Archaeologists Keep Finding Strange Ancient Objects With a Mysterious Purpose

Archaeologists have been unearthing mysterious 12-sided metal objects across Europe for some 300 years, but they're no closer now to knowing what they were for. 

So-called Roman dodecahedra are 12-sided shapes cast from some kind of metal alloy, with each having a hole connecting to a hollow center. They’re surprisingly similar looking, but have just enough variation in size and design to puzzle archeologists. Their many faces also bear no signs of text, numbers, or similar characters that could provide clues to their use.   

The most recently-discovered copper alloy dodecahedron was unearthed in 2023 by amateur archeologists in a farmer's field near the English village of Norton Disney. 

“There was a moment or two where we’re not sure what we’re looking at here,” Richard Parker, secretary for the Norton Disney History and Archaeology Group, who participated in the dig, told Motherboard. “On the second-to-last day of our dig, I’m busy making the tea, as you do. It’s the middle of the morning and a big cry goes up, a bit of swearing and then I go running over and [a different] Richard, who found the dodecahedron, was holding it up.”

“For everybody it was such a surreal moment because we’d just been expecting Roman pottery, and finding a very large lump of metal is extremely unusual. But then we knew pretty quickly we’d found something pretty significant.”

The Norton Disney dodecahedron is currently on display in the National Civil War Centre, Newark Museum in Nottinghamshire but Parker says the plan is to do tests in the next three months including scanning the surface for signs of use and wear, as well as using a technique called x-ray fluorescence to confirm how the metal was forged. It will then go to another local museum.

Most dodecahedra have been found in northern Italy, France, Belgium, Germany, and the southern Netherlands—a region known to the Romans as Gaul (hence the objects’ other name, Gallo-Roman dodecahedra). The find at Norton Disney was the first time one had been uncovered in this region of England. 

According to classical archaeologist Michael Guggenberger, the shape played an important role in Greek and Roman cultures for centuries. “The regular pentagon dodecahedron, is one of the five Platonic solids, the one representing the cosmos, the universe as a whole, and later in ancient science also standing for the smallest part, the ‘atomon’. From my understanding any explanation must consider these two factors adequately,” he told Motherboard in an email. 

“The nature of the dodecahedron, which is comprehensive enough to include the other figures, may well seem to be model with reference to all corporeal being,” wrote Greek philosopher Plutarch. Where fewer-sided shapes came to symbolize individual elements in nature, the dodecahedron was revered as an all-encompassing symbol of the universe in the sixth century. 

Parker, too, suspects that dodecahedra may hold religious or ritual significance. In 1989, archeologists found a figure of the Roman god Mars Thingsus at a site near where the Norton Disney dodecahedron was unearthed. The club has also found clues, using geophysical and aerial surveys, that point to the existence of a high-status Roman building buried under their village. “Because their use is so unclear, we have to look at what other bits of associated archeology are in and around the site that might give you some clues,” he said.

There’s currently no definitive evidence about what the objects were used for. That hasn’t stopped researchers from publishing close to fifty different theories—that it was a weapon, measuring device, toy, decoration, candle holder or even “instrument of cosmic power.” Hobbyist dodecahedron fans have put forward countless more ideas. 

Lorena Hitchens, a doctoral student at Newcastle University who studies dodecahedra, says there are a few theories we can set aside. “Virtually all theories regarding tools or other utilitarian functions are quickly discounted because of the variation in dodecahedra,” she writes on her website detailing her research. “They range in size from 5 centimeters to 11 centimeters in diameter, and their holes and decoration also vary. Since there was no standardization between them, they would not have been effective for measurement.”

Guggenberger agrees, adding that some ideas are implausible or just downright impossible. “About the other explanations [eg, Christmas ornament or wind instrument] I don’t think that I even have to argue.”

Hitchens also doesn’t believe that they were dice for gambling—since they’re weighted unevenly and the knobs don’t make for good rolling—nor knitting, since there were other more effective tools around at the time.  

Guggenberger thinks that they’re neither common objects, nor rare. “Based on the number of finds, the quality of the materials, and the costly manufacturing process, it is evident that these dodecahedra were neither bargain goods that could be bought on every corner, nor were they extremely rare objects,” he wrote.

He says that answers will come as they uncover other objects near the places where dodecahedra have been found. “Unfortunately, only a smaller number of these dodecahedra were found in scientific archaeological excavations and even if so most contexts are not so telling,” said Guggenberger. “Every single specimen should be examined with regard to any traces of usage including remains of other materials on its surface.” 

Parker is optimistic the Norton Disney site could be one to offer more clues. “The site is brimming with archeology. We were only scratching the surface last year.” 

He’s hoping the latest dodecahedron find, and the flurry of interest it has created, will help fund future digs including their summer 2024 excavation. “Everybody’s gone dodecahedra crazy,” Parker said.