More than 100 such ancient artifacts have been found throughout Europe, but nobody knows what they are
  • A Roman dodecahedron, a mysterious 12-sided metal object, was discovered in the village of Norton Disney in England.
  • The artifact is in excellent condition and is larger than many other dodecahedrons that have been found.
  • The purpose of these objects remains unclear, but theories suggest they may have been used for ritualistic or religious purposes.
  • Warl0k3@lemmy.world
    1·
    10 months ago

    I don’t know how to tell you this, but it’s not just “armchair” archeologists that use this one. Also, jeeze, coming in excessively hostile to a reply to a 5-day-stale comment.

    Ritual object is the correct answer sometimes, but I don’t think you’ve met many archeologists if you’re unaware of the scope here. There’s many reasons “ritual” became a catchall, the prevalence of modern ritual objects among them (sherds are so miserable that it destroys the capacity for humor?). But I urge you to ask some archeologists, even armchair archeologists, about mayan chicken holes sometime. Its a pretty famous example of “ritual” being proven wrong - but it hilights the extent that “ritual” is just the default explanation for all things that lack strong evidence to explain them.