1y ago

Another Mysterious Roman Dodecahedron Has Been Unearthed in England

www.smithsonianmag.com

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1y ago

Another Mysterious Roman Dodecahedron Has Been Unearthed in England

www.smithsonianmag.com /smart-news/another-of-ancient-romes-mysterious-12-sided-objects-has-been-found-in-england-180983632/

70 comments

- History Channel: Did they use that to communicate with Ancient Aliens? We might never know the full truth!

The holes are all slightly different sizes. It's for measuring spaghetti servings
- Knowing the Romans, it might be for measuring cock girth of their house boys.
  
  Sorry I prefer a size 3 not a size 6. What am I? Some barbarian like the Phoenicians?
- I wonder if a wooden dowel with a matching engraving wouldn't fit there or something.

I'm just waiting for some guy to come forward and explain that he's been locating dig sites ahead of archeologists for years and planting these around just to fuck with them.
- No need, it's been solved basically. You knit gloves with them. Or rather the fingers. They are only found in colder climates / up north. There are videos of people using replicas of them to knit gloves.
  
  There's not a scientific consensus on that. It's a good theory, but stating it as an accepted fact is inaccurate.
  
  Why not make it out of wood then?

I heard those are great for protection against Mindflayer larvae.
- Be careful, though, they sometimes have mindflayers inside them who want to have sex with you.

Just a very old bumbleball

This is a resonator. You put one or more fossils inside it to alch gear with a guaranteed set of affixes.
- An ancient self sealing stem bolt analogue.
- I love it when I buy a piece of gear from trade and it's got a resonator about to pop.
  
  That's an incubator!

I saw someone using one of these to weave or knit or something, and it seemed to me a pretty good explanation.
Edit: If it's truly such a mystery, is it at all possible these only exist because they looked interesting? Just a knick-knack for your shelf?
"Did you see those things Caius Cosades is making down at the den? Not much you can with them, but they're neat."
It's not as though we don't make pointless and artistic things today.
- Except those objects were found in coin hordes and the graves of rich aristocrats, and must have been too valuable to be a simple knitting tool.
  And for some reason, this style of knitting would have then disappeared until it was reinvented the 16th century.
  
  the Roman's did a bunch of things that were lost and then relearned, so I wouldn't rule that out.
  
  They also almost never show any signs of wear and tear beyond having been buried for centuries.
  
  Maybe it was the original NFT
- If it’s truly such a mystery, is it at all possible these only exist because they looked interesting? Just a knick-knack for your shelf?
  It's one of the most convincing theories, but also a bit unsatisfying. The question then becomes, why they were made in relatiely large numbers (so that hundreds could be found) with that very specific shape in different parts of the empire.
- Caius Cosades
  Best game ever

I see DND is older than most people think!

It's a D12, looks like people played RPG long before it was cool
- Romans wielding a great axe
  
  Goths = Orcs Celts = Pixies Romans = Humans Egyptians = Dwarves Slavs = Fairies Greeks = Elves

Once they are all unearthed, the Old Ones shall return to reclaim the Earth.

What about: a smith's graduation test?

I'm telling you, it's a decorative lamp.
- Blacksmith. Benchy.

Its a knitting helper.
- A knitting helper the size of a grapefruit that would have cost more than what a shepherd earned in a lifetime.
  
  My argument against this is they're all 12 sided. That's like finding out knitting needles were all the same length and shape.
  Something used for a task like that will have variations in design.
  These things are oddly specific. The lack of evolution leads away from it being an actually designed and optimal tool.
  It's definitely designed to look good first. If it does anything while looking good that's a mystery so far.
  
  https://i.imgur.com/eZrM9s1.jpeg
  Uhh?
  And why would this belong to a shepherd and not some sort of craftsmen, merchant, or military outpost?
  
  Just think, one could create a non ornamental version with cheaper materials...
  
  And? Are rich woman from the past not allowed to do some knitting in their free time if they want to?
- “A huge amount of time, energy and skill was taken to create our dodecahedron, so it was not used for mundane purposes,” writes the group, adding: “They are not of a standard size, so will not be measuring devices. They don’t show signs of wear, so they are not a tool.”
  Instead, the group agrees with experts who think dodecahedrons were used for ritualistic or religious purposes. As Smithsonian magazine wrote last year, researchers at Belgium’s Gallo-Roman Museum have hypothesized that Romans used the objects in magical rituals, which could explain dodecahedrons’ absence from historical records: With the Roman Empire’s eventual embrace of Christianity came laws forbidding magic. Practitioners would have had to keep their rituals—and related objects—a secret.
  
  I've seen cutlery made from pure silver with gold and diamond ornaments.
  So... Why wouldn't it be used for mundane stuff? The entire case is based on assumptions.
  
  Smithing test.
- My guess would be braiding, like rope or leather or jewellery.
  
  I've seen a video of one being used to weave metal wire for jewelry. It's definitely plausible.
  But until someone unearths an ancient Roman user manual, all the people confidently asserting "it was for knitting gloves" should be a lesson about how people on the internet will present guesses as proof.
- Yeah, makes total sense that rich aristocrats would have common knitting tools buried with them with other valuables.
  
  If its expensive as hell, like the article says, it might have been a valued gift someone liked, man people get buried with a lot of stuff...

It's clearly an ancient fidget toy. Those romans had a headstart on ADHD, how much knowledge has been lost /s

Dildo. That's my default hypothesis for anything unexplained.
Example:
Who's Satoshi's father? – Dildo.

From the thumbnail I thought it was a man size artifact... no way it was used for knitting... then I entered the article and saw its actual size.

Probably a fancy napkin ring

This thumbnail is a bit misleading – I saw two workers just a little taller than an Roman dodecahedron?!! That must be the biggest ever discovered!!! Severe disappointion followed suite...

Put one in the kitchen and the power of platonic solids will keep your knives sharp for longer.

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