Posted on 06/19/2018 11:52:09 AM PDT by ETL
Some of the most enigmatic human-made objects from Europe's late Stone Age — intricately carved balls of stone, each about the size of a baseball — continue to baffle archaeologists more than 200 years after they were first discovered.
More than 500 of the enigmatic objects have now been found, most of them in northeast Scotland, but also in the Orkney Islands, England, Ireland and one in Norway.
Archaeologists still don't know the original purpose or meaning of the Neolithic stone balls, which are recognized as some of the finest examples of Neolithic art found anywhere in the world. But now, they've created virtual 3D models of the gorgeous balls, primarily to share with the public. In addition, the models have revealed some new details, including once-hidden patterns in the carvings on the balls. [In Photos: Amazing Ruins of the Ancient World]
Hugo Anderson-Whymark, a curator at National Museums Scotland who created the online models, explained that many functions have been proposed for the stone balls over the years.
Such proposals have included the possibility that they were made as the stone heads for crushing weapons, or standardized weights for Neolithic traders, or rollers for the transport of the giant stones used in megalithic monuments.
One theory is that the knobs on many of the carved stone balls were wound with twine or sinew, which allowed them to be thrown like slings or South American bolas. Other theories describe the balls as objects of religious devotion or symbols of social status.
"Many of the ideas you have to take with a pinch of salt, while there are others that may be plausible," Anderson-Whymark told Live Science. "What's interesting is that people really get their imaginations captured by them — they still hold a lot of secrets."
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
My first thought was that they looked like microbes of some sort.
Grains of pollen is an even better analog.
” yeah, people in the old times built cool shit cuz there weren’t a TV in those days - they had nothing else to do
What the hell is THAT?
What the hell IS that?
Who the hell put that there?
What the hell Is that?
First time I have read about this.
Art for art’s sake?
If food was plentiful and the weather was nice, I’ll guess that most Stone Age residents had a lot of free time?
Trump’s ancestors.
Some of the stone balls look like the first micro-seconds
of a nuclear explosion...
Fidget balls.
Sorry for ruining your nice thread.
His are pure brass
They would have needed something substantial to keep the papyrus in place while they were exhibiting their calligraphy talents.
The fact that they are artistic also lends to that possibility.
The first Hand Grenades.
duplicate post?
https://www.freerepublic.com/focus/chat/3664174/posts?page=95#95
and #98, #106, #114
DUPLICATE POST...
https://www.freerepublic.com/focus/chat/3664174/posts?page=95#95
and #98, #106, #114
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