[MENTALFLOSS|PHOTO] The first Roman dodecahedron to intrigue archaeologists was found almost 300 years ago, buried in a field in the English countryside along with some ancient coins.
“A piece of mixed metal, or ancient brass, consisting of 12 equal sides,” read the description of the egg-sized object when it was presented to the Society of Antiquaries in London in 1739.
The 12 faces had “an equal number of perforations within them, all of unequal diameters, but opposite to one another … every faceing had a knobb or little ball fixed to it.”
The antiquarians were flummoxed by the finely crafted metal shell, and what its purpose may have been.
The 1739 dodecahedron was far from the last discovery of its kind.
More than 100 similar objects have since been found at dozens of sites across northern Europe dating to around the 1st to 5th centuries CE.
Ranging in size from about a golf ball to a bit larger than a baseball, each one has 12 equally sized faces, and each face has a hole of varying diameter. The objects themselves are all hollow. [FULLSTORY]
UPDATE: Roman dodecahedron uncovered by amateur archaeologists in the UK
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