On the chronology of a rare variety of stone terminals for bronze-age mace-heads

The article examines isolated finds of stone artefacts with six raised knobs arranged opposite each other. The cultures with which they were associated - the Volsk-Lbishche, Abashevo and Sintashta cultures - and the results of radiocarbon dating have made it possible to specify the chronological interval when these artefacts were being used as the last centuries of the III to the beginning of the II millennium BC. This time range coincides with the chronology of a morphologically similar large series of «carved stone balls» from Scotland. The results from an analysis of the artefacts from the Volga-Urals region make it possible to conclude that their function was non-military. Their most likely function was a ritual one involving manipulations linked with the tactile and visual response to these objects.