These Have Been Found All Across Ancient Rome (Nobody Knows Why)

[Music] This house that I'm recording this in that I live in was built in 1963. That's uh about middle age for a house in this part of the world. But um if you get in a really old house, you'll find a lot of things that don't really make any sense.

Like these little nooks that you often find in in kitchens or hallways that are too small to be a bookcase or to set anything down on, not big enough to really decorate. You might not know what these are, but these are phone nooks. So, back in the day when when there was only one phone in the house and it was tethered to the wall, they made a dedicated space just for making phone calls with a pad and a pen to take notes, the yellow pages and the white pages, maybe a rolodex or a planner, usually with important numbers taped up next to the phone on the wall.

Yeah, people my age and older, we grew up with these things. They were in all the homes. Everybody had one, and they made perfect sense at the time.

Today, they just kind of look weird and out of place. Or if you go back further, if you have a really old house, you might have an ice door. In the days before refrigerators, people kept their food cold in ice boxes, which were literal boxes that held ice.

And that ice had to be delivered to the house by a local ice company, which was a huge business at the time. And yeah, a lot of houses had a small ice door where the delivery guy could just drop the ice into the ice box without disturbing the home. You'd find milk doors and coal doors for the same reason.

Today, of course, they just look like weird tiny doors that serve no purpose, but back in the day, they made perfect sense and everybody knew what they were. Like, it kind of makes me think of um the third condiment mystery. Have you heard about the third condiment mystery?

So, yeah, apparently back in the Victorian days and a little bit before that, the table settings had um three shakers, like condiment shakers. Like today, you always see salt and pepper. They had salt and pepper and something else.

And nobody knows exactly what it was used for. like it hasn't been that long, but we haven't been able to find any writings that explain what it is. It's never referenced in any books or manuals on homemaking or party planning.

It seems that it was just so ubiquitous that nobody wrote about it. They all just knew what it was. There was no point in writing about it.

And ironically, because it was such a mundane everyday thing that everybody understood back then, today nobody knows what it is because nobody talked about it back then. For the record, a lot of people think that it's some kind of mustard powder. Um, but there are debates.

The point is, a funny thing happens with history in that the most mundane, ubiquitous parts of daily life are the things that we've kind of lost the most because nobody wrote about them in their time. Everybody just knew what it was. And that's possibly the case with the subject of today's video because we are going to go way back.

Today we're going to talk about the Roman docahedron. [Music] Yes, finally, after all this time on YouTube, so many requests for this topic. I don't know how I've never covered it before, but alas, the time has come.

Let's talk about this thing. Yeah. Okay.

So, this was made by my producer, Damian. Um, he found a 3D printed thing, 3D printed it, uh, glued all the little nubs on here, painted it so it looks all like rustic and everything. He did a great job with this.

This might be a new uh autramalon for my background. No, he really did a good job. So, this is this is a special one.

I keep this one. You can't have this one. But this is it.

This is the Roman docahedron. It's got 12 sides. It's got holes in each side.

All the holes are different sizes, as you can see. It's got these nubs in the corners. And uh this is what it is.

This is what it looks like. Yeah, there's like 130 or so of these that have been found. Uh, usually cast in copper, bronze, and yeah, nobody knows what they were used for.

Actually, at this point, everybody has a different opinion of what these things are used for. But the reason why there's so much disagreement about it is because there is nothing in any literature or art at the time that tells us what this thing is. So, we're just left to speculate.

The most recent dodcahedron find was in June of 2023 in the Lincolnshshire town of Norton Disney, which is apparently where Walt Disney's family comes from. Uh, but this one was especially big. It was like grapefruit sized.

The smallest odahedrons are around an inch and a half or so in diameter, but most are, you know, around this size, like 3 or 4 inches in size. Um, but there's no uniform size to these things. They're all over the place.

The first documented finding of one of these was in 1739 in Aston Herford, England. And since then 133 have been found. With the exception of a few outliers, all of them are from areas in northern Europe like France, Germany, and Britain.

This is an area that the Romans called Gaul. And they date to the years when the Romans were there between the second, third, and fourth centuries. So yeah, many make the argument that it shouldn't be called the Roman docahedron at all.

