Neolithic carved stone balls, Scotland3D Model
Neolithic carved stone balls, Scotland
43.5k
43471 Views
43Like
Triangles: 1.9M
Vertices: 925k
More model informationCarved stone balls are one of Scotland’s most enigmatic prehistoric artefacts. Created some 5000 years ago in the Late Neolithic, their distinctive forms were carefully pecked and ground to shape by communities across north east of Scotland. A few, such as Towie Ball, were elaborately decorated and represent some of the finest examples of Neolithic art in Europe.
Yet we still don’t know how carved stone balls were used. It has long been postulated that they were weapons – mounted as maceheads or bound with twine and thrown like South American bolas. But other authors have suggested they were used as weights, measures, mnemonic devices or symbols of power; some mathematicians have even viewed them as representations of platonic solids.
Around 525 carved stone balls are known and vast majority are from Scotland. National Museums Scotland holds the largest collection of carved stone balls in the world. Here are a few of them!
Model produced by Dr Hugo Anderson-Whymark
In collections![]()
![]()
![]()
![]()
![]()
![]()
![]()
![]()
![]()
![]()
![]()
![]()
112
Models
13SubscribeUnsubscribe
253
Models
4SubscribeUnsubscribe
19
Models
2SubscribeUnsubscribe
7 comments
What size are we talking about here? Grape, plum, orange, melon, jackfruit?
Sling golf!!! Balearic Sling type of thing, interesting the Balearic islands have very similar archeology to the Orknay.. I would love a copy of these as at speed I think they would sling with some interesting whistle sounds..
Maybe made for the kids for games. People had time on their hands ya know
Are these models available for download? It would be fun to research thier use by 3D printing them and trying to use them for things. -Thank you!
Weapon?
Just add some rope and you have a terrific stone flail.
Maybe what we're looking at are spinning stones. I can see prehistoric folk sitting around the campfire and having a little friendly competition. Perhaps even inter-tribal competition which is why they made them so ornate. To me the somewhat uniform shapes mean it can be grabbed and spun from just about any angle, with grooves that fingers can get in for that last flick-of-the-wrist spinning. Furthermore, I bet some of those spiral shapes look really cool when spinning quickly.
These are neolithic Scottish golf balls obviously. #4 looks like an early Titleist Pro-V1.