Mysterious found objects from Roman times: To this day, no one knows what dodecahedrons were used for

class=”sc-cffd1e67-0 iQNQmc”>

Their purpose is not clear. Were they ever used as gambling dice? For spells, divination, magic? Nobody knows. A well-preserved dodecahedron from Roman times was recently found in England. The purpose of the round and square object with holes? Nobody knows.

A dodecahedron is a ‘twelve-sided cube’ made up only of identical, regular polygons and amazes with a wealth of amazing mathematical properties. The 12 congruent pentagons have 30 edges of equal length and 20 corners. Three of the pentagons meet at each corner. Hollow and openwork, each side has a round opening of different sizes. Ten openings are framed by concentric circles.

Amateur archaeologists found what may be the best-preserved piece yet in Lincolnshire, England, last summer. It has a diameter of about eight centimeters and weighs a quarter of a kilogram. It is the size of a grapefruit and consists mainly of copper, with some tin and lead. The age is estimated at 1,700 years.

Still a mystery to this day

Over the years, about 130 such dodecahedrons have been found in Western and Northern Europe, including Switzerland. And people still wonder what the purpose of these things actually is.

“Even the sight of the delicately crafted object has something mysterious,” writes the online portal Nordisch.info. With every new discovery of a dodecahedron there is ‘the hope that the immediate environment of the find will provide the meaning’. Even after the latest discovery in a field about 60 kilometers southeast of Sheffield, “the archaeologists could find nothing tangible about its previous use, other than the object itself.”

To date, there is only speculation about what dodecahedron might be. Because they are not mentioned in contemporary Roman texts and carry no label, their purpose remains a mystery to this day.

Calendar? Blade device? For weaving?

What seems most plausible is that the artifacts were used as religious or cultic objects in Gallo-Roman regions. For example for fortune telling or magic. This would explain why ancient sources do not mention the existence of such artifacts. Magic was forbidden in ancient Rome. So nothing was written about it.

Perhaps dodecahedrons were very practical for crafts, researchers speculate. There are videos circulating on the internet that show how one could knit with a dodecahedron at the time.

Or were they calendars? Depending on the season, sunlight streamed through the holes of different diameters at different angles. Or… unusually precise measuring instruments?

Even finds in the Far East

The dodecahedrons found also hardly show any signs of use, which would be characteristic of household tools or weapons. They are small masterpieces, as if made by the hand of a master, and hardly intended for everyday use.

What makes the Dodecahedron even more mysterious is that very similar objects have been found outside the Roman Empire, including the holes and suppositories at the corners. Dodecahedrons have been excavated in Vietnam and Myanmar, although smaller and made of gold.

Source: Blick