The Roman Dodecahedron - An ancient mystery solved?

Over 100 of these artefacts have been found across Northern Europe and, dating from around 200 AD, people must have been using them for something useful for there to have been so many made.
I wanted to see what they might have been used for so I got one made with a 3D printer and, well watch to see what they can do :)

[TheMartinhallett]

Thank you to everyone for such positive comments. I'm thrilled at the level of interest and debate this video has sparked across the web. I'd like also to say thanks and full credits to Moy who helped to define this possibility for the use of these fascinating objects.

Also check out ChertineP's video Knitting with a Roman Dodecahedron

[Zippythewondersquirrel]

I like the idea of using them to make woven chains and rope. It utilizes the holes beautifully too as the item is drawn smaller and smaller through them.

[birricforcella]

Actually, if you used a hooked needle, like in crocheting, you could do it in a fraction of the time.  It would be interesting to find out if hooked needles were found along with the thingy.

[ChertineP]

Well, I have posted a video of my glove fingers, such as they are.  You can see it at Knitting with a Roman Dodecahedron

[zaker]

How brilliant is it that this experiment worked so well! But still, I think you're ignoring the most obvious use for the dodecahedrons, which was the production of stuffed octopus toys. But seriously, I can't imagine the time it must have taken you to come up with this as a possibility. Kudos.

[joanng]

A great piece of experimental archeology.

[TrojanHorse]

Cool! After seeing one for the first time I had wondered if they might have something to do with knitting or maybe net making. I never thought about using them to make gloves, but it makes perfect sense after seeing this video.

[PhilFake-ewwk]

Actually, braiding gold wire for jewelry makes more sense. The holes opposite each other are the same, allowing a stick to pass through and hold the work in progress. That is why it was found with treasure and the knobs are shaped to hold the wire or yarn (for gloves) while working. The closed one has holes -for wire? Then later use it to hold a candle.

[thedreamisreal]

totally agree! I've read about other whack theories, like a candle holder, or a flower stand, but this makes the most sense, being found in colder climates.

[cowtownokla]

Some of the dodecahedron found have extremely small holes and others have no holes at all.

[Mansellyn]

As a fiber arts person I intuitively sense that this indeed could be a way to weave glove fingers. A metal one would be used by higher classes and much like today, a "spool" type for others. Also, the used with wool and being able to wet-felt the wool would be handy.

[SuperMurrayb]

This is a very convincing demonstration of the real pupose of the dodecahedron. The model did an excellent job of demonstating the glove. With some practice the quality of the gloves should improve. Thank you for posting this video.

[ChertineP]

Brilliant deduction!  It takes a knitter to recognize this as a knitting tool.  I am so excited!  Congratulations!

[michaelrudolph]

Despite the different sized holes, the distance between all the pegs is exactly the same and thus you aren't making bigger and smaller openings for fingers, they are all going to be the same size, so in this case the holes of different sizes make no difference at all. So its unlikely this is correct, although maybe it is correct and there is an additional use for this that does involve the holes and it was used for multiple things. I think these were definitely multi use items.

[mariegriffiths]

I was thinking along these lines before I saw your video. i think you have nailed it.

[patricialavery]

I thought it looked like something my Grandma might have had in her knitting box.She had some gizmos that made stuff that had blunt spikes.Seems reasonable.

[CalebCreel]

If this is true and that is what these were used for, and if my memories of the history of costume Served me properly then this would be a very significant overthrow of what is currently known regarding the development of modern woven vs knitted textiles. It would seem to put the date for the first use of true knitting back roughly a millennia further than is currently believed...

(That's right, boys and girls, knittted clothing did not appear until between the 11th and 14th centuries AD!!!)

For what my opinion is worth, I applaud you! You are almost certainly in my opinion correct. That is undoubtedly the intended use for those particular artifacts; with one fairly minor detail needing reworked - they were used to make socks not gloves.

Some scraps of garments resembling modern toe-socks have been found using just that sort of knitted stitch in sites as early as the 3rd or 4th AD and have been something of an unexplainable phenomena in the history of costume as they predated the known origin of modern knitting, invention of the knitting needles and the knit and purl stitch by some 800 years or more.

It Is remarkable to me and does you great credit that it was the artifact itself which suggested the technique and the intended to garment to you, especially if you had no knowledge of either the history of knitting or the until now unexplainable toe-socks!

Remarkable, truly remarkable.

[livethemoment]

Awesome...this is the most likely use of them in the cold weather countries...great sleuthing props to the one who found this solution to the riddle.

[happyrfan]

Do you think you could knit with a fine wire and possibly make chain mail gloves? That would explain why these seem to be found near other military artifacts.

[PXCharon]

It's a jig and draw system for making wire jewellery of exactly the sort seen across classical and medieval Europe. They call it "viking knit" today, but it originated in the classical world rather than early medieval.