Has The Amazing Purpose Of Petrospheres AKA Neolithic Stone Balls Finally Been Discovered?

Originally posted by Robonakka
Those are bolo balls. They go on the ends of a bolo. A bolo is used for hunting. You spin it around and throw it. The balls wrap around the legs of your prey and stop it from running. As a kid I made many bolos and got quite good at throwing them. No mystery here. The grooves are for holding the stones in the bolo.

It's a definite possibility Robonakka, and one i hadn't considered to be honest. I know science has offered the weapons theory into the mix, but as yet no conclusions have been drawn, Bolos or otherwise...but who knows, Bolo balls are a real possibility, thanks for that.

reply to post by Agarta

...these balls could have been a form of ceremonial tool or physical symbol of a "Birth stone" as one was born under a tree rather than a sign.

Amazing. Very thought provoking Agarta.

So, possibly one's birth stone (sign) would be shaped according to the specific 'life' pollen of a certain tree perhaps?

And these may have been given as a kind of 'Christening' present for the newborn, perhaps based on family status, or area of expertise within the tribe or clan.

I love it.

Thanks.

Originally posted by Screwed

Has The Amazing Purpose Of Petrospheres AKA Neolithic Stone Balls Finally Been Discovered?,

I read your entire OP and while the resemblance is uncanny, you never at any point attempted to answer the proposed question in the title.

I get the idea that they resemble pollen but,
we are still left with the mystery as to what their purpose was.

Oh, apologies...i thought i'd explained that they might have been symbolic of life and fertility, as in pollen is the seed of life in the plant kingdom...it would follow (if the ancients were aware of pollen being akin to a male seed) that their purpose was to symbolise, celebrate or comemorate life.

In my uneducated opinion, I think they're hand weapons for throwing or for bashing in the human skull or for some type of slingshot.

reply to post by MysterX


I dunno man, I understand what you are saying and the glaring similarities can not be ignored but it seems a waste of time effort and energy to make something like that which does absolutely nothing and performs NO task whatsoever.

But then again,
how much "stuff" do we create in this society which is the same?

I just would have thought an ancient technologically advanced society would be a bit more utilitarian and not created ornate objects just to look at them.
They MUST have DONE something.

reply to post by MysterX


My thoughts go something like this OP.

" Holy crap this is a bitchen thread this guy put together. And he's even got his own highly plausible fresh idea of what he's talking about." You even closed the door on the newest religion in town from the get go. Really nice.

SnF

Originally posted by Robonakka
Those are bolo balls. They go on the ends of a bolo. A bolo is used for hunting. You spin it around and throw it. The balls wrap around the legs of your prey and stop it from running. As a kid I made many bolos and got quite good at throwing them. No mystery here. The grooves are for holding the stones in the bolo.

I'm inclined to agree, Bola's were my first thoughts, more commonly found in Pre-Columbian sites in South America and they were weren't quite as elaborate.



It's a nice idea all the same OP, but I fear there is a more violent or tool-like purpose for these balls.

Originally posted by Screwed
reply to post by MysterX

 

I dunno man, I understand what you are saying and the glaring similarities can not be ignored but it seems a waste of time effort and energy to make something like that which does absolutely nothing and performs NO task whatsoever.

But then again,
how much "stuff" do we create in this society which is the same?

I just would have thought an ancient technologically advanced society would be a bit more utilitarian and not created ornate objects just to look at them.
They MUST have DONE something.

I hear you..hows this for an expansion on the theory...a teaching aid?

We have models of atoms and all manner of macro sized representations of minute objects, as a means to allow kids and students to visualise what they're being taught about....perhaps, if these are giant sized models of pollen, this is what they were originally for?

In ten thousand years or so, if we're all long gone and someone digs up a model or two of an atom...they might have a similar discussion on their version of the web as we are today

Originally posted by randyvs
reply to post by MysterX

 

My thoughts go something like this OP.

" Holy crap this is a bitchen thread this guy put together. And he's even got his own highly plausible fresh idea of what he's talking about." You even closed the door on the newest religion in town from the get go. Really nice.

SnF

Thank you very much randyvs, very nice of you to say.

reply to post by Ramcheck


Thanks Ramcheck.

I hadn't considered the Bolas angle before it was mentioned, but now i'm thinking about it, i would have thought there would have been at least some of these stones with holes 'drilled' right through for the rope, but none have that i can find.

Not that i'm saying they're not some type of elaborate Pictish or Celtic Bolo ball, they could be, but i would have thought holes right through would have been a feature of some.

Originally posted by Screwed
reply to post by MysterX

 

I dunno man, I understand what you are saying and the glaring similarities can not be ignored but it seems a waste of time effort and energy to make something like that which does absolutely nothing and performs NO task whatsoever.

But then again,
how much "stuff" do we create in this society which is the same?

I just would have thought an ancient technologically advanced society would be a bit more utilitarian and not created ornate objects just to look at them.
They MUST have DONE something.

