Paper short abstract:

Functionality and symbolism dominate the archaeological analysis of artefacts; the legacy of Platonic thought. The paper will examine a pre-Platonic approach to form-in-motion: the forming of Neolithic carved stone balls.

Paper long abstract:

Notions of functionality and symbolism dominate the archaeological analysis of artefacts; artefacts are generally either regarded as functional or symbolic objects. Apart from the obvious dichotomy evident in these characterisations, these descriptions of artefacts also tend to close down or fix the artefact: they assume that artefacts are fashioned for specific clearly defined purposes. Such a view presents the artefact as an object in stasis, whose form is wholly determined by human intentionality.

The carved stone balls of Northeast Scotland are numerous in number (there are over 400 of these objects known), but they defy easy description and classification. Since these objects first received archaeological attention and entered museum collections they have puzzled archaeologists. As curiosities, carved stone balls have been adopted as signifiers of regional identity as public sculptures in several Northeast towns, and in public squares in Scotland more generally; they have also been the subject of analysis by diverse groups, including artists and mathematicians.

Archaeologists, and other interested scholars, have relentlessly applied the logic of functionality and symbolism to these artefacts, with few credible results. The aim of this paper is to instead think with carved stone balls. In doing so, I will argue that we are better considering carved stone balls as materials-in-motion, whose form comes to take the shape it does through a dynamic intra-action between material and maker. I will argue that what marks these artefacts out is not what they are, but what they achieve.