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What did the Romans ever do for us?

A team of anthropologists and behavioral specialists from several institutions in the U.S., working with a colleague from the U.K., has found that following the conquest of Great Britain in AD 43 by the Romans, the region experienced intensive economic growth.

In their study, published in the journal Science Advances, the group studied three types of archaeological evidence collected from multiple sites across the U.K. to measure economic growth.

Over the past several decades, the U.K. has enacted laws requiring archaeological investigations on land under development. These studies have led to a large number of archaeological finds. For this new study, the researchers used data from such finds to measure the economic impact of Roman conquest and occupation over hundreds of years approximately 2,000 years ago.

To gain insight into how Roman rule may have impacted Britain, the research team looked at three types of artifacts: buildings, coins and pottery. More specifically, they looked at how such artifacts changed in the years after the Roman conquest. Houses got bigger, they noted, and as people grew richer, they became more careless with their coins, resulting in more of them being lost between floorboard cracks.

As living standards improved, so did the quality and diversity of pottery used for preparing and eating meals. In making such comparisons, the research team was able to watch how economic growth impacted the people who had been conquered.

They found that in many cases, it had been what they describe as intensive—it greatly exceeded the type of growth that would have been expected for the region if the Romans had not arrived with their advanced technology and rules of business conduct.

The researchers suggest that improved roads and seaports made transport much easier, and business laws made work safer and improved efficiency. The Romans also introduced new technologies, such as advanced milling techniques, advanced concrete production and animal breeding programs that led to a greater variety of consumer products. The economic growth, they suggest, likely represented Great Britain catching up with the rest of the Roman empire. ...

https://phys.org/news/2024-07-archaeological-evidence-centuries-intensive-economic.html
 
I'm forever plugging the highly-interesting series of books about the Roman Republic & Empire written by Tom Holland; as someone who's not a scholar, these books are easy to follow, instructive and entertaining to boot. Anyway, in several passages, Holland outlines what he believes was 'Roman thinking' about conquest and colonisation (merely 'civilisation' in their view, of course): he states that the leading Romans and businessmen had an effective policy of 'seducing' conquered foreigners into a Roman way of life as opposed to the 'uncouth wildness, unruliness and shabbiness' of their current existences...these people could, in a manner of speaking, become Roman - at least in their ways and lifestyles - if not actual citizens if they were only encouraged and enticed into adopting the luxuries and conventional decorum of Roman citizens. Arguably, this artful policy was the true Pax Romana.
 
Ulysses taking his dog on an Odyssey.

Coin minted in 82BC discovered in Roman dig​

Frank Giecco On the left side the silver coin shows the body of Ulysses and on the right side the head of Mercury
Frank Giecco
The coin depicts Ulysses and the god Mercury

A Roman silver coin more than 2,100 years old has been discovered during a dig near an ancient bathhouse.

Some 2,000 items - including pottery, weapons, coins and semi-precious stones - have been found at the Carlisle Cricket Club site since 2021. Now the team, made up of archaeologists and volunteers, has discovered a coin that is about 150 years older than anything they have previously found there.

The dig's lead archaeologist Frank Giecco said it was one of the oldest coins ever discovered in Cumbria.

This particular coin, known as a denarius, was minted in Rome in 82BC and predates the rule of Julius Caesar, Mr Giecco said. On one side it depicts Ulysses walking his dog Argos as described in Homer's epic poem The Odyssey, and the head of the god Mercury on the other.

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cek9vd9lr2zo
 
The dig was of interest to the school's pupils.

'It's not every day you find a Roman road in your school field'​

BBC  Sue Potts standing in front of the Roman road, with soil and turf dug to the side of it and four people behind her. Ms Potts is wearing a patterned shirt and white overshirt
BBC
Head teacher Sue Potts said pupils had been excited by the dig

A history group has uncovered a 2,000-year-old Roman road running under a school playing field. The cobbled street thought to date back to AD 43 was found in the Oxfordshire village of Brightwell-cum-Sotwell following months of searches.

Roman coins, pottery and other items from the Medieval period were also unearthed at Brightwell-cum-Sotwell Primary School. Head teacher Sue Potts said the dig by Wallingford Historical and Archaeological Society had helped "bring history to life" for her pupils.