It should be called the Gic docahedrons because it seemed to be exclusively a GIC object. The Roman dodcahedron never got anywhere close to Rome. But to put the time period of when these things existed into context, this was a pretty high time for Rome.

The empire reached its greatest extent in 117 under Trajan and went through its famous conversion to a Christian state under Constantine in the 300s. So even if it was a regional phenomenon, that region was firmly under Roman control. But the fact that they've only been found in the northern parts of Europe is kind of a mystery, but it's also a clue.

Like maybe it was part of a cultural tradition that only existed in those areas. Maybe it has a a purpose that only makes sense in colder climates. But that's just one clue.

There are many clues to talk about. The fact that there aren't any writings or or art with it in there is a clue. Like lack of information is a clue.

Like why didn't they talk about these things? They're not mentioned by any of the ancient historians or playwrights. They're not shown in any art.

And the Romans were not shy about what they put in art. And before you say, "Yeah, but most of the famous art came from near Rome. " There are plenty of examples of ancient art objects from Gaul and that art is docahedron free.

So let's consider some other clues. So one interesting clue is that they're often found in graves or tombs of wealthy women often alongside coins. But they've also been found near military camps along ancient riverbeds.

They don't usually have any markings which would be a great clue if they did. Some of them do have like circles around the holes which might just be a gauge that they would use to clip out the different size holes. We don't really know.

But yeah, I mean them not having markings can rule out some theories. Most of them show little if any wear. So that's pretty big clue.

And yeah, again, they're usually made out of fairly expensive metals like brass or copper. Um, at least the ones that survived were. So those are the major clues.

And with those clues in mind, let's take a look at some of the theories. Now, there are literally dozens of theories around this. I can't go in depth on all of them.

I'm sure I'm going to miss a ton of them. Uh, but let's take a look at some of the most interesting ones and the ones that I think are the most likely. So, one popular theory is that it's a kind of rangefinder for the Roman military to help them kind of aim for distant objects, which makes sense because they were found in military camps.

Like, imagine you're a Roman general facing off against a horde of milk gic barbarians, and you tell your archers to knock their arrows, get ready to fire, and then you lift up your 12sided rangefinder, line things up just right, and you can see just how far away the target is on the enemy's side. Sounds interesting, but like How? Apparently, it can be done.

There's a paper by Amelia Carolina Spervinga from the Torino Polytechnic School and she figured out that by lining up the various holes, you can gauge the distance by applying this simple formula. It's super easy. So, there you go.

Mystery solved. The holes are for finding a range and the knobs are for holding. Except, is this the best solution in the heat of battle?

You got an enemy bearing down on you, so you whip out your abacus and do a little algebra. Like, weren't there simpler ways of doing that? I mean, the knob thing.

Yeah, I guess I guess it makes it easier to hold, but feels kind of unnecessary. Also, the lack of labeling bothers me. Like, if you're going to do something precise with it, you're going to need to have like precise labeling of some kind.

Also, the size of these would need to be more uniform across the board, which they are not. Also, it might explain why they were found in military encampments, but what about the, you know, high status women? Like, why would they be buried with a rangefinder?

So, I don't personally think it's a rangefinder. In fact, I would kind of rule against any of the theories that describe it as some kind of measuring device simply because they were also differently sized. Um, but there are there are many different measuring device theories around this, including the theory that it's a planting calendar.

So, let's say you want to know the best time in your region to plant winter grain, right? you need to know what day it is. So, some have speculated that the docahedron is a kind of sundial calendar that you can tell what day it is.

There's a whole website called romancahedron. com that explains how you can work out u the dates by using the dodcahedron including from specific locations where they were found. They say to start by placing it on a horizontal plate at high noon and then measure the sunbeam's angle relative to the plate using this formula where 26.

6° is the angle through a line dodcahedron holes. TG1 is the inverse tangent. A and B are the radi of the opposing holes.

And D is the docahedron's diameter. Got all that? So you can get six different measurements because there's six different like pairs of holes.

And then you can check the results using astronomy or a chart. Then you know the date. So it does take a little bit of work.

It's another one of those whip out your abacus and do a little algebra thing. Um but it is a pretty precise way to get a date with just a simple tool in the sun. But like why?

