The Circular Archetype in Microcosm: The Carved Stone Balls of Late Neolithic Scotland
By (author) Chris L. Stewart-Moffitt
Paperback (Published)
(July 2022)
ISBN: 9781803271262
8.07 x 11.46 inches
Price: $84.00
On back order
The Circular Archetype in Microcosm is the culmination of seven years research into the Carved Stone Balls of Late Neolithic Scotland. It is the first study of these enigmatic artefacts since that undertaken by Dorothy Marshall in 1977 and includes all currently known examples in both museums and private hands, described and analysed in considerable detail. For the first time, visual geological characterisation has been undertaken on approximately a third of carved stone balls, which has enabled a more detailed analysis of their potential origin and the landscapes in which they were found. The book offers a revised classification/typology of these artefacts which, following careful analysis, suggests that it is possible to determine individual craftspeople with a wide range of skills. It suggests that carved stone balls were used as unique and distinctive gestalts that represented the ideology of the core area of Aberdeenshire and enabled disparate groups to recognise one another.
Foreword and Acknowledgements ;
Chapter One: Introduction ;
Chapter Two: Scotland: Early people and the environment ;
Chapter Three: Antiquarian, Archaeological and New Age ideas regarding CSBs ;
Chapter Four: The Geology of Scotland and Materiality of Carved Stone Balls ;
Chapter Five: Landscape and CSB Distribution ;
Chapter Six: CSB links to Monuments and other Artefacts ;
Chapter Seven: The Classification of Carved Stone Balls and a Revised Typology ;
Chapter Eight: CSB Decoration and their Revised Classification/Typology ;
Chapter Nine: Origin, skill, lifecycle, use and demise ;
Chapter Ten: Conclusions and Future Research ;
Coda ;
Bibliography ;
Appendix One (Online) Master Carved Stone Ball Database 2021 ;
Appendix Two (Online) Introduction to Gazetteer ;
Appendix Three: CSB Skill Assessment ;
Appendix Four: Cast/Replica Carved Stone Balls
Chris L. Stewart-Moffitt received a BA (Hons) in Archaeology from the University of Leicester and a PhD from the University of Aberdeen. He is a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, a member of the Prehistoric Society and of the British Association for Biological Anthropology and Osteoarchaeology. He has spent the last seven years researching the carved stone balls of Late Neolithic Scotland.
- By (author) Chris L. Stewart-Moffitt
‘Chris Stewart-Moffitt has given us that unfashionable thing, an enormous service to specialists in the form of a comprehensive corpus.’ – Mike Pitts (2022): British Archaeology
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'The volume is accompanied by online appendices, including a detailed catalogue with photographs. These highlight the rigorous data collection behind this volume, and represent an exceptionally valuable resource for future researchers.' – Hugo Anderson-Whymark (2023): Current Archaeology Issue 395
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