Carved stone balls are a curious type of artifact found at a number of locations in Scotland. They date from the late Neolithic period, around 4,000 years ago. They are round in shape; they were carved from several types of stone; most are about 70 mm in diameter; and many are ornamented to some degree. Archaeologists do not agree about their purpose and meaning, but there are several theories.
One theory is that the carved stone balls were weapons used in hunting or fighting. Some of the stone balls have been found with holes in them, and many have grooves on the surface. It is possible that a cord was strung through the holes or laid in the grooves around the ball. Holding the stone balls at the end of the cord would have allowed a person to swing it around or throw it.
A second theory is that the carved stone balls were used as part of a primitive system of weights and measures. The fact that they are so nearly uniform in size – at 70 mm in diameter – suggests that the balls were interchangeable and represented some standard unit of measure. They could have been used as standard weights to measure quantities of grain or other food, or anything that needed to be measured by weight on a balance or scale for the purpose of trade.
A third theory is that the carved stone balls served a social purpose as opposed to a practical or utilitarian one. This view is supported by the fact that many stone balls have elaborate designs. The elaborate carving suggests that the stones may have marked the important social status of their owners.
Both the article and the lecture discuss about the aim of some very old carved stone balls found in Scotland. The article proposes three theories about that such as; using those balls as weapons, being a standard system of weighing, and showing the social rank of their owners. On the contrary, the professor mentions that none of the writers' suggestion are convincing and rebuts all reasons respectively.
First, the professor avers that common weapons found from the Neolithic period like spear arrows and hand axe showed sign of crack and wear. However, these stone balls have preserved very well and do not have any sign of crack. It means that they were not used as weapons. With this expalnation, the lecturer rebuts the idea that thsoe stone balls were weapons.
Second, the speaker points out even though those balls are uniform in size, they are different in weight. Since they have been made from different kinds of stone, they have divers wight based on their unsimilar density. She posits that balls made from different minerals like quartez, sand or grains which give them different wight. She adds that with this quality two balls with the same size differ in wiegth. Consequently they could not be used as a standard measuring system. This repudiates the author's theory about using stone balls as measuring system in Neolithic period.
Third, the professor states that those different stone balls have different design styles. While some of them have an elaborated design, many of them designed in a simple fashion. In addition, it sopposed that high rank people in Neolithic time were buried with their valuable belonging after death. Since none of those stone balls have been found in tumb we could not infer that stone balls had a social purpose. This reasoning refutes the writer's explanation about the social importance of stone balls.
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Comments
Essay evaluations by e-grader
Grammar and spelling errors:
Line 1, column 336, Rule ID: POSSESIVE_APOSTROPHE[1]
Message: Possible typo: apostrophe is missing. Did you mean 'writers'' or 'writer's'?
Suggestion: writers'; writer's
...the professor mentions that none of the writers suggestion are convincing and rebuts al...
^^^^^^^
Line 2, column 1, Rule ID: WHITESPACE_RULE
Message: Possible typo: you repeated a whitespace
Suggestion:
... and rebuts all reasons respectively. First, the professor avers that common w...
^^^
Line 5, column 60, Rule ID: ADJECTIVE_IN_ATTRIBUTE[1]
Message: A more concise phrase may lose no meaning and sound more powerful.
Suggestion: uniform
... points out even though those balls are uniform in size, they are different in weight. Since th...
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Line 5, column 86, Rule ID: ADJECTIVE_IN_ATTRIBUTE[1]
Message: A more concise phrase may lose no meaning and sound more powerful.
Suggestion: different
...ose balls are uniform in size, they are different in weight. Since they have been made from differe...
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Line 5, column 413, Rule ID: SENT_START_CONJUNCTIVE_LINKING_ADVERB_COMMA[1]
Message: Did you forget a comma after a conjunctive/linking adverb?
Suggestion: Consequently,
...ls with the same size differ in wiegth. Consequently they could not be used as a standard me...
^^^^^^^^^^^^
Line 5, column 501, Rule ID: POSSESIVE_APOSTROPHE[1]
Message: Possible typo: apostrophe is missing. Did you mean 'authors'' or 'author's'?
