Worked Stone Ball, Carronbridge

A Stone ball found at Carronbridge near Morton. Carved stone balls are found almost exclusively in Scotland, but they possess no clear function, although they may be associated with funerary sites. They do not appear to have been exchanged over long distances as most are made of locally available stone.   Perhaps they were hereditary items, passed on from one generation to another, or carried as status symbols, or missiles designed to be thrown from a thong, or part of a game for which we will never know the rules? A number of suggestions such as these balls being used as fishing weights, or even as oracles (the way in which a ball came to rest after being dropped offering an answer from the gods) have been suggested. There remains no definitive answer as to their usage.