Making sense of the past in the present: A sensory analysis of carved stone balls

This paper studies a particular type of carved stone ball in order to highl ight several issues that pertain to the interpretation of material culture in general. The historical tendency to consider the biography of these arti facts in purely functional or socio-political terms prevents a full appreci ation of how they may have been deployed in the past. The need to consider our sensory perception of artifacts is suggested as a means to a deeper int erpretation of their biography. The paper also raises the possibility that the biography of artifacts, particularly in the case of prehistoric artifac ts, may also include a number of resurrections relating to their movement b etween different ages or systems of understanding. Ultimately, the paper di scusses the continued re-contextualization of carve stone balls in contempo rary Scotland in order to demonstrate the importance of recognizing the con tinued role of artifacts in maintaining particular views of the world.