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The mysterious dodecahedrons
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Has Achieved Nirvana
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posted
quote:
One August day in 1987, Brian Campbell was refilling the hole left by a tree stump in his yard in Romford, East London, when his shovel struck something metal. He leaned down and pulled the object from the soil, wondering at its strange shape. The object was small—smaller than a tennis ball—and caked with heavy clay. “My first impressions," Campbell tells Mental Floss, "were it was beautifully and skillfully made … probably by a blacksmith as a measuring tool of sorts.”

Campbell placed the artifact on his kitchen windowsill, where it sat for the next 10 or so years. Then, he visited the Roman fort and archaeological park in Saalburg, Germany—and there, in a glass display case, was an almost identical object. He realized that his garden surprise was a Roman dodecahedron: a 12-sided metal mystery that has baffled archaeologists for centuries. Although dozens, and perhaps hundreds, of explanations have been offered to account for the dodecahedrons, no one is certain just what they were used for.




https://getpocket.com/explore/...source=pocket-newtab

(I wanted the plural to be dodecahedra. Turns out both dodecahedrons and dodecahedra are correct.)


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When the world wearies and society ceases to satisfy, there is always the garden - Minnie Aumônier

 
Posts: 38221 | Location: Somewhere in the middle | Registered: 19 January 2010Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Has Achieved Nirvana
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Ask L Ron Hubbard


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Posts: 25850 | Location: Still living at 9000 feet in the High Rockies of Colorado | Registered: 20 April 2005Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Minor Deity
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Wow! That's so cool!


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Posts: 15565 | Location: Florida | Registered: 22 April 2005Reply With QuoteReport This Post
knitterati
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I had seen the theory that it was for knitting gloves, but it looks pretty laborious.


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Posts: 9855 | Location: Oregon | Registered: 06 June 2005Reply With QuoteReport This Post
(self-titled) semi-posting lurker
Minor Deity
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quote:
Originally posted by CHAS:
Ask L Ron Hubbard


ROTFLMAO


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Posts: 18860 | Location: not in Japan any more | Registered: 20 April 2005Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Serial origamist
Has Achieved Nirvana
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D&D.


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pj, citizen-poster, unless specifically noted otherwise.

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Posts: 30040 | Registered: 27 April 2005Reply With QuoteReport This Post
(self-titled) semi-posting lurker
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quote:
Originally posted by pianojuggler:
D&D.


Yes


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Posts: 18860 | Location: not in Japan any more | Registered: 20 April 2005Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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quote:
Originally posted by AdagioM:
I had seen the theory that it was for knitting gloves, but it looks pretty laborious.


That is a fascinating idea that brings to mind card weaving. Perhaps some sort of devise to guide strings to make rope or fishing nets?


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