A bird's eye view of the site looking down on the playing field

Work to uncover the road and treasures started in December

"It’s not every day you find a Roman road beneath your school field," she said. “To have the children come out here every day and watch the dig progress has been fabulous for them. I’ve often found them gathered round the fence having a watch, seeing what’s going on, looking at the artefacts and what’s been dug up or just asking questions. We absolutely wanted to help. [Historians] thought it was there and we wanted to be able to help them prove one way or the other. It was an absolute yes from us.”

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c10l97e8252o
 
Roman Lead Working in Britain.
Abstract:

The exploitation of the lead resources of this country by the Romans commenced very soon after their arrival and shows every sign of being a well organized trade. Little evidence of deep mining has survived and it is probable that most of the ore was obtained by means of shallow workings, mainly in Somerset, Salop, Flintshire and Derbyshire. Although the silver content does not seem ever to have been as high as that of some well-known mines in the Mediterranean, it is clear that silver has been extracted by the Romans from some of the British lead. The lead was cast in carefully made moulds, producing pigs with inscriptions which indicate their date. These were then used for the pipes, cisterns and pewter tableware which con- tributed to the high standard of living of the period.
1721849472538.png

Source: Tylecote, R. F. “Roman Lead Working in Britain.” The British Journal for the History of Science, vol. 2, no. 1, 1964, pp. 25–43.
 

Attachments

  • Tylecote, R. F. “Roman Lead Working in Britain.” The British Journal for the History of Scienc...pdf
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Archaeology, Writing Tablets and Literacy in Roman Britain.
Abstract:

Discoveries of writing tablets from Roman Britain , in particular of the Vindolanda writing tablets, have revolutionized analysis of the use of documents among individual communities in the province. The insights gained from the study of the texts may be developed by further study of the archaeological contexts in which writing tablets have been found. The bias in the distribution to military sites and London is not surprising, since higher levels of literacy might be anticipated. However the distribution also suggests a wider use of documents in rural contexts than has hitherto been proposed. Detailed analysis of depositional processes also promises to assist the interpretation of individual groups of documents and the investigation of the organization of archives, but significant obstacles to such analyses must be acknowledged.
1722042057191.png

Source: Pearce, John. “Archaeology, Writing Tablets and Literacy in Roman Britain.” Gallia, vol. 61, 2004, pp. 43–51
 

Attachments

  • Pearce, John. “Archaeology, Writing Tablets and Literacy in Roman Britain.” Gallia, vol. 61, 2...pdf
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An Archaeology of Food: A Case Study From Roman Britain
Overview:

The analysis offaunal remains from both Iron Age and Romano-British sites may well be established , but this work has mostly been conducted to recover information about the economy and husbandry regimes practised. Another important point to raise, is that animal bones and other classes of finds have rarely been looked at with regard to their cultural and social significances. They are also mostly studied in isolation: finds reports often do not consider the relationship that certain artefacts may have had with each other. It is particularly rare to find the study of ceramics to be integrated with that of animal bones and plant remains. In addition, the animal bones and other finds from Roman sites have mostly been studied from a Romano-centric viewpoint , i .e., assuming that people eating Roman foodstuffs were Roman or desired to be more like the Romans. This paper aims to address some of these issues, and to put forward a methodology which will enable the study of these different forms of material cultur e. This will thus provide us with a framework for studying food in a socially meaningful and theoretically-informed way. The model integrates the different classes of data which would have been associated with a meal, both in its preparation and
consumption
Source: Hawkes, G., (2001) “An Archaeology of Food: A Case Study From Roman Britain”, Theoretical Roman Archaeology Journal 2000, 94-103
 

Attachments

  • Hawkes, G., (2001) “An Archaeology of Food A Case Study From Roman Britain”, Theoretical Roman...pdf
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It must be kiln them digging in this weather.

The site of a kiln that was used in the building of Roman Britain's second-largest town is being excavated.

Archaeologists and volunteers have spent some of the past three years working to uncover more of the kiln, which they have said was used to build Cirencester, in Gloucestershire, and other places. Tiles from the site at Brandier, a tiny hamlet near Minety in Wiltshire, have markings found on artefacts over a large area - as far as Old Sarum, near Hereford, the Cotswolds and Reading.

The owners of the site hope to open it up to the public.

Neil Holbrook wearing a blue polo shirt looks into the camera from the dig site.

Neil Holbrook, the CEO of Cotswold Archaeology, called it an "amazing discovery"

Bits of tile had been found on the top of the field where the dig is happening.

