A carved petrosphere featuring swirling, dotted patterns.

Carve a petrosphere

Over 400 decorated carved stone balls have been found by archaeologists. Most have been found in north-east Scotland. They are otherwise known as petrospheres, which is the name given to any round man-made object made of stone. They are around 4,000 years old and date to the late Neolithic or Bronze Age. The balls are about 70mm in diameter – about the same size as a tennis ball.

No one knows for sure what these petrospheres were used for. Perhaps they were used in ceremonies; they could be held as a symbol of power or perhaps they were passed around to someone if they wanted to speak. Could leather have been strung around the balls so that they could be used as weapons? Were the balls part of a game? The balls could have even been just decorative. What do you think?

Try our activity to make your own carved stone petrosphere – and do email us if you have any ideas about what they were for!

YAC HQ

Adult supervision is not required for this activity.

Type of Activity : Crafting

How many people required (minimum) : 1

Ages : All Ages

Time Required: 1 hour (plus time for the papier mache and clay to dry)

A blue bowl containing the petrosphere mixture.

Step 1

Put about 1 litre of water into your bowl. Add the flour a little bit at a time. Keep stirring and add enough flour to turn the water into a paste. (You can use PVA glue and water, or mixed up wallpaper paste instead if you like.)
Someone demonstrates scrunching newspaper into a ball to form the base of the petrosphere craft.

Step 2

Scrunch up a piece of newspaper into a ball. Tear some more newspaper into strips.
Dunking a newspaper slip into the petrosphere mixture.

Step 3

Dunk one of your newspaper strips into your paste, wipe away any excess – you don’t want it to be too soggy!
Wrapping a newspaper strip around the newspaper ball to build up the petrosphere.

Step 4

Smooth the strip over your newspaper ball. Repeat the process until you have built up a good layer all over. Keep going until your ball is about 60 mm in diameter. Leave your ball overnight to dry somewhere warm.
Designing the petrosphere pattern by drawing it on a piece of paper.

Step 5

Whilst you are waiting for your papier mache ball to dry, you can design your carvings! The original balls featured lots of swirls, lines and hatching so that could be a good place to start.
The dry papier mache petrosphere ball.

Step 6

When your papier mache ball is dry, cover it in a thick layer of clay to make an even sphere. Leave the clay-covered ball to dry overnight.
Carving the petroshere pattern with a modelling tool.

Step 7

When the ball is dry, carve your design using a modelling tool or lolly stick. This can get a bit messy so protect the surface that you are working on. The carving may be hard work sometimes, but imagine carving real stone!
A carved petrosphere featuring swirling, dotted patterns.

Step 8

Your petrosphere is complete!