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Ball bearings used to build Stonehenge

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Chris Collyer C
Chris Collyer Nov 26, 2010 13:39:22
Replying to Howburn Digger

That's gorgeous. Here's the text from the picture which answers a couple of questions I was about to ask, namely, how big is it and how were the decorations made-

This small bronze ball was found at Walston in Lanarkshire. It is unique, without any known parallels, and its purpose is not known. The decoration suggests that it might date sometime between 200 and 800 AD.

The ball is decorated with spiral lines, made when the object was cast. Similar spirals are found on late Roman dragonesque brooches, and on early Christian manuscripts and metalwork. Dimensions:1.5"

-Chris

H Howburn Digger
Howburn Digger Nov 28, 2010 13:02:28
Replying to Chris Collyer

Chris Collyer wrote:
That's gorgeous. Here's the text from the picture which answers a couple of questions I was about to ask, namely, how big is it and how were the decorations made-

This small bronze ball was found at Walston in Lanarkshire. It is unique, without any known parallels, and its purpose is not known. The decoration suggests that it might date sometime between 200 and 800 AD.

The ball is decorated with spiral lines, made when the object was cast. Similar spirals are found on late Roman dragonesque brooches, and on early Christian manuscripts and metalwork. Dimensions:1.5"

-Chris

The shape comparisons of the Walston Ball and the roman dragonesque brooches and the pictish swimming elephant stone carvings can be seen on page 6 (of 11) on this pdf.

http://ads.ahds.ac.uk/catalogue/adsdata/PSAS_2002/pdf/vol_116/116_211_221.pdf

There has only been one of these objects ever found and it must be this lack of ball bearings which explains the paucity of large standing stones here in South Lanarkshire. I am sure Andrew Young and the team of researchers from the University of Exeter would agree.