Neil Holbrook - CEO of Cotswold Archaeology which is running the dig - explained that 200 years ago an expert found a stamped tile in a Roman villa near Cirencester, saw the letters stamped on it and wondered where it came from. Now the site, which he described as what would have been a "major regional industry" for creating Roman buildings, is being excavated.

"We had hoped we might find something here, but we had no idea we would. It's absolutely exceeded all expectations," he added. "This is an amazing discovery."

Only 10 to 20cm of topsoil had to be taken off for the team to uncover the structure.

Anton Beechey, also from Cotswold Archaeology and site manager, said: "Most of what we see here would have been underground, and above would have been the firing chambers."

He said the kiln would have been in use for about 150 years until stone tiles became more popular.

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c93pp2zwk9go
 
Villas, Roman roads and a cemetery uncovered.

Evidence of two previously unknown Roman villas has been uncovered at a National Trust site in Shropshire.

A large-scale survey across 1,000 hectares (2,471 acres) at Attingham Park near Shrewsbury was carried out for the conservation charity to map the area’s archaeological remains. The findings will help towards work with tenant farmers on the estate to create new habitats for wildlife while also protecting the archaeological remains, a spokesperson said.

Evidence of several Roman roads, historic small farms and a World War Two airfield were also found in the survey. Equipment was used which could cover large areas in a relatively short time and record subtle changes in the local magnetic field. Those results highlighted buried features with different magnetic properties from the surrounding soil.

Attingham Park also covers part of the buried Roman city of Wroxeter which is cared for by English Heritage.

Experts said the survey turned up evidence of what they believed to be two large rural Roman villas and a Roman cemetery on a road leading out of Wroxeter. There was evidence of at least two construction or occupation phases, they said, with floor plans highlighting internal room layouts and outbuildings. Only six such other similar villas are known in Shropshire.

PA Grey scale geophysics data showing the site of possible Roman villa
PA
Outlines from the survey revealed evidence of two Roman villas, according to archaeologists

It was likely the villas would have had features typical of such country estates, such as underfloor heating - known as hypocausts - their own bath houses as well as mosaic floors, the trust said. The survey also detected eight ditched enclosures and remains, possibly Iron Age or Romano-British farmsteads, four of which were previously unknown. These were likely to have been small farms, possibly supplying food for the nearby city, a spokesperson said.

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c3gd548jem3o

New findings at Wroxeter.

Hidden mosaic discovered at Roman site​

Paul Belford/Heritage Innovation An overhead shot of Roman mosaic tiles. The background is white/beige and there are blue rectangle borders. There are blue and orange tiles depicting dolphins and fish. Rocks surround the mosaic, and there is a large hole in the bottom left of it, exposing brown stone underneath. The mosaic is stained slightly brown from mud.
Paul Belford/Heritage Innovation
Archaeologists said the mosaic would have been commissioned by someone "wealthy and important"

A 2,000-year-old mosaic has been discovered during excavations at a Roman site in Shropshire. The piece at Wroxeter Roman City, near Shrewsbury, depicts brightly-coloured dolphins and fish. It was uncovered during work to search for the main civic temple.

"Our excavations were in hope of discovering the walls of this building, but we never suspected we would find a beautiful and intact mosaic, which had lain hidden for thousands of years," said Win Scutt, from English Heritage.

English Heritage A shot from height showing a person wiping a Roman mosaic which is in the ground below. The shot is from a green grass ledge, which has a yellow bowl on the edge of it. There are stones surrounding the mosaic. The background of it is white/beige and there are blue rectangle borders. There are blue and orange tiles depicting dolphins and fish. There is a large hole in the bottom left of it, exposing brown stone underneath. The mosaic is stained slightly brown from mud. The person is wearing a green t-shirt and a hat, with black overalls.
English Heritage
The mosaic was likely made soon after the Roman city was established

"It's always an astonishing moment when you uncover a fragment of beauty hiding just below the ground," he added.

Archaeologists who made the discovery said the mosaic dated back to a time soon after the city was established, and would have been commissioned by a "wealthy and important person".

The team also found coins and pottery and a painted plaster wall on one side of the mosaic, which experts said would help date the phases of the city, and the activities that took place there. The area of excavation has been reburied for protection and preservation.