Suggestion: authors'; author's
...d measuring system. This repudiates the authors theory about using stone balls as measu...
^^^^^^^
Line 6, column 1, Rule ID: WHITESPACE_RULE
Message: Possible typo: you repeated a whitespace
Suggestion:
...measuring system in Neolithic period. Third, the professor states that those d...
^^^^^^
Line 7, column 160, Rule ID: IN_A_X_MANNER[1]
Message: Consider replacing "in a simple fashion" with adverb for "simple"; eg, "in a hasty manner" with "hastily".
...laborated design, many of them designed in a simple fashion. In addition, it sopposed that high ran...
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Line 7, column 301, Rule ID: SENTENCE_FRAGMENT[1]
Message: “Since” at the beginning of a sentence requires a 2nd clause. Maybe a comma, question or exclamation mark is missing, or the sentence is incomplete and should be joined with the following sentence.
...h their valuable belonging after death. Since none of those stone balls have been fou...
^^^^^
Line 7, column 442, Rule ID: POSSESIVE_APOSTROPHE[1]
Message: Possible typo: apostrophe is missing. Did you mean 'writers'' or 'writer's'?
Suggestion: writers'; writer's
...ial purpose. This reasoning refutes the writers explanation about the social importance...
^^^^^^^
Transition Words or Phrases used:
but, consequently, first, however, if, second, so, third, well, while, in addition, such as, on the contrary
Attributes: Values AverageValues Percentages(Values/AverageValues)% => Comments
Performance on Part of Speech:
To be verbs : 10.0 10.4613686534 96% => OK
Auxiliary verbs: 2.0 5.04856512141 40% => OK
Conjunction : 7.0 7.30242825607 96% => OK
Relative clauses : 11.0 12.0772626932 91% => OK
Pronoun: 35.0 22.412803532 156% => Less pronouns wanted
Preposition: 39.0 30.3222958057 129% => OK
Nominalization: 5.0 5.01324503311 100% => OK
Performance on vocabulary words:
No of characters: 1558.0 1373.03311258 113% => OK
No of words: 309.0 270.72406181 114% => OK
Chars per words: 5.04207119741 5.08290768461 99% => OK
Fourth root words length: 4.1926597562 4.04702891845 104% => OK
Word Length SD: 2.24473260728 2.5805825403 87% => OK
Unique words: 167.0 145.348785872 115% => OK
Unique words percentage: 0.540453074434 0.540411800872 100% => OK
syllable_count: 463.5 419.366225166 111% => OK
avg_syllables_per_word: 1.5 1.55342163355 97% => OK
A sentence (or a clause, phrase) starts by:
Pronoun: 9.0 3.25607064018 276% => Less pronouns wanted as sentence beginning.
Article: 6.0 8.23620309051 73% => OK
Subordination: 3.0 1.25165562914 240% => Less adverbial clause wanted.
Conjunction: 1.0 1.51434878587 66% => OK
Preposition: 5.0 2.5761589404 194% => OK
Performance on sentences:
How many sentences: 18.0 13.0662251656 138% => OK
Sentence length: 17.0 21.2450331126 80% => The Avg. Sentence Length is relatively short.
Sentence length SD: 26.9700908873 49.2860985944 55% => The essay contains lots of sentences with the similar length. More sentence varieties wanted.
Chars per sentence: 86.5555555556 110.228320801 79% => OK
Words per sentence: 17.1666666667 21.698381199 79% => OK
Discourse Markers: 6.0 7.06452816374 85% => OK
Paragraphs: 4.0 4.09492273731 98% => OK
Language errors: 10.0 4.19205298013 239% => Less language errors wanted.
Sentences with positive sentiment : 6.0 4.33554083885 138% => OK
Sentences with negative sentiment : 3.0 4.45695364238 67% => OK
Sentences with neutral sentiment: 9.0 4.27373068433 211% => Less facts, knowledge or examples wanted.
What are sentences with positive/Negative/neutral sentiment?
