WEBVTT - The Artifact: Roman Dodecahedrons

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to Stuff to Blow Your Mind, a production of iHeartRadio.

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<v Speaker 2>Hi. My name is Robert Lamb, and this is the Artifact,

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<v Speaker 2>a short form series from Stuff to Blow Your Mind,

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<v Speaker 2>focusing on particular objects, ideas, and moments in time. Now.

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<v Speaker 2>We haven't considered an artifact on the show in a while,

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<v Speaker 2>so I'd like to turn to one that my wife recommended.

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<v Speaker 2>The Roman do decahedra, also classified as Gallo Roman do decahedra,

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<v Speaker 2>These are undeniably strange looking artifacts from the second through

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<v Speaker 2>fourth century CE, and they're made all the strangers since

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<v Speaker 2>their exact purpose remains an unsolved mystery. Refreshingly, I actually

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<v Speaker 2>did run across any alien, time travel, lizard man conspiracy

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<v Speaker 2>theories regarding these items. But so abstract are the artifacts,

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<v Speaker 2>and indeed so undocumented in contemporary writings of the time

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<v Speaker 2>that they've inspire numerous largely plausible hypotheses about their purpose.

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<v Speaker 2>When you can safely do so, look up a photo

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<v Speaker 2>of the artifacts in question. They're typically small, hollow objects

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<v Speaker 2>with twelve flat pentagonal faces cast from a copper alloy.

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<v Speaker 2>Each face features a whole of differing size, and each

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<v Speaker 2>corner features a little knob. The overall vibe that I

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<v Speaker 2>get from this is that of a twelve sided dice

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<v Speaker 2>smashed up with an ancient Roman lament configuration with a

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<v Speaker 2>dash of ornate incense burner, and I don't know a

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<v Speaker 2>Bronze age coronavirus model. It's strange, and there's not just

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<v Speaker 2>one Roman dough decahedron. According to a January twenty twenty

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<v Speaker 2>four Smithsonian Magazine article by Sonia Anderson, another mysterious Roman

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<v Speaker 2>do decahedron has been unearthed in England. The current total

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<v Speaker 2>stands at more than one hundred, one hundred and thirty

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<v Speaker 2>from throughout the Roman Empire's northwest provinces and thirty three

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<v Speaker 2>from Roman Britain. As we've discussed done stuff to blow

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<v Speaker 2>your mind before, we sometimes encounter artifacts that seem to

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<v Speaker 2>have been objects of pure novelty, one off inventions and

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<v Speaker 2>so forth. But with more than one hundred of these

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<v Speaker 2>items the Do decahedra, it would seem to have served

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<v Speaker 2>some purpose for various people in the Roman Empire. So

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<v Speaker 2>what was it? Again? We don't know for sure, but

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<v Speaker 2>we have plenty of interesting theories to consider. I'm not

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<v Speaker 2>going to run through all of them here, but let's

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<v Speaker 2>talk about some of the most interesting. First of all,

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<v Speaker 2>it's reasonable to assume anything that the Romans were into

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<v Speaker 2>might have been tied to the art of war, and

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<v Speaker 2>it has been proposed that these could have been weapons

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<v Speaker 2>of some sort, or you know, the ends of maces,

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<v Speaker 2>or even a projectile. But others have countered that these

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<v Speaker 2>artifacts were largely too light, too fragile, and lack evidence

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<v Speaker 2>of wear and tear from such usage. Likewise, this interpretation

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<v Speaker 2>would tend to disqualify various other tool relation theories. Certainly,

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<v Speaker 2>one could argue that something like this could be a

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<v Speaker 2>mere ceremonial model of an otherwise robust tool or weapon.

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<v Speaker 2>But if that were the case, surely we'd have some

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<v Speaker 2>evidence of the actual tool or weapon. Of course, we know,

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<v Speaker 2>as the Romans certainly did that warfare isn't just about

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<v Speaker 2>blunt instruments. Indeed, one major theory holds that the dodecahedral

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<v Speaker 2>were used for measuring distance or even time. However, the

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<v Speaker 2>dodecahedra don't feature standardized dimensions, which makes these explanations more complicated.

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<v Speaker 2>But what if the artifacts do not concern the mundane

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<v Speaker 2>world of space and time at all, but rather the

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<v Speaker 2>unseen world of religion that, as Andersen points out, is

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<v Speaker 2>another favorite theory that the artifacts were ritualistic items that

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<v Speaker 2>needed no more uniformity of dimension or durability than any

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<v Speaker 2>other holy symbol. All of this would also match up

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<v Speaker 2>with the lack of wear and tear, as well as

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<v Speaker 2>their proximity to temple sites. In some finds, it's even

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<v Speaker 2>possible that they served as divinitive dice, indeed a kind

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<v Speaker 2>of spiritually charged D twelve religion check if you will.

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<v Speaker 2>One of the more amusing theories concerns neither war nor spirituality, however,

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<v Speaker 2>but rather some form of fiber art, fiber crafting, maybe

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<v Speaker 2>something like knitting. With the advent of both three D

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<v Speaker 2>printing and online video, you'll find some folks online demonstrating

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<v Speaker 2>how these artifacts could have been used to knit, say, gloves,

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<v Speaker 2>particularly the fingers of gloves. While undeniably a fun idea,

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<v Speaker 2>this one doesn't seem to be widely accepted, and indeed,

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<v Speaker 2>knitting wouldn't be invented for about a thousand years. Still,

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<v Speaker 2>you can't help but love the ambiguity of an artifact

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<v Speaker 2>that leads to such varied interpretations as things for making

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<v Speaker 2>gloves to a model of the known universe, even if

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<v Speaker 2>the more likely explanations may land somewhere between religious symbol

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<v Speaker 2>and pure novelty. Tune in to additional episodes of the Artifact,

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<v Speaker 2>the Monster Fact Mammalias to Pendium each week. As always,

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<v Speaker 2>you can email us at contact at stuff to Blow

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<v Speaker 2>your Mind dot com.

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<v Speaker 1>Stuff to Blow Your Mind is production of iHeartRadio. For

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