You know what's also a pretty simple tool to keep track of the dates? A calendar, which they totally had. Yeah, the Julian calendar is what they used back then.

It was named after Julius Caesar. Um, it had been around for a few centuries by this point, and it's pretty damn close to what we use today. Now, the site argues against that, saying that planning dates vary for different regions, and that's true.

Um, but you only have to guess the right planning time once, right? And then after that, you can just write it down and use the calendar. I don't know, maybe the ancient world didn't work that way.

Um, maybe GAC officials didn't like the Julian calendar or the GA farmers didn't trust it. Uh, maybe it made sense for the specific patterns of weather that existed in Gaul and nowhere else. But again, if it's a measuring device, some markings would be helpful.

And why weren't they found on farms instead of military camps and aist tombs? You know, a lot of rich women who are buried with planting calendars. This next one is actually pretty interesting.

Might be my favorite actually. There's a video by an Etsy shop owner named Amy Gaines, who uh makes adorable knit stuffed animals, by the way. But she came across a docahedron mystery and apparently looked at it once and seemed to know exactly what she was looking at.

According to her knitting enhanced eyeballs, this thing is the perfect device for making a specific type of gold chain. just so happens it's a technique known as, wait for it, Viking knitting. And this was in Northern Europe.

Go on. In her video, she uses a tapered dowel to fit through the holes of the dodcahedron, and then uses aluminum wire, which probably would have been gold in real life, and wraps it around and through the knobs on the device. And by repeating this looping down the dowel, you can create a loose metal chain.

Then you can use the progressively smaller holes to pull the wire through and stretch it and make a tighter weave. She compares this to a modern-day draw plate. And as she shows in her video, it does work.

And it works with yarn, too. You can use it to make weave cords and maybe fingers for gloves. This this is an interesting theory.

It it fits the need for all the different sized holes. It explains the nubs. It makes sense regionally with the Viking weave thing.

It explains why it was normally made out of bronze and copper, both harder metals than gold. It explains why they were buried with women and maybe maybe military guys use them to make chain mail. This checks so many boxes.

The only thing that is keeping me from giving it 100% here is that it didn't show any signs of wear and tear, which I feel like it would have a lot of wear and tear if metal was being scraped against it all the time. Um, unless it was used with yarn maybe. Although apparently, and this is another clue actually, a lot of the docahedrons were found with wax residue on them.

and she suggests that that might have been like a kind of lubrication. Uh but yeah, that's that's a pretty solid theory. I I like that theory.

Another theory is that it's a device to encode messages. Uh coder decoder, if you will. Be sure to drink your Ovaltine.

Ovaltine. And you know what? I can see it.

I mean, just looking at this, it looks like it's a kind of a cipher of some kind. Like the different holes being different settings or something. Well, that's the exact idea that a guy named Matt Geven had, and he came up with something that like I have no idea if this is right or not, but it's kind of brilliant.

In a video he uploaded to YouTube, he shows how these different holes could be keys to a different circular cipher that lock into place with the corner knobs. You line up the inner cipher with the outer cipher to find the code letter, and then you rotate the inner cipher one click after every word. Once you've got your message, you can seal it with wax inside this message holder and then imprint the side of the docahedron that matches the right key.

Then the guy who gets the message knows which circle to use by matching up his docahedron to the wax seal. Then he pops in the correct cipher and now he's decoding the message. This explains why nobody ever talked about it cuz it was secret military technology.

This explains the wax residue, maybe even why it was made from valuable metals because military. This checks a lot of boxes, but not all of them. Doesn't explain why they were buried with rich women.

And it doesn't account for the fact that they're all different sizes. Like, if this was something that was actually widely implemented across the GIC Roman military, that that size would need to be standardized. Although, technically, for it to work, it only has to match up with two dodcahedrons, only two of them have to be the same size.

Um, so I don't know, that might bring the objection down a little bit. As for why it was only used in the north and not all throughout Rome, I mean, I guess it's possible it's just something that was instituted by a gic Roman general and it spread around those areas and just never quite caught on outside of there because it was too complicated or unnecessary. But maybe the biggest strike against this one is that it requires other pieces for the code to work with the ciphers and the the message holders and all that stuff.

