The fantastic Norton Disney dodecahedron intrigues everyone. There are other complete examples, e.g., this one from Stuttgart-Bad Cannstatt.
We still don't know what those mysterious devices were used for. Any suggestions?
@ninawillburger would love to see a plot of the hole sizes across all the known samples. Are they consistent?
I'd say that the fact that each face appears to have a different-sized hole is of primary significance. If it were a decorative object you'd probably make the holes the same size, for an appealing symmetry. With different sizes it seems to have a function, eg a sizing gauge.
@ninawillburger I can imagine these functioning as stands for something like glass vials. Modern test-tube stands have holes that are the same size, but something like this could hold many different sizes of non-standard vessel/vials for perfumes,, medicines, and so on. You'd just have to turn the stand so that the size of hole you needed was at the top. Relatively fragile glass containers wouldn't survive, while these would. I don't know if Romans had anything like test-tubes, though!
@bodhipaksa@ninawillburger I like this idea. The different sized holes seem like an important feature. Holding things might explain their weight too (as opposed a size gauge which has also been suggested), the knobs act as feet..
@ninawillburger I wonder if anyone has thrown one (replica hopefully) by hand or with a sling and if they make a whistling or other unusual sound when flying?
@ninawillburger They are time artefacts of #DrWho. Look at these remaining balls! It was a horrible time when the Celts invented their #dodecahedron time changer games, and a Roman soldier forgot to close the teleportation gate. The #Daleks materialised and stole the inner material to build their sense globes: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YSLQH1gKocs
Since then, a certain Gallic village (the game inventor lived there) was angry at all Romans until Dr Who will return and bring back the sense globes!
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