this post was submitted on 23 Jan 2024
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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?
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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.
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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.
They also almost never show any signs of wear and tear beyond having been buried for centuries.
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the Roman's did a bunch of things that were lost and then relearned, so I wouldn't rule that out.
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.
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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
I see DND is older than most people think!
Once they are all unearthed, the Old Ones shall return to reclaim the Earth.
I'm telling you, it's a decorative lamp.
Blacksmith. Benchy.
What about: a smith's graduation test?
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.
Given that we are talking about roman times, metal was expensive, and working metal in such a way even more so.
It could also be that similiar tools in cheaper were made out of wood and simply rottet away since then.
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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?
The hollow, grapefruit-sized object
I'm just quoting the article.
If its grapefruit sized it may be used for big ropes or something like that.
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?
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“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.
“Roman society was full of superstition,” writes the Norton Disney group. “A potential link with local religious practice is our current working theory. More investigation is required, though.”
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.
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Dildo. That's my default hypothesis for anything unexplained.
Example:
- Who's Satoshi's father? – Dildo.
It's clearly an ancient fidget toy. Those romans had a headstart on ADHD, how much knowledge has been lost /s
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
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