{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}} {{Infobox Artifact |name = Patrickholme bone bead |image = |image_caption = |material = Bone |created = Bronze Age |discovered = Patrickholme, Lanarkshire, Scotland by J. H. Maxwell |location = }} The '''Patrickholme bone bead''' is a square sectioned bone fragment with a perforated hollow through the middle.<ref name="Ruggles2003">{{cite book|author=Margaret Ponting|chapter=Megalithic Callanish|editor=Clive Ruggles|title=Records in Stone: Papers in Memory of Alexander Thom|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oZ3JGYd1kJoC&pg=PA431|accessdate=22 April 2011|date=13 February 2003|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-521-53130-6|pages=423–441}}</ref><ref name="Scotland2007">{{cite book|author=Society of Antiquaries of Scotland|title=Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Dh8iAQAAIAAJ|accessdate=22 April 2011|year=2007|publisher=Printed for the Society by Neill and Company}}</ref>
It was found during archaeological excavations in Patrickholme sand quarry in Lanarkshire, Scotland by J. H. Maxwell in 1949. It has been tentatively suggested that this might be tangible evidence of a prehistoric unit of measurement.<ref name="Ruggles2003"/> It measures 33mm and is suggested to date to the Bronze Age. Due to oxidization its original length is uncertain.<ref name="Ruggles2003"/> Three and a half beads were found in total with five other bones that may have been beads. The Patrickholme bone bead was the only one showing a square section that was likely to have been artificially shaped.<ref name="Scotland2007"/>
==See also== * Dalgety bone bead
==References== {{Reflist}}
<!-- The space below is for interlanguage links -->
Category:Archaeological artifacts Category:Archaeology of Scotland Category:Beadwork