Actual guess after hearing that they’re found with money. Used it to check size of coins for valuation? Sort of like how some coin counters with?
They’ve actually all been planted by time travelers just to fuck with people.
It’s probably some kids workshop assignment that he brought home to his parents.
A NEW HAND TOUCHES THE BEACON
Nope.
It’s a Roman plumbus.
All we know for certain is that at some point that thing was on some bored Romans knob.
Looks like a bigass thundercube to me. Don’t wanna fiddle with them too much, they might get krangled.
it’s an oil lamp.
use discs with or without holes to adjust brightness.
Obviously it’s a key that needs to be inserted into an ancient titan robot to power it back up.
What an utterly ridiculous notion. Obviously it’s a magical battery that, once charged, can be inserted into an ancient titan robot to power it back up.
Archeologists after looking at literally anything: Looks like a calendar. Or maybe a religious object. Or maybe a calendar of religions significance.
or something used in “fertility rituals”
Translation: it’s clearly a dildo, but if i put that into the study they won’t publish it.
People back then loved their religious calendars. That’s all they ever talked about. Whole books could be written about them.
But instead of books to write about them, they documented their love of religious calendar artifacts, with more calendar artifacts.
Here’s my contribution to the ‘what the fuck are these things’ guesses:
Its a customizable, weighted D12.
You stick the coins into the slots, then do some kind of gambling involving dice rolls.
Part of the game is that as coins are added or removed, the weighting changes.
Hell, it could be that you take turns tossing the thing till its full of coins, thrower has to fill the hollow upward facing hole, as a way of anteing up, then just toss it again untill its empty, thrower takes out the upward facing coin, everyone takes a drink when it lands with a hollow slot face up.
The educated, literate people probably wouldn’t bother to write down the exact details of a low class gambling game, when literacy is rare and scrolls/books are expensive.
The things have reportedly often been found in cabinets and drawers alongside coins.
They vary in size… maybe some of the rather large ones could be commissioned as not a practical gambling die, but as an exxageratedly large one, as a trophy or ornament, like modern mall ninja swords or funko pops or something.
Possibly they could also serve a practical purpose for normal people and coin minters to check that their coins are properly sized.
Any… Roman numismatists here that can sanity check this, in terms of coin sizes?
The educated, literate people probably wouldn’t bother to write down the exact details of a low class gambling game, when literacy is rare and scrolls/books are expensive.
Interesting enough, the Roman Emperor Claudius, who was an enthusiastic dicer, wrote a book on gaming/gambling. It’s been lost to time, unfortunately.
Literacy is a funny question in regards to the Roman Empire, as is the price of scrolls/books. There’s limited evidence that scrolls and books were actually cheaper in the Roman Empire than in the 15th century AD, just before and in-the-early-days-of moveable type, and that urban literacy was fairly widespread. The big problem is that the vast majority of ancient writing simply has not survived the ages.
I’m not well-informed about the dodecahedrons or the theories surrounding them, but I’m inclined to find your explanation, while interesting, probably a bit too complex. Especially considering that coins were often slightly irregular in shape, as the mass-produced neat, perfect circles that we’re used to are a result of modern milled coinage
Ah well, worth a shot.
Must be ceremonial.
I always loved David Macauley take on this. He wrote a book as if people 2000 years ago found a motel and he presumed the “sanitized for your protection” banding and toilet seats would have been seen as ceremonial wear.
https://www.byanyothernerd.com/2020/04/stranger-days-39-mysteries-of-motel.html?m=1
I can’t remember if it’s an official Asimov book or not, but one of the Foundation books set far beyond even the main series has an archaeological mission finding thousands of ceremonial hard white ceramic bowl-funnels and speculating on their significance to these incomprehensibly ancient peoples.
thousands
There’s probably millions even if you account for the fact that most would have been destroyed
What if instead toilet seats become a symbol for a group of genetically engineered super soldiers known for being Mary Sues?
So it’s a sex toy, got it.
A fertility ceremonial, got it!
Did it went up or got filled?
Underrated joke
Knitting
People say this every time, and it’s still not true, because the Romans didn’t knit. Knitting is a technology and it hadn’t made it to Rome at the time these were made.
Also, some were solid and unsuitable for knitting. And they were found with giant piles of money, which is a weird place to keep your domestic tools.
Knitting
Oh well if you put it that way I guess it’s knitting
Good
knitting what? the ones that have been recovered were way too big to make sense for that purpose
And they don’t show signs of wear and tear that using them for such a purpose would create, either.
My crochet hooks don’t show a lot of wear either.
Maybe oversized sweaters were a thing back then
Gotta keep the giants and dragons warm
God-sized sweaters and socks to offer at the sermons in temples
It’s obviously a dick-measuring tool
Are we entirely sure it’s not just an ornament? I’ve got all kinds of things that aren’t even ritual objects.
That is not an uncommon guess, but the argument against it is that these took some sophistication to make. This isn’t some disposable gewgaw. These were made with relatively tight tolerances and exhibited the best metalworking fabrication of the age. One theory I’ve seen seriously floated was that they were made as a demonstration of metal working competency, the equivalent of a benchy in 3D printing.
No, no you don’t. Everything that isn’t fully functional and necessary for life is a ritual object! And also some of the the other things to! It’s all ritual! It’s ritual all the way down, baby!
So you’re saying I’m a ritual object? Huh, go figure.
Have you ever been inserted or had something inserted?
I have been ejected. Does that count?
Yes.
