’t changed that much over the years hahaha
Here in the Southeastern United States, we have thousands of such balls of identical motifs. They were carved from greenstone, soapstone or clay. Here they were used for heating water for cooking, They would be heated then dropped into soapstone or ceramic pots for boiling water to cook vegetables. Hundreds of such ceramic bowls have found at Poverty Point, Louisiana, USA. Go online and see how remarkably similar their motifs were to those in Scotland.
Do they blacken overtime? Why the same size? Are they decorative?
@@impartialreview-r7f The decorations are identical to those balls in Scotland. I am a historic/prehistoric preservation architect, so the only ones I have seen are in museums. Soapstone darkens over time from magnesium oxide, Our greenstone does not darken. Look up the website for Poverty Point National Historic Landmark.
Can’t believe I wasted 12:41 of my life not really understanding wtf my Brit buddy was saying or where he is going with old balls
Possibly they used to carve stone balls then put them under the mega blocks for moving to stone hedge
How did Exeter Uni think the balls were used to move the stones? Did I miss something? Just don't understand that picture with the balls sandwiched in wood.
Think of them as ball bearings. Lower wooden section is a rail. Top wooden section the big stones sit on. Push big stones and the top wooden section rolls. Grab lower wooden rail and balls as they come out the rear and run to the front with them. Very ingenious but I suspect over engineered.
Strap fifteen oxen to the stones and pull, with a few guys levering the stone with big planks as required. A team of clearers ahead to get rid of small obstacles. Should be able to cover ten miles a day with different teams of oxen.
yes, i would have thought roller bearings (logs) would be better than ball shaped bearings.
@@vsvnrg3263 The sling seaweed in front of it on a sledge theory works but you'd have to carry tons of seaweed to make it viable.
I think it was just reading the landscape, bodies, brute strength and experience.
they would not have decorated them in that case
@@piccalillies Absolutely, that kills the ball bearing idea stone dead.
Perhaps the useful bits that went with the balls were made of wood, for a game or ritual or skill, where the wooden parts needed a weight. The ball needed symmetry to fit into the wooden framework properly, but was itself unaffected by its use. It was an important family object that, once retired, would be built into a new house.
Balls are memorials to ancestors, usually passed in previous year. Purchased at a site like Stonehenge or the site on the river nearby. It’s kind of a pilgrimage to the site in honor of the deceased loved one. Much more useful than a stone over the body that family must visit to see as at a cemetery.
Oh God, my brain melted at the “all within 1mm of each other”. What other activity is so precise about the size of balls? Is cricket 5,000 years old and does it come from Scotland? That French version of bowls, perhaps. I like the suggestion of bearings but no, its got to be sport hasn’t it?
Roger Spurr at Mudfossil University, also on UA-cam, has shown what they are & where they are from--apart from the carvings.
Another thought provoking and interesting video....excellent stuff 😊
Maybe a very early and VERY durable form of family crest? We, as a species, have made many such items: Crests, Rings, Banners, Tatoos, Brandings, you name it someone did it.
The amount of work and time going into these balls indicates that they were of very significant importance for sure - and besides religious reasons identifying a family's current Patriarch, especially in a rough environment where dying was surely quite an easy thing to do, would be of the utmost importance for the social structure of the culture.
Troubling is the fact that their finding in such a small geographic area would then indicate a very rapid ending of that same culture. After all, if the families had just moved away they would surely have taken their most valuable posession, the Family Stone, with them.
More than half the people must have belonged to one family then, because out of the ones that are carved rather than blank, more than half have six knobs.
Time 5:53, "We have no balls here in the South." You'll get no disagreement from the Geordies!
Ha, ha, just kidding mate, couldn't resist. Love your show!
Interesting stuff, Paul. I don’t think we will ever know what they are used for!
Neolithic cricket balls!
Each club had its own design. 70mm diameter as specified in the rules of the neolithic MCC.
First saw these balls on Orkney years ago. I am stone sculptor and was amazed how well formed and intricate there were. For people that didn't posses metal tools, it was simply amazing. I concur with you somewhat. I think they're represented each group/ clan. When there were gathering together. So there could plan things out. By putting they're clan tokens in a line, each clan would get a say in the procedures.Without leaders I should imagine. Democratic Socialism at work and working very nicely thank you.
Westwood is an excellent place to go to see Bluebells in spring.
I believe a key thing said here was that the balls are 70mm and rarely of more than 1-2mm. In my mind that removes it from being concidered to be a speaking stone. Such stone would likely be more focused on a specific shape rather than, for the time, very specific measurements. To fit a measurment takes more effort than decorations. Measument forces you to compare and adjust, often over and over again.
I would concider the real value of the balls being the size and roundness. the decoration a consequence of it having a real value in the sociaty that used it. They valued the ball so they decorated it.
Wow a whole thesis on just stone balls, we are running out of good ideas
The consistent size is absolutely fascinating, the only thing in nature I can think of that is consistent in size that everyone has access to is the thumb, with the average male thumb being 2.75 inches or just under 70mm.
Perhaps they were used for determining water drainage pathways, by climbing the highest point of land being surveyed for a potential route to transport the megaliths, and releasing a large amount of the stone balls to observe the routes they take as they roll downhill?
Perhaps this is why so many were found in a very challenging topographical area?
Or maybe each stone ball represents a person who has passed away?
Another thought, could they have been installed into the ceilings of cairns in-between two lintels, being held in place by pinch force? As an early warning detection system for a shifting ceiling, as a significant seismic event could shift the lintels, releasing the stone sphere onto the ground, where it would be readily seen and recognized for it's significance being on the ground.
This would indicate a need to re-sure the ceiling back to stability.
Slingshots were a common weapon in ancient Britain, used for hunting and military practice. The decorations would almost certainly indicate that these balls were weapons. Apparently, a skilled slinger could hit a target smaller than a person from 130 yards away. The ridges carved on these balls probably balanced them to travel in straight line to do maximum damage on impact .
These are obviously difficult to make and therefore expensive at the time. I really like the comment about the model ball grinder in Austria. But why should these items have just one purpose? Paul’s theory is good, especially for softer, decorated balls. And French Boules are often decorated. But the plain hard balls are intriguing. They look industrial. There was a fascinating video a few years ago about a number of hard balls found in the Orkneys, and a theory that they could be used with hollowed out tree trunks as runners for big stones. Paul dismisses this as none have been found in the south of England, but hang on, if they were used as runners people would want these expensive balls at the sources of the big stones, not the destinations. And when people stopped shifting big stones, people would naturally re-purpose these lovely balls in the ways described, and they would spread around different tribes and locations?