Nothing like showing off your mastery of the craft by… making the exact same thing everyone else did.
Comment on it's obviously a thingamajig
homosapien@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 weeks ago
Theory: They were masterpieces, in the old meaning
A masterpiece was an item you would craft or something you would do to earn you the rank of Master in your Guild.
This is easy to describe and judge, but hard to make if you aren’t experienced.
They put them in their gold hoardes as they were basically their version of a degree
(If you’re a metalworker and want to check if you would’ve earned the rank of Master in an ancient Guild, you can try to make one of these)
Hazel@piefed.blahaj.zone 2 weeks ago Fluke@feddit.uk 2 weeks ago
That everyone else knows is pain in the dickhole to make? Yeah, works well, actually.
lightnsfw@reddthat.com 2 weeks ago
If they’re trying to objectively evaluate someone’s skills that’s exactly what you would want to do. If you have to come up with a different criteria for every submission then it starts to become subjective quickly.
nilloc@discuss.tchncs.de 2 weeks ago
Standardized testing!
AwesomeLowlander@sh.itjust.works 2 weeks ago
Check out 90% of woodworking posts, logic holds up.
- Hazel@piefed.blahaj.zone 2 weeks ago
Oh shit, is the epoxy river table our version of the dodecahedron!? 😱
AwesomeLowlander@sh.itjust.works 2 weeks ago
Wait till the wood rots away and all future archaeologists find is the epoxy.
stembolts@programming.dev 2 weeks ago
As is tradition!
but.. tradition is peer pressure from dead people.
and.. dead people turn into zombies.
Ipso facto, you better make it or zombies will take your lunch money.
Logically sound reasoning.
Cethin@lemmy.zip 2 weeks ago
That’s unlikely. It seems to have been such a regional thing that I don’t think it’s that. If it were, you expect it to come from a Roman tradition, or at least be adopted by them, yet these aren’t found there.
- homosapien@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 weeks ago
Roman guilds I think?
M137@lemmy.today 2 weeks ago That’s been a common theory for many years but it’s between “eeeh, maybe” and debunked.
Here’s a tip: don’t publicly theorise about things that you have close to no knowledge about. This shouldn’t have to be said.Carrot@lemmy.today 2 weeks ago
Your tip is actually really bad. Getting opinions from people who aren’t metalworkers or archaeologists or anthropologists is often how answers to these questions are discovered. There are many inventions/discoveries/realizations that are made from people in different trades approaching problems differently.
lightnsfw@reddthat.com 2 weeks ago
Here’s a tip: don’t publicly theorise about things that you have close to no knowledge about. This shouldn’t have to be said.
Nothing wrong with discussing shit you’re not an expert on. If it’s not proven, it’s not proven, they’re not hurting anything by suggesting their ideas. You don’t have to be an expert to do that. Maybe someone will come up with something no one has thought of before that could then be investigated by experts.
luciferofastora@feddit.org 2 weeks ago
Do you actually have debunktions for it at hand?
Also, it’s a meme forum. Why shouldn’t people be allowed to spitball here? It’s not like they made some absolute claim to truth.
kestrel7_7@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
Or maybe it was the opposite, they were a basic project assigned to beginner metalsmiths to teach them the different skills. That’s why they’re everywhere, because everyone who went to the Roman equivalent of trade school made, like, 1-3.
geissi@feddit.org 2 weeks ago
That’s why they’re everywhere
If I recall correctly, they aren’t everywhere though.
Afaik they were only found in provinces but not in Italy.vaultdweller013@sh.itjust.works 2 weeks ago
More specifically they were largely found in Gaul and Britain, so I assume it’s nonsense that spread around with the Romano-Celts. Either as noted a masterwork or maybe some type of scrying tool. There are examples of similar objects both pre and post Rome so take that as you will.
Fartemis@lemmy.zip 2 weeks ago
Probably something silly like the latest hot ticket item at Pier 1 Imports or IKEA or some shit. Y’kno, like the silly bands of their time! 🤪
nomy@lemmy.zip 2 weeks ago
Roman fidget spinner
terranoid@lemmy.cafe 2 weeks ago
Isn’t this not likely since it wasn’t just metalworkers that had them?
I honestly wonder if there was just some autistic metalworker who came up with this weird fucking design and made a million of them like a psychotic dwarf, and then people started to get fascinated and wanted their own. A literal thingamajig that just fascinated people because of how complex and specific it was, and it just became a cultural phenomenon.
Feidry@sh.itjust.works 2 weeks ago
Stefan Milo on YouTube did a video (likely more) on these things and he debunked that theory somehow or another. I can’t watch it right now to remember what he said, at work.
Honytawk@discuss.tchncs.de 2 weeks ago
Psssh, you can CNC that bad boy in an hour with close to no work.
JillyB@beehaw.org 2 weeks ago
With quite a bit of work. That’s more than one setup and probably a decent amount of time getting the CAM programming right.