Hugh Newman: Out of Place Artifacts, The Strange Stone Spheres of Scotland

The Mysterious Ancient Spheres
Four hundred and twenty geometric stone spheres have been found in the vicinity of Neolithic stone circles in Northern Scotland, with 169 coming from Aberdeenshire alone. Outside Scotland, examples have been found in Ireland at Ballymena, and in England at Durham, Cumbria, Lowick and Bridlington. One was recently spotted by the author over 6,000 miles away that came from an important megalithic pyramid site in South America.

Most of the Scottish spheres are around 3 inches (7.6 cm) in diameter, with some examples 3.6 inches (9 cm diameter) and date from 3200 BC to 1500 BC. Some show beautiful craftsmanship and symmetry, others show artistic mastery, while some look rough, badly made, or unfinished. However, some of the better-preserved examples have diameters within one millimeter of each another. Most were all discovered within the vicinity of Neolithic monuments known as recumbent stone circles. The type of rock varies from easily carved sandstone and serpentine, to difficult, hard granite and quartzite. One of the most striking aspects of the spheres is the intricate geometry that appears to show the five Platonic Solids, a long time before Plato was born.