A mysterious Roman object unearthed in an amateur dig has baffled experts as it goes on display in Britain for the first time.
The 12-sided object was discovered in Norton Disney, near Lincoln, in 2023, and will go on display at Lincoln Museum as part of the city’s Festival of History.
Richard Parker, secretary of the Norton Disney History and Archaeology Group, said it was a “privilege to have handled” the dodecahedron, but was still at a loss over what it was.
Why make such a complicated ass shape when a rope or thong of leather would serve the same end?
Also, they’re commonly found stored with people’s valuables - coin stashes, jewelry, etc. They were clearly valuable. Many of them don’t appear to have any wear on them either, so if they had a utilitarian use it likely didn’t involve lashing stuff together.
My guess is just a good luck charm type of thing. The Romans had a lot of those.
Around those times wasn’t anything manufactured entirely of non-lead metal kind of valuable? I don’t think this rules out the knitting functionality either. To this day people still hand down things like simple hand crank sewing machines in their dowry boxes as tradition from the past when those were family heirlooms