Hear
The Roman dodecahedra – small metal objects with twelve faces pierced by a hole – have been an enigma for scientists since their discovery.. And the latest specimen, found during an amateur excavation in central England, only further increased the mystery surrounding these strange pieces whose size is no larger than a grapefruit.
The object – composed of an alloy of 75% copper, 7% tin and 18% lead – is one of 33 found in the United Kingdom. It is one of the largest found so far, and is in an excellent state of preservation (most were found in pieces).
It is estimated that it was deliberately buried ago 1700 years along with Roman ceramics from the 4th century, in a kind of excavated hole expressly.
And although to date they have already found about 100 Roman dodecahedra in several European countries, researchers they were unable to unravel its function.
“Despite all the research that has been done on our dodecahedron and others like it, we are no closer to discovering exactly what it is and what it might have been used for,” said Richard Parker, secretary of the Norton Disney History and Archeology Group, which is responsible for the finding.
Its function is difficult to specify because no descriptions found of the dodecahedron in Roman literature, and the object itself does not contain any inscription. Since they are not all the same size (some have, for example, a proportion similar to that of a golf ball), it was ruled out that it could be an object for taking measurements.
It was also ruled out that it could be a tool of some kind, because show no signs of wear.
“A great deal of time, energy and skill went into creating our dodecahedron, so was not used for worldly purposesespecially when alternative materials are available that would achieve the same purpose,” the group says on its website.
And he adds: “We believe that the most likely use is with ritual and religious purposes”. “Roman society was full of superstitions,” the group’s statement continues, adding: “A Potential link to local religious practices It is our current working theory.”
The group of amateurs plans to return to the site in the British summer to continue searching for more clues that may shed light on the enigmatic dodecahedron. Although this was found in the summer of last year, the information was recently revealed in a television program of the BBC.
