A mysterious Roman object unearthed in an amateur dig has baffled experts as it goes on display in Britain for the first time.
The 12-sided object was discovered in Norton Disney, near Lincoln, in 2023, and will go on display at Lincoln Museum as part of the city’s Festival of History.
Richard Parker, secretary of the Norton Disney History and Archaeology Group, said it was a “privilege to have handled” the dodecahedron, but was still at a loss over what it was.
If it was done with prior knowledge of Roman textile making (i.e. the Romans actually did know how to knit), it would be an okay archaeological experiment, and experimental archaeology is a valid form of archaeology.
But this was not that. This was some lady who knew how to knit, saw one and said, “that could be used to knit gloves.”
And the knitters who are part of the group have chimed in and let us know that it is far less practical than a knitting frame anyway.
Why wouldn’t Romans know how to knit? Did they not have sheep?
They didn’t know about it because it hadn’t been invented yet. Their textiles were mainly produced through weaving. We have plenty of Roman textile samples to know how they made them.
Hmmm, interesting. I always assumed knitting was about as old as sheep shearing.