Coherence and Cohesion:
Essay topic to essay body coherence: 0.242671614501 0.272083759551 89% => OK
Sentence topic coherence: 0.0827278286676 0.0996497079465 83% => OK
Sentence topic coherence SD: 0.0554199680464 0.0662205650399 84% => OK
Paragraph topic coherence: 0.15148535183 0.162205337803 93% => OK
Paragraph topic coherence SD: 0.0354692059501 0.0443174109184 80% => OK
Essay readability:
automated_readability_index: 10.9 13.3589403974 82% => Automated_readability_index is low.
flesch_reading_ease: 62.68 53.8541721854 116% => OK
smog_index: 3.1 5.55761589404 56% => Smog_index is low.
flesch_kincaid_grade: 8.7 11.0289183223 79% => OK
coleman_liau_index: 11.66 12.2367328918 95% => OK
dale_chall_readability_score: 8.11 8.42419426049 96% => OK
difficult_words: 71.0 63.6247240618 112% => OK
linsear_write_formula: 9.0 10.7273730684 84% => OK
gunning_fog: 8.8 10.498013245 84% => OK
text_standard: 9.0 11.2008830022 80% => OK
What are above readability scores?
---------------------
Rates: 73.3333333333 out of 100
Scores by essay e-grader: 22.0 Out of 30
---------------------
Note: the e-grader does NOT examine the meaning of words and ideas. VIP users will receive further evaluations by advanced module of e-grader and human graders.
Grammar and spelling errors:
Line 1, column 336, Rule ID: POSSESIVE_APOSTROPHE[1]
Message: Possible typo: apostrophe is missing. Did you mean 'writers'' or 'writer's'?
Suggestion: writers'; writer's
...the professor mentions that none of the writers suggestion are convincing and rebuts al...
^^^^^^^
Line 2, column 1, Rule ID: WHITESPACE_RULE
Message: Possible typo: you repeated a whitespace
Suggestion:
... and rebuts all reasons respectively. First, the professor avers that common w...
^^^
Line 5, column 60, Rule ID: ADJECTIVE_IN_ATTRIBUTE[1]
Message: A more concise phrase may lose no meaning and sound more powerful.
Suggestion: uniform
... points out even though those balls are uniform in size, they are different in weight. Since th...
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Line 5, column 86, Rule ID: ADJECTIVE_IN_ATTRIBUTE[1]
Message: A more concise phrase may lose no meaning and sound more powerful.
Suggestion: different
...ose balls are uniform in size, they are different in weight. Since they have been made from differe...
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Line 5, column 413, Rule ID: SENT_START_CONJUNCTIVE_LINKING_ADVERB_COMMA[1]
Message: Did you forget a comma after a conjunctive/linking adverb?
Suggestion: Consequently,
...ls with the same size differ in wiegth. Consequently they could not be used as a standard me...
^^^^^^^^^^^^
Line 5, column 501, Rule ID: POSSESIVE_APOSTROPHE[1]
Message: Possible typo: apostrophe is missing. Did you mean 'authors'' or 'author's'?
Suggestion: authors'; author's
...d measuring system. This repudiates the authors theory about using stone balls as measu...
^^^^^^^
Line 6, column 1, Rule ID: WHITESPACE_RULE
Message: Possible typo: you repeated a whitespace
Suggestion:
...measuring system in Neolithic period. Third, the professor states that those d...
^^^^^^
Line 7, column 160, Rule ID: IN_A_X_MANNER[1]
Message: Consider replacing "in a simple fashion" with adverb for "simple"; eg, "in a hasty manner" with "hastily".
...laborated design, many of them designed in a simple fashion. In addition, it sopposed that high ran...
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Line 7, column 301, Rule ID: SENTENCE_FRAGMENT[1]
Message: “Since” at the beginning of a sentence requires a 2nd clause. Maybe a comma, question or exclamation mark is missing, or the sentence is incomplete and should be joined with the following sentence.
...h their valuable belonging after death. Since none of those stone balls have been fou...
^^^^^
Line 7, column 442, Rule ID: POSSESIVE_APOSTROPHE[1]
Message: Possible typo: apostrophe is missing. Did you mean 'writers'' or 'writer's'?
Suggestion: writers'; writer's
...ial purpose. This reasoning refutes the writers explanation about the social importance...
