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			by Janice Friedman 
			August 06, 
			2019 
			from 
			Ancient-Code Website 
			
			  
			
			  
			
			  
			
			  
			
			
			  
			
			Towie ball 
			 
			
			  
			
			  
			
			
			 
			Hundreds of intricately carved stone spheres about the size of a 
			tennis ball or larger have been found all over Northern Scotland, 
			Ireland, and in England.  
			
				
				Some are irregular 
				asymmetrical spheres featuring organic-looking protrusions.
				 
				  
				
				Others have intricate 
				geometric patterns, lines, and circles carved on their surface. 
				While most are spherical, some are shaped more like starfish, 
				with protruding legs.  
			 
			
			They date to 3000-2600 BC 
			and may have been created by 
			
			the Picts, Celtic language-speaking 
			peoples. 
			
				
				Why did the ancient 
				people carve sophisticated geometry onto these spheres made of 
				all kinds of rock? Many were found near Neolithic 
				
				stone circles 
				in grassy fields, adding to the mystery.  
				  
				
				Why were they placed 
				in the proximity of these ancient circles?  
			 
			
			That's what Hugh 
			Newman (below video), author, Megalithic researcher, and 
			explorer asks as he takes us on a tour of the spheres in Scottish 
			museum collections in Orkney, Aberdeen, Glasgow, Oxford, and 
			Edinburgh and London, England. 
			 
			Surprisingly, Newman then arrives across the world in the South 
			American country of Bolivia where he spots a virtually identical 
			sphere. 
			
				
				"Were they really 
				associated with these stone circles? It certainly seems so.
				 
				  
				
				Even though they 
				weren't found directly in stone circles, they were found in the 
				fields around them. This really intrigues me, because, if that's 
				the case, why were they placing them in the fields?" asks 
				Newman. 
			 
			
			  
			
			
			  
			
			  
			
			One of the spheres is 
			particularly intricate, the famous 
			
			Towie ball found in Aberdeenshire.
			 
			
			  
			
			It's thought to be over 
			5,000 years old, is almost three inches across and covered with 
			incredibly intricate spirals. According to the National Museums 
			Scotland, it may have been a weapon and a symbol of power.  
			
			  
			
			If so, 
			
				
				How or why did they 
				end up abandoned in fields?  
				  
				
				Why are so few of 
				these spheres damaged or chipped? 
			 
			
			According to the Museum 
			website: 
			
				
				"The ball would have 
				been the possession of a well-off Neolithic farmer. It could 
				well have been a fancy weapon, capable of dealing a painful blow 
				to the head if thrown from a sling.  
				
				  
				
				But it was first and 
				foremost a symbol of power - an elite weapon of social 
				exclusion! - adorned with sacred symbols that resemble those 
				carved into the stones of a faraway passage tomb at Newgrange in 
				the Boyne Valley of eastern Ireland." 
			 
			
			You can rotate the Towie 
			ball in 3d along with many other spheres from National Museums 
			Scotland below: 
  
			
			  
			
			  
			
			
			  
			
			Neolithic carved stone balls, Scotland 
			by National Museums Scotland 
			  
			
			
			 
			Along with the spheres, relief carvings of spirals and geometric 
			shapes have been found, but not just in Scotland.  
			
			  
			
			Over 6000 miles 
			away at the site of 
			Tiwanaku in Bolivia, similar carvings are found. 
			Meanwhile, at Lake Titicaca, Newman found a stone sphere with six 
			sides that closely resembles one of the Scottish stone spheres.  
			
			  
			
			It's 
			on display at the Tiwanaku Museum in La Paz, Bolivia. 
			 
			  
			
			
			  
			
			Sphere from Bolivia on the left.  
			
			Sphere from Scotland on the right. 
			
			Image screenshots via YouTube 
			 
			  
			
			  
			
			
			
			 
			 
			Such patterns are found all over the planet. 
			 
			Some are saying it's more evidence of an ancient advanced worldwide 
			civilization. 
			 
			Spherical metal objects dating back 6,000 years have been found near 
			the Dead Sea in the treasure of 
			
			Nahal Mishmar in the Judean Desert. 
			They were made of copper and thought to represent the Sun.  
			
			  
			
			
			Could the 
			Scottish stones have represented the Sun or Moon? 
			 
			There are an endless array of ideas about what these objects were 
			used for, from weapons to massage tools, healing stones, to weights, 
			to tools used to roll larger stones.  
			
			  
			
			
			However, since most of the 
			spheres are in relatively good shape, their use as weapons or tools 
			seems less likely. 
			
				
				The placement in fields might indicate some use concerning growing 
			crops, with some suggesting that magnetic fields or natural energies 
			were at work.  
				  
				
				On the other hand, could the beautifully carved stones 
			have been offerings to the gods left as gifts in the hopes of a 
			bountiful harvest? 
			 
			
			
			Newman believes the intricate carvings might be references to sacred 
			geometry or Archimedean and Platonic solids. These are complex 
			polyhedra shapes enumerated by Archimedes and Plato.  
			
			  
			
			
			If so,  
			
				
				does 
			this indicate that Neolithic people had an advanced understanding of 
			mathematics? 
			 
			
			  
			
			
			  
			
			
			Archimedean and Platonic solids  
			
			
			by fdecomite via Flickr (CC BY 2.0) 
			  
			
			
			 
			Another idea is that the elaborate shapes may have had some use in 
			surveying and astronomy, considering their proximity to the stone 
			megalithic circles.  
			
			  
			
			
			These were places to observe seasonal changes 
			and the stars, Moon, and planets.  
			
				
				Perhaps these spheres were placed 
			on the ground to mark the location in the sky of these celestial 
			bodies?  
			 
			
			
			Nobody knows why the spheres were found near the stone 
			observatories but not within. 
			 
			  
			
			
			  
			Neolithic stone circle 
			
			via YouTube 
			  
			
			
			 
			Today we recognize some of these shapes as similar to the atomic or 
			cellular structure... 
			
			  
			
			It seems impossible that ancient people would 
			know of such things. However, since we don't know anything about who 
			made these objects or why we can't rule it out entirely.  
			
			
			 
			
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