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c4gv3e6p05do
 
News about newly discovered fort leeked,

The remains of a possible Roman "mega" fort that would have housed hundreds of soldiers have been unearthed under a tract of farmland in Wales. The new finding could offer evidence that this region was more fortified than previously thought.

Mark Merrony — a local archaeologist and the editor-in-chief of Antiqvvs, an online archaeology and history magazine — discovered the remnants of the fort in Pembrokeshire, a county in southwest Wales, according to his GoFundMe page.

"I had been tracing what I thought was a Roman road for years," Merrony told Live Science. "I've cycled this road numerous times and always wondered why it ended. You can look at something 500 times and not see anything. But then I had a eureka moment."

https://www.livescience.com/archaeo...s-hints-at-tension-between-romans-and-celtics
 
I'm not seing "mega". But whatever is there, it's exciting.

And I know Ken Dark who is the expert they get to comment :twothumbs:
 
Roaming over a Roman Road.

A section of one of Britain’s most important Roman roads has been unearthed under Old Kent Road in south-east London.

Known as Watling Street, the near 2,000-year-old road ran from the Roman port at Dover through London to the West Midlands. Archaeological work has been taking place as part of the expansion of Southwark’s heating network by the local council and utilities company Veolia. Southwark Council said its discovery provides the first physical proof that sections of the ancient route survive directly beneath its modern counterpart.

Southwark Council/Veolia A man wearing a black hard hat and yellow and orange hi vis clothing stands in an excavated pit next to the section of Roman road. Yellow tape measures, a red notebook, blue folder and black gloves are visible on the ground next to him, with orange tubes in the background
Southwark Council/Veolia
The Roman road contains layers of compacted gravel sealed by two layers of chalk, and another layer of compacted sand and gravel

The road was identified by a team of archaeologists from the Museum of London Archaeology (MOLA), with advice and support from the council’s in-house archaeology officer Dr Chris Constable. Built shortly after the Roman invasion of Britain in AD 43, archaeologists were able to roughly locate the old Watling Street due to the straight nature of many Roman roads but there was scant archaeological evidence of this.

The section of road revealed lies to the south of the junction of Old Kent Road and Ilderton Road and was well preserved, measuring about 19ft (5.8m) wide by almost 5ft (1.4m) high. Southwark Council said distinct layers could be seen and showed a solid foundation of compacted gravel sealed by two layers of chalk, before it was topped with another layer of compacted sand and gravel.

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c4gpwqgwd8do
 
Denarii dug up in Worcestershire.

A hoard of gold and silver Roman coins dating back to the reign of Emperor Nero have been found during building works in Worcestershire.

The treasure, consisting of 1,368 Iron Age and Roman coins, includes the largest collection from the emperor's reign ever found.

Worcestershire Heritage, Art & Museums said the hoard was discovered in the Leigh and Bransford area, west of Worcester, in late 2023. It is expected to be valued at more than £100,000.

Experts from the charity said the find was "one of the most important archaeological discoveries in Worcestershire in the last 100 years".

Most of the coins are silver denarii, minted in Rome and dating from the time of the Roman Republic in 157 BC up to Nero's reign between AD 54–68.

The sole gold coin is an Iron Age stater, which was minted for the local British tribe, the Dobunni, who were in the area now known as Worcestershire and neighbouring counties to the south and west in AD 20–45.

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c4gxnjq3ye0o
 
Do bring a present.

This wafer-thin wooden tablet from a first-century Roman fort in the U.K. includes a heartfelt birthday party invitation.

A fragmented wooden tablet with Latin writing on it in charcoal ink on display against a neutral background

A birthday invitation penned on a thin wood tablet was found at the Roman fort of Vindolanda in the U.K.
(Image credit: The Print Collector / Alamy Stock Photo)

Name: Birthday invitation to Sulpicia Lepidina

What it is: A wooden tablet with carbon-based ink

Where it is from: Vindolanda Roman fort, in Northumberland, U.K
.

This wooden tablet is the earliest known example of Latin writing by a woman, Claudia Severa, who invited her good friend Sulpicia Lepidina to her birthday party. The invitation was found at the Roman fort of Vindolanda, where oxygen-free soil helped preserve numerous organic artifacts, including shoes and camping equipment, that normally would have disintegrated over time.