And none of that's ever been found. Now, he makes the point that these other pieces probably would have been made from wood or parchments, so they can be easily destroyed, like to keep them out of enemy hands and whatnot. That makes sense.

And uh the ones that weren't destroyed, those materials would have decomposed a long time ago. So, some might say that the lack of evidence is actually even more proof that it was a secret decoder thing. Um, but having evidence would be better.

So, I think that one's interesting. Uh, I I don't think it's the answer. I think it's a bit of reverse engineering on his part.

But I will say I think it's a brilliant bit of reverse engineering. And if I ever do some kind of medieval fantasy novel that involves a military campaign, I am totally stealing that. Very clever work, sir.

Very good. I applaud you. Anyway, debate this one down below.

So, those are some of my favorite ones, the ones I find most interesting. Anyway, there's a whole lot more. Um, I can go through a few of them kind of rapid fire here.

Like, some have said that maybe it's a gauge for measuring um things like like sticks and and tinder. Maybe it's the different size holes you can use to to shape spears or tools with it. Um maybe you could measure, like I said, tinder or like spaghetti.

Some people talk about you could use it to measure different amounts of spaghetti. And I think any any one of those things might work, but all of them. Did they need a device to measure tinder?

Did they even eat pasta in that part of the world? Was spaghetti even a thing back then? Also, do you know a lot of women that were buried with their pasta measurers?

Another theory is that it might just be a candle holder, which I mean, I guess I don't have a candle, but I've got a pen. I mean, it would definitely work. And it and it's, you know, it's a pretty stable platform, and really any cylindrical object could be placed in it, and maybe the different size holes would be able to m match different types of candle sizes or whatever.

So, I mean, you know, it kind of works, but wouldn't we see a whole lot of them? And didn't they already have a much simpler solution for that? And do you know any women who have been buried with candle holders?

Because they were sometimes found with coins, some people think that they might have been coin validators. Like back then, it was a lot easier to counterfeit coins. Um, and it was actually fairly common for people to clip little bits of coin and melt it down and sell it.

So, the idea is that this was a device for merchants and tax collectors or whoever to essentially like authenticate the coins by making sure they fit the appropriate holes. Like, that's a pretty good one. Um, but it does have a fatal flaw as my friend Stefan Milo pointed out in his recent video.

He actually did a few videos on the docahedron recently. They're they're awesome. You should definitely go check them out if you like this topic.

And actually, if you're not following Stefan Milo at all, like what are what are you even doing? What are you doing? So, he makes the point that when people clipped off the silver out of the coins, it was usually more like a chip instead of like grinding out the edge or whatever.

It was really more of a chip that wouldn't really affect the shape. So, that, you know, hole wouldn't really help. Plus, it would have to be standardized size holes across all the docahedrons, which they aren't.

So, another one I've seen a lot is that people think that maybe it was just like a demonstration of a metal worker skill. Um, it was a metal worker flex basically. Mostly just because it's such a complicated piece to make and it would have required a lot of skill.

Might have been like a calling card for trades people to prove their worth. This I don't know. This one that feels like a stretch to me.

I mean, I get it, but I feel like if that was the case, then it would actually be the the metal workers carrying them around. like just to show off their ability to try to get work or whatever. It'd be more like a a calling card like I said.

Um and and and therefore we would be finding it with uh you know buried with metal workers or around old trade centers where the metal workers did their work and whatnot. But instead we got military camps. And do you know any women who are buried with metal worker art?

Some have suggested it's just it's just like a bubble like a a random thing that you keep around your desk. Like I've got like a little squeaky toy here and this little thing that's like made up of different connectors. just something to just kind of play around with.

It's it's a Roman fidget spinner basically, which I've got to say, I've had this, you know, on my desk here for a while, it's uh it's not bad. Or, you know, maybe something more distracting like a game or or something related to gambling. But bobbles, for lack of a better word, they're they're usually like cheap little duads.

And these were made out of valuable metals. So, also, do you know a lot of women who are buried with a game on them? And I I know I keep going back to that, but I feel like that's a really important thing like to to to to bury something with somebody.