We got so much neat looking antique crap that has no use except to look at it. You have to remember that ancient people usually carried a small stone around with them. I mean, how rediculus is it to carry a little stone around with you? Just because most women always wear diamonds doesn't mean that we are still doing it. Just because we spend moocho bucks on stones to put around our gardens and fireplaces and tile our floors doesn't mean that we are still doing it does it? We haven't changed that much from our ancestors. We just learned to make stones instead of grinding them to shape. Actually plastic is sort of a stone.

reply to post by MysterX


A good theory...I for one don't rule out the ancients ability to view such things as pollen. They were intelligent and crafty people as can be observed in your thread.

It's not out of the range of possibilities that they could have created lenses long, long ago.


Ancient Glass Lens

newswatch.nationalgeographic.com...

Viking Lenses

en.wikipedia.org...

The Visby lenses are a collection of lens-shaped manufactured objects made of rock crystal (quartz) found in several Viking graves on the island of Gotland, Sweden, dating from the 11th or 12th century. Some were in silver mounts with filigree, the mounting covering the back of the lens, and were probably used as jewellery; it has been suggested that the lenses themselves are much older than their mounts

reply to post by isyeye


Interesting isyeye.

You spurred me on to go hunting...i found that magnifying lenses have been found that date back as far as 2500 BC.

Still looking for more links, but here's one:

The Crystal Sun

reply to post by MysterX


From your link:

A tomb of a Pre-Dynastic king there has yielded an ivory knife handle bearing a microscopic carving which could only have been done under considerable magnification (and of course can only be seen with a strong magnifying glass today). Thus, we know that magnification technology was in use in Egypt in 3300 BC

As I stated before, ancient cultures were very intelligent and I wouldn't put it past them to have used lenses to discover the world around them and inspire their creations. When you look at the quality of craftmanship of their work, it's not hard to accept that they mave have been able to discover and create optics.

Originally posted by Robonakka
Those are bolo balls. They go on the ends of a bolo. A bolo is used for hunting. You spin it around and throw it. The balls wrap around the legs of your prey and stop it from running. As a kid I made many bolos and got quite good at throwing them. No mystery here. The grooves are for holding the stones in the bolo.

Dang,
You beat me to it

I would say they are bolo weights and some maybe sling ammo.

reply to post by Flavian


I beleive the high amount of decoration was a "signature" of sorts for the hunter that crafted it. You could tell your weapon from anothers. By your particular design, If you crafted more than one the decorations would probally change, Sort of like we would use a different grain bullet or a razor tip arrow vs regular arrow. For the particular prey we're hunting, just my theory. American Indians did these things, Specific designs and colors were like a copywrite mark of your tribe. Or an individual.

reply to post by MysterX



Interesting correlation OP, although I bet we can find those same circular shapes everywhere in the universe, on a macro scale as well as the micro you pointed out.

Personally I think they are just art.

Man invents wheel, man gets to the stone age, man figures out the shape of a circle, man starts carving art pieces out of stone depicting and embellishing one of the simplest shapes in the universe.

Perhaps there's nothing more mythical about this, it's just the beginning of art. And why would humans not be artistic at that time?


Khar

reply to post by MysterX


Has anyone offered any thoughts as to the composition of these balls? Steel, brass, etc? Are they hollow or solid?

Originally posted by RavenSpeaks
reply to post by MysterX

 

I vaguely remember a web site somewhere that was about spiritual adepts being able
to "see "down to the atomic level . They even drew some pictures.
Not sure what search terms to use in order to find the site.
Maybe someone else knows what I'm talking about.

Sounds like Jeremy Narby's work with the Shamans of S. America.

The book is called "The Cosmic Serpent"

He theorized that Shamans were in direct communication with their own DNA and pulling knowledge from the vast repository that DNA is.

The "feathered serpent" in some ancient cultures is described as being the bringer of knowledge.... a DNA strand when viewed under an electron microscope looks like a snake with feathers.

Originally posted by MysterX
reply to post by Ramcheck

 

Thanks Ramcheck.

I hadn't considered the Bolas angle before it was mentioned, but now i'm thinking about it, i would have thought there would have been at least some of these stones with holes 'drilled' right through for the rope, but none have that i can find.

Not that i'm saying they're not some type of elaborate Pictish or Celtic Bolo ball, they could be, but i would have thought holes right through would have been a feature of some.

Yes you're right for the balls in the OP it would have taken extra rope to secure it, and they were more than capable of making a hole in the stone and saving themselves some rope. So perhaps not Bola's, they would have been ideal for bringing down wild deer or boar but to be fair even the Picts were accustomed to fine metalwork and any kind of device for hunting would have been more advanced than the South American Bola's.

Worth remembering the so called 'Celts' were made up of hundreds of tribes from all over Europe, who brought their own ideas and skills; the Creones, the Taexali, the Venicones, the Caledonii, Vacomagi, the Damnonii, Votadini's, so things that look similar and found in opposite ends of the country may be completely unrelated and have different uses.