The postcard-sized tablet measures 8.8 by 3.8 inches (22.3 by 9.6 centimeters), and the text was made with carbon-based ink on both sides.
One side of the letter names both the writer and the addressee and reads, "To Sulpicia Lepidina, wife of Cerialis, from [Claudia] Severa," according to the British Museum, where the object is housed.

The other side is the party invitation. The text, according to a translation from the British Museum, reads as follows: "Claudia Severa to her Lepidina, greetings. On September 11, sister, for the day of the celebration of my birthday, I give you a warm invitation to make sure that you come to us, to make the day more enjoyable for me by your arrival, if you are present. Give my greetings to your [husband, Flavius] Cerialis. My [husband] Aelius [Brocchus] and my little son send him their greetings."

All of this text was likely dictated to a scribe, who wrote it down in a slim, elegant script. But in a second handwriting style in the lower-right corner, Claudia Severa herself has written at the bottom of the invitation in a less elegant script, "I shall expect you, sister. Farewell, sister, my dearest soul, as I hope to prosper, and hail." Although Severa was clearly literate and able to write the letter herself, her social status likely allowed her regular use of a scribe to pen missives on her behalf....

https://www.livescience.com/archaeo...s-the-earliest-known-latin-written-by-a-woman
 
Lead archaeologist praises lead coffin.

Roman coffin as heavy as caravan found by road​

National Highways A dug-up grave with a stone coffin inside it and red and white markers placed around the grave.
National Highways
The 1,500-year-old Roman coffin will be featured on BBC Two's Digging for Britain on Tuesday

A team of archaeologists working on a road upgrade project have uncovered a Roman stone coffin weighing the same as a small caravan. The casket, which weighed 118 stones (750kg), was discovered during National Highways' work to transform a section of a road from a single to a dual carriageway on the A47, between Wansford and Sutton near Peterborough.

The 1,500-year-old hand-carved artefact is being featured in the new series of the BBC's Digging for Britain.

Project manager David Harrison, from Headland Archaeology, called it a "fascinating discovery which is quite unique to this region".

Over a seven-month period, a team of 52 archaeologists and 20 civil engineers worked on 12 sites on a section of the A47, with specialist support from Museum of London Archaeology, York Archaeology, Heritage 360, CR Conservation and Clivedon Conservation.

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cvgm2lm7144o
 
Finds range from the Roman era to the early Medieval period/

Roman pottery and human remains have been unearthed during the installation of an underground substation in Exeter city centre.

National Grid said the project to replace ageing infrastructure saw engineers excavate a new access point in the basement of the former Waterstones building. It said the work required digging to a depth of about 10ft (3m) which allowed archaeologists a rare opportunity to explore some of the city's subterranean history.

Archaeologist Simon Hughes said there had been "some interesting finds" which were being analysed.

AC Archaeology A hand holding what appears to be a Roman archaeological find. The artefact is round with a small hole going through the middle.
AC Archaeology
Simon Hughes said the medieval layers spanned an important period in Exeter's development

He said: "We found Roman pottery representing the legacy of the former regional capital city, Isca Dumnoniorum, and an early medieval fired clay weight. The recovery of some dislocated human bone is hoped to represent the remains of Exeter's early medieval citizens. These are currently being analysed to provide a radiocarbon date. The results from these are eagerly awaited and are hoped to fit into the fascinating narrative of Exeter's medieval development."

Mr Hughes said the medieval layers spanned an important period in Exeter's development following the collapse of Roman Britain.

"In this location, it would have been adjacent to an evocative backdrop that included the ruins of Roman townhouses, the establishment of an Anglo-Saxon monastery in the 7th Century, and latterly a late 9th or early 10th Century minster church, now replaced by the current cathedral", he added.

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ckgx3vdy871o
 
Finds range from the Roman era to the early Medieval period/

Roman pottery and human remains have been unearthed during the installation of an underground substation in Exeter city centre.

National Grid said the project to replace ageing infrastructure saw engineers excavate a new access point in the basement of the former Waterstones building. It said the work required digging to a depth of about 10ft (3m) which allowed archaeologists a rare opportunity to explore some of the city's subterranean history.

Archaeologist Simon Hughes said there had been "some interesting finds" which were being analysed.

