Another Roman dodecahedron has been unearthed in England
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Another Roman dodecahedron has been unearthed in England
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Re: Another Roman dodecahedron has been unearthed in England
#2They are to portion noodles
Re: Another Roman dodecahedron has been unearthed in England
#3They are to portion noodles
Not to decide the outcome of fantasy combat?
Re: Another Roman dodecahedron has been unearthed in England
#4My favorite thing about archaeology is that if they have no idea whatever about the things they find. . .
>were used for ritualistic or religious purposes
Don't know what it is? Religion baby.
Re: Another Roman dodecahedron has been unearthed in England
#5One theory (albeit contested) is that they were used as a jig to knit gloves: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=76AvV601yJ0
Re: Another Roman dodecahedron has been unearthed in England
#6My favorite thing about archaeology is that if they have no idea whatever about the things they find. . . >were used for ritualistic or religious purposes Don't know what it is? Religion baby.
It's kind of a running joke amongst archeologists themselves.
Re: Another Roman dodecahedron has been unearthed in England
#7inb4 it was ancient fidget spinner
Re: Another Roman dodecahedron has been unearthed in England
#8My favorite thing about archaeology is that if they have no idea whatever about the things they find. . . >were used for ritualistic or religious purposes Don't know what it is? Religion baby.
It's kind of a running joke amongst archeologists themselves.
See: "Motel of the Mysteries" by David Macaulay
> "that the toilet seat is a sacred collar one must wear before shouting, down the hole, to the gods below"
https://scifi.stackexchange.com/questions/162247/humorous-st...
Re: Another Roman dodecahedron has been unearthed in England
#9Just because a measuring device is not standards referenced does not mean it can not be used to measure.
If I need a peg to match the size of a drill bit, any collection of 12 holes is likely to have one the size of the drill bit that lets me tell my peg maker to "make the pegs this size."
Handymen are just cussed enough* to not label any of them, and to expect the FNG (new guy) to remember which of the 12 unlabeled holes was the one.
* Cussed enough is a slang adjective that describes someone who does things that annoy people. We say it in Texas, but I do not expect everyone uses that phrase. I can not think of a standard term that carries the same connotations.
Re: Another Roman dodecahedron has been unearthed in England
#10I like the theory that it's an examination piece to qualify as a master metalworker. Casting a flawless dodecahedron could have been a way to demonstrate your skill. The shape is somewhat arbitrary: anything that's both difficult to cast and easy to examine for quality would work, but once people started making dodecahedrons that's what people expected and it became a kind of standard.