This late Neolithic carved stone ball was found in the late 1940s by Mr Charles Patterson while cutting peats at Upper Sandy Moss, Holm Hill, Mainland, Orkney.
This carved stone ball exhibits 15 irregularly spaced round knobs, four of which exhibit minor damage or wear. It is manufactured from a fine igneous rock, probably camptonite. The ball was shaped by pecking and the surface was finished by grinding.
Weight 480.9g. 88mm x 86.1mm x 77.4mm.
This model was produced for a Leverhulme Trust funded project ‘Working stone, making communities: technology and identity on prehistoric Orkney’. This will feature on a web resource about Orcadian stone tools, which is currently under development.
This artefact is on display at The Orkney Museum, Tankerness House, Kirkwall. OM L.1978.25
The Orkney Museum, Orkney Islands Council. © Hugo Anderson-Whymark.
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