^^^^^^^
Transition Words or Phrases used:
but, consequently, first, however, if, second, so, third, well, while, in addition, such as, on the contrary
Attributes: Values AverageValues Percentages(Values/AverageValues)% => Comments
Performance on Part of Speech:
To be verbs : 10.0 10.4613686534 96% => OK
Auxiliary verbs: 2.0 5.04856512141 40% => OK
Conjunction : 7.0 7.30242825607 96% => OK
Relative clauses : 11.0 12.0772626932 91% => OK
Pronoun: 35.0 22.412803532 156% => Less pronouns wanted
Preposition: 39.0 30.3222958057 129% => OK
Nominalization: 5.0 5.01324503311 100% => OK
Performance on vocabulary words:
No of characters: 1558.0 1373.03311258 113% => OK
No of words: 309.0 270.72406181 114% => OK
Chars per words: 5.04207119741 5.08290768461 99% => OK
Fourth root words length: 4.1926597562 4.04702891845 104% => OK
Word Length SD: 2.24473260728 2.5805825403 87% => OK
Unique words: 167.0 145.348785872 115% => OK
Unique words percentage: 0.540453074434 0.540411800872 100% => OK
syllable_count: 463.5 419.366225166 111% => OK
avg_syllables_per_word: 1.5 1.55342163355 97% => OK
A sentence (or a clause, phrase) starts by:
Pronoun: 9.0 3.25607064018 276% => Less pronouns wanted as sentence beginning.
Article: 6.0 8.23620309051 73% => OK
Subordination: 3.0 1.25165562914 240% => Less adverbial clause wanted.
Conjunction: 1.0 1.51434878587 66% => OK
Preposition: 5.0 2.5761589404 194% => OK
Performance on sentences:
How many sentences: 18.0 13.0662251656 138% => OK
Sentence length: 17.0 21.2450331126 80% => The Avg. Sentence Length is relatively short.
Sentence length SD: 26.9700908873 49.2860985944 55% => The essay contains lots of sentences with the similar length. More sentence varieties wanted.
Chars per sentence: 86.5555555556 110.228320801 79% => OK
Words per sentence: 17.1666666667 21.698381199 79% => OK
Discourse Markers: 6.0 7.06452816374 85% => OK
Paragraphs: 4.0 4.09492273731 98% => OK
Language errors: 10.0 4.19205298013 239% => Less language errors wanted.
Sentences with positive sentiment : 6.0 4.33554083885 138% => OK
Sentences with negative sentiment : 3.0 4.45695364238 67% => OK
Sentences with neutral sentiment: 9.0 4.27373068433 211% => Less facts, knowledge or examples wanted.
What are sentences with positive/Negative/neutral sentiment?
Coherence and Cohesion:
Essay topic to essay body coherence: 0.242671614501 0.272083759551 89% => OK
Sentence topic coherence: 0.0827278286676 0.0996497079465 83% => OK
Sentence topic coherence SD: 0.0554199680464 0.0662205650399 84% => OK
Paragraph topic coherence: 0.15148535183 0.162205337803 93% => OK
Paragraph topic coherence SD: 0.0354692059501 0.0443174109184 80% => OK
Essay readability:
automated_readability_index: 10.9 13.3589403974 82% => Automated_readability_index is low.
flesch_reading_ease: 62.68 53.8541721854 116% => OK
smog_index: 3.1 5.55761589404 56% => Smog_index is low.
flesch_kincaid_grade: 8.7 11.0289183223 79% => OK
coleman_liau_index: 11.66 12.2367328918 95% => OK
dale_chall_readability_score: 8.11 8.42419426049 96% => OK
difficult_words: 71.0 63.6247240618 112% => OK
linsear_write_formula: 9.0 10.7273730684 84% => OK
gunning_fog: 8.8 10.498013245 84% => OK
text_standard: 9.0 11.2008830022 80% => OK
What are above readability scores?
---------------------
Rates: 73.3333333333 out of 100
Scores by essay e-grader: 22.0 Out of 30
---------------------
Note: the e-grader does NOT examine the meaning of words and ideas. VIP users will receive further evaluations by advanced module of e-grader and human graders.