That's a very personal thing, you know, that's that's a part of that person's identity. And a lot of these just don't rise to that. But I think that's why a lot of people think that this must have some kind of like religious significance.

And and I know that's kind of a cliche when you talk about archaeology. Um anything we don't understand must have some deep spiritual significance. We tend to ascribe that to everything.

But in this case, I mean, I think there's an argument to be made there. You know, it may have symbolized a deity or or offer protection to a person who carried it like a like a a rosary or a crucifix today. Of course, that feels like something that would have been talked about or written about somewhere.

I kind of like the idea that it was just like a trend, you know, like it was just a valuable thing that everybody decided was valuable for that one hot minute there because they all wanted it and decided it was valuable and people spent obscene amounts of money on it even though it served no useful purpose whatsoever. The only thing is it's kind of hard to find examples of that like in the modern world, you know, outside of like Stanley Cups and fidget spinners and hoverboards and razor scooters and Beanie Babies, Tamagotchi, Furbies, Tickle Me Elmo, Pogs, Rubik's Cube, Pet Rocks, mood rings, hula hoops, slinkies, bird hats, pineapples, and the Dutch tulip craze. I mean, it seems to be a thing that we do, so why wouldn't they?

And before you say, but has anybody been buried with a beanie baby? I would say yes. I think a lot of Beanie Babies got buried at the height of that craze because at the time they had a personal significance to that person that was a thing of value.

So my best guess as an uneducated, not archaeologist person is that it was a status symbol. Like literally a symbol of status. It was something that a people of a privileged class of society, an elite group or family, something that they could carry around to show how important they were, get special treatment or special access or whatever.

It was like a social password to get you what you want. You know, you go up to the club, the door guy won't let you in, and you're just like, this would explain why it was found with coins, uh, why it was found with wealthy women. I think it works with the military encampments because there were hierarchies there.

It would separate the officers from the lower status people. It explains why it was made out of valuable metals. And if it really was like a local uh social elite thing, then that might explain why it was only in one part of the Roman Empire, you know, hence the regionalization.

It's not perfect, but um I don't know, it's it's my best guess. But Joe, what about the iicosahedron? Oh, yeah.

Ah, yes. There was one object that was different from all the others. They call it the iicosahedron because it has 20 sides instead of 12.

A D and D player's dream. And it has holes in it, but it's not holes like this. It's like tiny little holes and they were highly decorated.

So other YouTubers whose videos I watched about this, some of whom I admire highly. Um they place a lot of emphasis in stock on the icosahedron. They treat it like it's an important clue.

Uh they suggest that any theory kind of has to account for the icosahedron. I think I disagree with this. So unlike the dodcahedron, which they found hundreds of, there's only one of the icosahedrons ever found.

And I had to double and triple check this before I said it because I wasn't quite sure. But yeah, there was only one that was ever found. It was near Arlo in Germany and it currently resides at the Rhinosish Landis Museum in Bon.

I am happy to chalk this one up as just being someone's artwork. Like art was definitely a thing back then. The metal workers are creative people.

I can easily accept that one of them just had a crazy idea and did it. You know, we spend so much time trying to apply like deep significance to every archaeological find that we come across. And I think it's important to remember that um we're humans and sometimes we do things just to do them.

Whatever the docahedron was, there was a time and place in history where this thing was totally understood. And the fact that it's a big mystery to us would probably be hilarious to them. He doesn't know how to use the three seashells.

Yeah, that that's probably what this is. It's how the GS wipe themselves. You know any ladies that bathe themselves?

Like it kind of makes you wonder like what what things do we use every day that will be mysterious and weird 2,000 years from now. There's a great book from 1979. It's called The Motel of the Mysteries.

Um it's about a guy in the year 4022 who discovers a motel and he doesn't know what it is. So he does that thing where he assigns deep spiritual meaning to everything in the motel room. Um even calling the toilet seat like a sacred collar that was worn by the high priest at funerals.

It's a delightfully inventive book, but it also makes you think about like how much context gets lost at time. Like seriously, take a minute wherever you are as you're watching this, just look around you at all the stuff around you and and try to imagine what somebody from the far future or an alien for that matter. Like what would they think this is used for?

