5,500-Year-Old Polished Stone Balls found in Neolithic Scottish Tomb may be both Weapons and Symbols of Power

A team of archaeologists found two polished, 5,500-year-old stone balls in one of Scotland’s oldest known monuments. The items were found in Tresness, a chambered cairn on the Orkney island of Sanday that dates to around 3500 B.C.E. 

The discovery was a ‘cracking find from the tomb,’ according to senior curator of prehistory at the National Museum of ScotlandHugo Anderson-Whymark. Only a few Neolithic stone balls were found in Orkney, and the new finds can now be added to the limited roster of this type of artifact. 

Researchers believe that the stones were probably used as a weapon and as a symbol of power. This assumption was made from the remains of different people found in Orkney that showed signs of blunt force skull injuries possibly caused by such tools.


Image credit: Mike Lawlor

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