Amazing Research Now Out On Scotland's CARVED STONE BALLS

My headline story in this week's archeological news is about a new book on the mysterious Neolithic Carved Stone Balls from Scotland which have attracted a lot of attention since the first ones were discovered. Scotland's Neolithic period was intensely megalithic so artefacts from this time are very interesting to me.

This video also features a number of DNA studies which are helping to shed light on Neolithic migrations, Bronze Age infectious diseases and the domestication of the watermelon! I also look at the recent finds at Gre Fılla Höyük in Turkey and some ancient burials in the Czech Republic and Turkey!

#ancienthistory #archeology #bronzeage #neolithic

✨ IN THIS EPISODE

00:00 Introduction
00:50 Monograph on the Carved Stone Balls of Late Neolithic Scotland out NOW!
02:14 Ancient watermelons were originally collected for their seeds
03:25 Thousands of ancient artefacts found at Gre Fılla Höyük in Turkey
04:46 Neolithic fertility pottery found in the Czech Republic
06:01 Bronze Age high-status burials discovered in Hungary
06:47 Plague may have caused societal transformations in Bronze Age Crete
08:06 New mitochondrial study identifies migration patterns in Neolithic Greece

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✨ REFERENCES

Stewart-Moffitt, C., L. (2022). The circular archetype in microcosm. The Carved Stone Balls of Late Neolithic Scotland. Oxford: Archaeopress Publishing Ltd.

Osca A Pérez-Escobar, Sergio Tusso, Natalia A S Przelomska, Shan Wu, Philippa Ryan, Mark Nesbitt, Martina V Silber, Michaela Preick, Zhangjun Fei, Michael Hofreiter, Guillaume Chomicki, Susanne S Renner, Genome sequencing of up to 6,000-yr-old Citrullus seeds reveals use of a bitter-fleshed species prior to watermelon domestication, Molecular Biology and Evolution, 2022

Altuntaş, L. (2022). ‘A Special structure Contemporary to Göbeklitepe found at Gre Fılla Höyük in Eastern Turkey,’ Arkeonews, 4 August. Available at:

Findy News video footage of Gre Fılla Höyük

Neumann, G.U., Skourtanioti, E., Burri, M., Nelson, E.A., Michel, M., Hiss, A.N., McGeorge, P.J., Betancourt, P.P., Spyrou, M.A., Krause, J. and Stockhammer, P.W., (2022). Ancient Yersinia pestis and Salmonella enterica genomes from Bronze Age Crete. Current Biology.

✨ MUSIC CREDIT

License code: YD3SKFJMVNDTLWEX

✨ PHOTOGRAPH CREDITS

Social media page: Carved Stone Balls, credit: Johnbod

Location of samples, credit: Figure 1 in Neumann, G.U., as referenced above
Location of mtDNA sequences, credit: Figure 1 in Silva, N.M., as referenced above

Public domain
Thumbnail: Carved Stone Balls
Carved Stone Ball

Other
Ram figurine, credit: Masaryk University.
Iron Age tomb, credit: Archeologická lokalita Těšetice-Kyjovice Facebook page

[stanlibuda]

Just discovered your channel and it's better than I could have hoped for. Subscribed immediately. Great stuff

[BeforeCaledonia]

Thanks for the heads up on the book regarding the carved stone balls, Martin.

[KerriEverlasting]

Watching this again to prep for the next video about Scotland 💖

[stuartparker]

I read about the Scottish balls many year's ago, fascinating artifacts, many theories on their use, i must go and buy the book! Thanks for reminding me Megalith Hunter.

[floydriebe]

hiya, Laura! wasn't here for the premiere but, great show, anyway! those stone balls are intriguing, to say the least. but then, most everything the ancients did is fascinating and mysterious. and, who knew about watermelon? rather odd that the quest for seeds led to the juicy, luscious melon we all know and love.
gonna watch this again. way too much to assimilate in one viewing. see you next time, my dear! thanks!

[garywall]

I really enjoy these 'Science round ups' with multiple topics. Now I'm going to have to look into the history of the watermelon a bit more.

[ZiggyDan]

Loom weights to my eye. Great show Laura.

[KerriEverlasting]

I had a busy day and couldn't make the livestream but very glad to be catching up now, just before bed. Not happy about missing this earlier. Stupid day. 💖

[barrywalser]

Great stuff, as always! Looking forward to more on the Scottish balls. They are very enigmatic. And…I had never put it all together, but you’re right, the spread of agricultural, megaliths and Indo European languages must mean that people were on the move. Thanks for all you do Laura!

[jimmumford]

I just realized you are nearly up to 200, 000 subscribers. Congratulations, Laura.

[adas]

They probably started out as pestels for normal day to day grinding of grains and flowers to make pigments for body paints and as many artists do it got refined into fancy ones that could be used to be able stamps on the body. Much like a tattoo for ceremonial use. It would allow the user to make very repeatable stamps on many bodies.

[ZiggaRats]

excellent topic! those things are fascinating

[Sandi-szpc]

Gurl, the watermelons might not be, but these vids are short and I dig them!! Looking forward to hearing more about Scottish balls 😅 xx

[johntsmith]

I have a theory on the stoneballs of Scotland. Based on nothing. But what if every household earned them via a ceremony of some sort. And corporal punishment was stoning some one to death and in the event punishment needed to be dealt, then everyone would bring their ordained stone ball to the event and participate. Since it's symbolic and ordained it's going to set on the fireplace mantle and might as well be attractive. Just a crazy idea I've had for awhile and can't disprove it. Thanks for your time.

[chriskelly]

What? No mention of aliens using the carved balls as fuel for their thinking caps; how authentic.

[barrywalser]

I’m going to be out and about today so I won’t make the start time. I will watch as soon as I can!

[vulpesvulpes]

Very good! I like these videos that cover several topics. They remind me of the NatGeo in the 1970’s where they had “one pagers” in the front section before the full length articles. Back when NatGeo was a serious publication about science and not just a shill for social opinions.

Your stuff is quite professional BTW.

And yes. The technology behind the conclusions spilling out is quite interesting. Almost to the point of eclipsing the findings.

Take care. Time for a tea refill.
Fox out

[richardjoangreen]

The balls are atoms of human life, molecules, cells, used when they were in the circles in special events

[madderhat]

Thank you, I've been looking for an archaeology 'news' programme to add to my subscription list. What's up with the watermelon hate 😋

[haroldgardiner]

Could those mysterious Scotish stone balls actually be a way early advanced civilizations on Earth showed us about the atomic makeup of elements and compounds?