stone balls

The passage asserts that there are three possible theories regarding to making carved stone balls discovered in the Scotland. The lecture, on the contrary, debunks this idea and says that the mentioned theories provided by the passage are not convincing.

First, the stone balls were used as weapons for either fighting or hunting since they have grooves on surface, and also they have holes in them to attach cord for throwing them around. The professor casts doubt on this point by explaining that in the ancient time people often used arrow as weapon, and stone balls have no suitable size for hunting and fighting since they have numerous cracks and their surfaces are well preserved without any groove.

Second, the stone balls were used as a type of weighting system to measure quantities of food or used as a scale in trading, according to the article. The lecturer disavows this idea by reasoning that stone balls found in the Scotland are not uniformed, so there are not preferable to weighting. She also states that people used many types of stones in that time which their densities were different from each other.

Third, the author of the reading claims that stone balls reflect their social status of their owner since they have elaborate designs. The professor repudiates this passage's claim by saying that it is true that many of them have elaborate designs, but other stones have simple designs. In addition, scientists have not found any stone ball in the tomb or grave which means they never buried with died persons.