Scholars found two 5, 500-year-old polished stone balls seen in an Orkney Tomb in the Scottish Isles. It must have represented a primitive pre-technology, but what it was used for is not yet definite. The tomb where these implements were explicitly located in the Orkney isles was found last Sunday.
Scientists from the Central Lancashire University and National Museums Scotland discovered the unusual stone balls in the southern end located in the Peninsula of Tresness.
Polished stone balls found in tomb by the sea
In 2017, this tomb was discovered, with several chambers situated in a crumbling cliff over the sea. The scientist is beating time before it will disappear in time, reported the Daily Mail.
Around 500 of these polish and carved stone balls from the late Neolithic period spread out in sites all over Scotland, including Britain and Ireland, as sources of these numerous finds.
Another polished stone ball! This one is the size of a cricket ball, perfectly spherical and beautifully finished. It's split along bedding in the banded sandstone but will be amazing when conserved https://t.co/viAarY50qu
— Dr Hugo Anderson-Whymark (@hugowhymark) August 25, 2021
But the perplexing part that has caused confusion is the nature of the balls. Several ideas were forwarded from weapons, ceremonial items, telling the future, tools for smoothening leather, and rollers for large blocks. Cata Sand, a mile north of the tomb, has remnants of a stone age settlement expected to be as old as the Cata Sand, cited the Orcadian.
When the excavations ended in 2019, the researchers returned to start the dig in Tresness a month ago. They kept the tomb in an orderly state to prepare it when work does resume again. The two 5, 500-year-old polished stone balls were found later lying about in the Orkney tomb.
The archeologists wrote on their blog how they would examine the main chamber and the trenches extending the hidden tomb. According to the blog, Sam Walsh, osteoarchaeologist, started work in chamber one, at the closed end of the trenches, assisted by one of the Masters' students, Tish, of Central Lancashire University. On the site, small bone fragments were found in bad condition, which prevented any further examination by the team.
Another stone ball discovered
Professor Vicki Cummings was with the group when they found one of the polished stone balls unexpectedly. They added it was a significant discovery within the dig. Lightning does strike twice when the second stone ball, which is two inches in diameter, got uncovered in the tomb area, which dates to the earlier Stone Age phase.
Hugo Anderson-Whymark, an archeologist and senior curator of neolithic prehistory at the National Museums Scotland, said the stone ball, which is a big as a cricket ball, is perfectly round, posted on Twitter.
With a split in the banded sandstone, which is a great find, only 29 of the oddball balls were seen in Orkney. He added the discovery is unique as well. Orkney tomb had the stone balls and extra finds of human and animal remnants, with ceramic items and other stone artifacts that added to the value of the Neolithic chambers.
Other items of significance are knives, stones hammers, covers for pots, and even artifacts used for primitive plow and wooden frames. Items from the Bronze were also inside the tomb, where a bronze cairn was found that might be linked like a stone coffin, dug up in 2019, along with the two 5, 500-year-old polished stone balls in the Orkney tomb.