AC Archaeology A hand holding what appears to be a Roman archaeological find. The artefact is round with a small hole going through the middle.
AC Archaeology
Simon Hughes said the medieval layers spanned an important period in Exeter's development

He said: "We found Roman pottery representing the legacy of the former regional capital city, Isca Dumnoniorum, and an early medieval fired clay weight. The recovery of some dislocated human bone is hoped to represent the remains of Exeter's early medieval citizens. These are currently being analysed to provide a radiocarbon date. The results from these are eagerly awaited and are hoped to fit into the fascinating narrative of Exeter's medieval development."

Mr Hughes said the medieval layers spanned an important period in Exeter's development following the collapse of Roman Britain.

"In this location, it would have been adjacent to an evocative backdrop that included the ruins of Roman townhouses, the establishment of an Anglo-Saxon monastery in the 7th Century, and latterly a late 9th or early 10th Century minster church, now replaced by the current cathedral", he added.

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ckgx3vdy871o
Looks like a (*correction ~ clay) weight to support a square upright post, possibly to hold a chain boundary marker?
 
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Looks like a stone weight to support a square upright post, possibly to hold a chain boundary marker?

Early medieval is pre-1066. Ish. Allowing for boundary disputes by m'learned friends.


It looks like a fired clay loomweight. The holes go to angles from circles regardless of what is used to make the hole originally - once even a slight groove has been worn in the clay (it's not /that/ fired!) the cord tends to return to that bit rather than hanging on a curve again.
 
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Your mentioning the knobs triggered a memory, and gave rise to a train of thought that ended with the daftest suggestion for the purpose of the dodecahedra that I've ever heard of.

First, the shape of the dodecahedra - with the knobs. Doesn't it remind you of a virus? Here's a picture of a virus from Wikipedia.

View attachment 76291

Compare that with a typical dodecahedron:


View attachment 76292


That's not an isolated example, by the way. A lot of viruses are that shape. Wikipedia tells us:

"Icosahedral: Most animal viruses are icosahedral or near-spherical with chiral icosahedral symmetry. A regular icosahedron is the optimum way of forming a closed shell from identical subunits. "

Now here's my fantasy. A couple of thousand years ago a Roman was abducted by aliens. During the conversation the Roman brought up the question "what causes disease, anyway?" The response was a quick image of a regular icosahedral virus, and some comment on the fact that viruses latch onto specific structures in their animal hosts, and that these linkages are very specific. The viral structures had to 'fit' the shape of the host proteins.

After the Roman was returned , he or she thought about this concept of a virus, and commissioned a model. The model was dodecahedral, because who can tell an icosahedron from a dodecahedron at a quick glance? The corner knobs were obviously important, so they were added. The specific linkages were expressed as holes of different diameters. Accompanying the brass model was a set of wooden dowels of different diameters, which could be tried in the various holes, but only one would fit neatly.

So the purpose of the models - they were a medical teaching aid meant to convey a jumbled memory of how a virus works.

Seriously, it's so obvious that I'm amazed nobody has thought of it before!
(I'm not sure if this has already been reported, if so please remove it)

Another mysterious quartz icosahedron is preserved at the National Museum of the Archaeological Park of Egnazia ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gnatia ), so we are not talking about Romans but about Messapians

1738667215987.png


From https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=647026157643856&id=100070094322124&set=a.487660346913772
One of the strangest and most fascinating finds of the National Museum and Archaeological Park of Egnazia: the rock crystal icosahedron, a small, rare and highly valuable object.

It is composed of 20 faces, each with an equilateral triangle. What makes this object really interesting is the fact that each triangle is engraved with a symbol from the Greek numerical system, which used letters of the alphabet, representing numbers from 1 to 20.
 
Could this possibly be a form of a game dice?

Mhhh ... it's a "strange thing" ...

1738680257962.png


Seriously: archaeologists hypothesize (but don't know for sure) that it was a means of divination.The mystery is, as I understand it, that it is a unique piece so it cannot be associated with anything else.
 
Mhhh ... it's a "strange thing" ...

View attachment 86834

Seriously: archaeologists hypothesize (but don't know for sure) that it was a means of divination.The mystery is, as I understand it, that it is a unique piece so it cannot be associated with anything else.
Those characters inscribed into each pyramidal section might give some extra meaning into what it might have been used for?
1738748646769.png
 
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They're the letters of the Greek alphabet, which was a numeric notation as well, so the crystal was used to generate a random number between 1 and 20.

Essentially it's a D20!

I doubt if the Romans played Dungeons and Dragons, so some kind of divination seems more likely.
 
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