There has been quite a lot of speculation around these spheres found at sites on Santorini, Crete, Cyprus, and other Greek Islands with theories around their use including being for some sort of sling stones, tossing balls, counting/record-keeping system or as counters/pawns.
Previous research by the same team from the University of Bristol indicated that there was variability in sphere size within specific clusters and collections of spheres. Following on from this the team wanted to explore potential patterning within these sphere concentrations, to help give an insight into their potential use.
[...] The stones, which are smaller than golf balls, are in various colours and made from different materials. The analysis put the stones into two groups of larger stones and smaller. In addition, in Akrotiri and in other settlements across the Aegean there are stone slabs with shallow cup marks where the spheres could have sat or been placed.
Dr Ferneé said: "The most important finding of the study is that the speres fit two major clusters (one of smaller and one of larger stones). This supports the hypothesis that they were used as counters for a board game with the spheres most possibly have been collected to fit these clusters rather than a counting system for which you would expect more groupings."
If these spheres are in-fact part of a boardgame, they will be one of the earliest examples, along with similar examples from the Levant and Egypt, such as the Egyptian Mehen and Senet.
Journal Reference:
C. Ferneé and K. Trimmis. The rolling stones of Bronze Age Aegean: Applying machine learning to explore the use of lithic spheres from Akrotiri, Thera [open], J Archaeol Sci, 45, 2022. (DOI: 10.1016/j.jasrep.2022.103615)
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday October 15 2022, @10:22AM
Meh, it's just an early version of the three shells & pea game.
https://entertainment.howstuffworks.com/question590.htm [howstuffworks.com]
(Score: 2) by Thexalon on Saturday October 15 2022, @06:15PM (1 child)
Saying "It was for recreation" is almost up there with "It was for religious purposes" when the real answer is "We archaeologists haven't a clue why they have this particular item there".
My favorite example of this is Venus of Willendorf, which could be some sort of religious figure of veneration, or it could be Ice Age whacking material.
The only thing that stops a bad guy with a compiler is a good guy with a compiler.
(Score: 2) by The Vocal Minority on Sunday October 16 2022, @04:46AM
I think in pre-modern cultures a lot of what we consider to be recreation IS religious activity (i.e. music, sports, going to church, etc. are all the one thing). Not sure about the whacking off though...
(Score: 2) by stretch611 on Sunday October 16 2022, @11:29AM
I wonder if the researchers ever played marbles [wikipedia.org] as children. It seems pretty obvious to me.
Now with 5 covid vaccine shots/boosters altering my DNA :P