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2024-05-06 -Short Attention Span Theater-

What is the mystery Roman object found on hill in Norton Disney?

[BBC] A mysterious Roman artefact dug up in Lincolnshire has left experts baffled as to what it is. Found during an amateur archaeological dig in Norton Disney - where Walt Disney's ancestors hailed from - the 12-sided object has prompted fantastical suggestions as to its use.

It has been likened to a dog treat dispenser, a spaghetti measure and even a measuring gauge for slingshot.

Here, architectural historian and broadcaster Dr Jonathan Foyle offers his take on some of the suggestions put forward by BBC website users, and his own theory as to the object's purpose.

Posted by Skidmark 2024-05-06 00:00|| || Front Page|| [11139 views ] Top

#1 The holy hand grenade.

Posted by Skidmark 2024-05-06 00:25|| 2024-05-06 00:25|| Front Page Top

#2 It’s a goldsmiths tool for making gold chain.

Posted by Ululating Platypus 2024-05-06 05:51|| 2024-05-06 05:51|| Front Page Top

#3 Here's two movies where writers seem to have spent a good deal of time doing their research. In Ben Hur with Charleston Heston, fiery missiles were used in a naval encounter when (probably the military commander of Judea) was escorting Heston back to Rome to be hung (he was a citizen). And these could probably be fairly effecting within fifty yards. Reloading might take over a minute, so having more than one catapult with a metal pouch and chains might really help.

In Gladiator with Russel Crowe, dense forest is the Britain's preferred point for contact in the first big battle, probably because (as in the the film) fiery missiles were more likely to crash into trees or fall apart in the air or on the ground to be particularly effective. The artifact might be a good weapon to use to hold a missile together, especially for a cleanup stage when you've finally got a good line on a hometown in dense forest (typically following the Iron Age model, a bit of a hill, good embankment, rings of timber poles – these are fairly ubiquitous in Kent and Surrey where the Romans first came ashore), and constructed of timber and thatch buildings.

Posted by Fairbanks 2024-05-06 06:12|| 2024-05-06 06:12|| Front Page Top

#4 Florist bouquet holder ?

Posted by Besoeker 2024-05-06 06:44|| 2024-05-06 06:44|| Front Page Top

#5 Inspect it for a Parker Brothers logo.

Posted by Super Hose 2024-05-06 10:17|| 2024-05-06 10:17|| Front Page Top

#6 If it's a mysterious object, then how do they know it's a Roman artifact?

Posted by Seeking Cure For Ignorance 2024-05-06 12:05|| 2024-05-06 12:05|| Front Page Top

#7 I think they represent military survey tools for quickly setting distance markers or ranges. From a consistently fixed point like hand-held you can look through the various openings and gauge when a known-sized object like a Legionary Standard is just inside the field of view. This would allow for rapid establishment of marching camps or range markers for artillery. This is practical and very Roman to have high quality materials devoted to military expediency in the field.

Posted by NoMoreBS 2024-05-06 14:19|| 2024-05-06 14:19|| Front Page Top

#8 ^ ranging tool
Very nice!

Posted by Skidmark 2024-05-06 14:36|| 2024-05-06 14:36|| Front Page Top

#9 Ref #9: Batteries ?

Posted by Besoeker 2024-05-06 14:46|| 2024-05-06 14:46|| Front Page Top

#10 Didn't want to be awake, that's on me. Apologies.

Part of a battery is interesting, would explain the extra surface area. Depends on what it is made of.

We play a game out here when somebody clears an area and finds relics from dust bowl era, "What is this tool?"

To me it looks practical. If it is robust, it looks like a good way to size and check straightness of staffs of wood. If really robust, even a way to take bark off. I wouldn't see it, in that sense, to constantly resize a staff into a smaller diameter.

If a bit more dainty, if you will, I could see it as an artist's die for terra cotta. A d12 doesn't really 'roll' like a cube or cylinder would. The off-stepping pattern on a sheet of clay to be fired might make a good snap-apart finished product.

As far as using it like a spindle, there are more efficient ways of doing things. Not that I'd presume to be smarter in the engineering of the times of a people who accomplished so much.

And, of course, not to be the wet blanket, it could be a hoax.

But to take a page from the Malta Knights, weave soaked thatch or cloth around the knobs, fill it with pitch or peat or sorts, and a fuse, and you have a nice incendiary round or grenade.

A range scope is interesting too. My question about if the facing sides are the same sized circles(?). Obviously there are different sizes.

Posted by swksvolFF 2024-05-06 19:56|| 2024-05-06 19:56|| Front Page Top

08:25 DarthVader
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08:08 NN2N1
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07:27 Grom the Affective
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06:58 Grom the Affective
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06:28 NN2N1
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