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Carvedstoneballsareacurioustypeofartifactfoundatanumberoflocations

inScotland.TheydatefromthelateNeolithicperiod,around4,000yearsago.They

areroundinshape;theywerecarvedfromseveraltypesofstone;mostareabout70

mmmeter;andmanyareornamentedtosomedegree.Archaeologistsdonot

agreeabouttheirpurposeandmeaning,butthereareseveraltheories.

Onetheoryisthatthecarvedstoneballswereweaponsusedinhuntingor

fighting.Someofthestoneballshavebeenfoundwithholesinthem,andmanyhave

groovesonthesurface.Itispossiblethatacordwasstrungthroughtheholesorlaid

inthegroovesaroundtheball.Holdingthestoneballsatofthecordwould

haveallowedatoswingitaroundorthrowit.

Asecondtheoryisthatthecarvedstoneballswereusedaspartofaprimitive

systemofweightsandmeasures.Thefactthattheyaresonearlyuniforminsize–at

70mmmeter–suggeststhattheballswereinterchangeableandrepresented

somestandardunitofmeasure.Theycouldhavebeenusedasstandardweightsto

measurequantitiesofgrainorotherfood,oranythingthatneededtobemeasured

byweightonabalanceorscaleforthepurposeoftrade.

Athirdtheoryisthatthecarvedstoneballsservedasocialpurposeasopposed

toapracticalorutilitarianone.Thisviewissupportedbythefactthatmanystone

ballshaveelaboratedesigns.Theelaboratecarvingsuggeststhatthestonesmay

havemarkedtheimportantsocialstatusoftheirowners.

Nowlistentopartofalectureonthetopicyoujustreadabout.

(femaleprofessor)Noneofthethreetheoriespresentedinthereadingpassageare

veryconvincing.

First,thestoneballsashuntingweapons,commonNeolithicweaponssuchas

arrowheadsandhandaxesgenerallyshowsignsofwear,soweshouldexpectthatif

thestoneballshadbeenusedas