Like so much of our world is based on shared understanding. And a lot breaks down when that's lost. Anyway, to close this out, you might have some theories of your own about this thing.

Please do share them down in the comments. You might have an idea that, you know, you could totally test out if you had one. Well, you want one.

So, you see me playing around with this replica throughout this video. Well, we made this ourselves. We can make one for you if you want.

In fact, you know, just put the QR code on the screen here. This is our next merch drop. A replica docahedron for your desk.

So, it won't be all painted and fancy like this one. It'll probably just be like a metallic gray, but we'll also make one with a special channel color like my back wall here. We'll call it the Joe Decahedron.

So, I'm not just trying to sell you something. I kind of I kind of want to turn this into an experiment. Like, I kind of want to crowdsource the answer to this mystery.

Get this into the hands of a bunch of you people and let you try to figure out what it was used for. Spend some time with it. Be creative.

Share your experiments on socials and maybe we can come to an answer that hasn't been thought of before. Plus, you'll get a cool like ancient fidget spinner out of it. It's See, anyway, that's a fun little thing you can do.

It'll be a fun little thing for your desk. And uh good luck cracking the case. When we talk about history in ancient cultures, we tend to focus on the big stuff, the kings, the dynasties, the decisive battles.

But that's not really how most people experience the vast majority of human history. Most humans just lived their lives, raised their families, and tended to their land or business just like people today. Yet, so much of that vast majority of human experience has been lost to time.

So, I find things like this very interesting, the the details of how people lived. And it turns out there's a great series about that called Archaeology Quest. In Archaeology Quest, Stephanie and Lorraine from Real Science take on a series of challenges to master paleolithic technologies like spears, stone tools, pottery, and fire, and compete to see who might actually survive in the Stone Age.

In each episode, they work with a real archaeologist to explain how these tools were made and used and what impact they had on the people and cultures that use them. It's a fun way to explore a fascinating topic. And it's a Nebula original, so you can only find it on Nebula, the streaming service by and for thoughtful independent creators like Real Science, Real Engineering, Stefan Milo, who I referenced in this video, and well, yours truly.

If you like my channel, there's like a hundred other channels you'll love on Nebula. And we all post our videos there early and adree, and often with supplemental content you can't find on YouTube. So, what you get is a curated list of fantastic creators with extra content and access to a growing library of exclusive videos, series, and even movies.

And you can get it all for only $3 a month when you sign up at the annual plan at my link down below, or just scan the QR code on screen right here. The support that I've received from Nebula and their team over the years has helped make my channel what it is today. And there's some really great stuff that we're working on right now.

Really big stuff. I really can't wait to share it with you guys soon. Very soon.

And by the way, if you really want to get some bang for your buck, they have a lifetime subscription you can purchase. They'll give you Nebula basically forever. And at the rate Nebula's growing, just think about how big it'll be in 30 years.

Anyway, Nebula's awesome. There's a lot of great stuff going on there. So, go check it out.

Links down in the description. Well, I hope you found that interesting. Uh, again, if you follow Stephan Milo, go check out his videos on this topic.

He did a great job on them. He's he's got a few at this point. But, um, no, this is a fun topic.

I enjoyed doing it. Hopefully, it didn't run a little bit too long. Anyway, thanks for watching.

This is a very fun topic, or at least it was for me. If you enjoyed it, again, go check out Stefan Milo. There's there's a million different videos out there on the Roman docahedron.

Uh I tried to kind of bring my own thing to it, but there's there's plenty to go to if this is the topic that you find interesting. This is sort of a correlary to an old video that I did um about cylinder seals, which was the way that people signed things back in the days before paper and pen. Um I'll put that one right here.

I always like that one. It's kind of a fun one. So, you can check that one out.

Um, if this is your first time watching this channel, welcome. Thank you for for watching. You can see that one.

You can go to any of the others that have my name on them. I hope you enjoy them. And if you do, I invite you to subscribe.

I come back with videos on the regular videos on mystery topics, but also science and history and all that kind of stuff. And I think that'll be it for today, you guys. Thank you for watching.

Go out there, have an eye opening rest of the week. Stay safe, and I'll see you next time. Love you guys.

Take care. You see me through the dodcahedron.