Modular mace head
it's obviously a thingamajig
Submitted 3 weeks ago by raman_klogius@ani.social to historymemes@piefed.social
Comments
chunes@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
Canonical_Warlock@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 weeks ago
What is the bowl of wicker balls on the coffee table in every airbnb for?
Kichae@lemmy.ca 2 weeks ago
Floor hockey
xia@lemmy.ca 2 weeks ago
Just try building your nanomachines without one!
LovableSidekick@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
Obviously it’s the ship design the Grays used during their early recon phase.
maxthemummer@lemmus.org 2 weeks ago
It was found in a Roman toilet along with three shells.
TwistedTurtle@sh.itjust.works 2 weeks ago Wirlocke@lemmy.blahaj.zone 2 weeks ago
Time Traveler: “Listen, I know it’s weird, but spread making this thing as a tradition, it’ll confuse the fuck out of historians in a couple thousand years.”
whotookkarl@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 weeks ago
It’s for starting a ball of yarn, also drugs
rumba@lemmy.zip 2 weeks ago
It’s an old-school Beanie Baby.
Someone crafted, it looked amazing, everyone wanted one, they probably started calling them good luck charms and sold a bunch more.
Etterra@discuss.online 2 weeks ago
It’s an anomalous object that expands the inside dimensions of a space without altering the outside dimensions. It gets lazy about it after a while though and starts making stuff out of whatever bullshit comes to hand, though. DO NOT leave it outside for prolonged periods of time.
echodot@feddit.uk 2 weeks ago
It’s used to calculate firing solutions for ancient Roman cannons. The different sizes equate to the different round types.
crapwittyname@feddit.uk 2 weeks ago
Nah, it’s a power adapter. Mostly used for ancient Roman defensive tripwires. The larger sizes were used when more current was needed.
Serious_Me@piefed.social 2 weeks ago
Most convincing theory I’ve seen is that it’s a cipher tool.
diaphragmwp@discuss.tchncs.de 2 weeks ago
(/srs) my most convincing theory is that it’s for testing smithing skills. Like that one boat on 3D printers.
Fluke@feddit.uk 2 weeks ago
A Roman benchie?
I mean… Maybe… It would be a tricky make that would require quite a bit of skill to cast or bend, weld and polish.
Not an unreasonable hypothesis all things considered.
ouRKaoS@lemmy.today 2 weeks ago
This is going to be future archaeologists with all of our electronics.
kopasz7@sh.itjust.works 2 weeks ago
It’s already difficult to get some 10 year old devices’ documentation or user manual. The company behind it might not even exist anymore so I’m off to digging up the archives or translating chinese OEM’s pdfs.
HerbGrower@slrpnk.net 2 weeks ago
I sometimes have to support old harsware still used in live systems and sometimes it feels like digital archaeology trying to find. I feel a massive wave of relief if I see them running an old enough version of our software that I can tell them lol nope unsupported.
Oldest thing I have had to support this month is a card reader from the late 90s. Essentially a scanner which scans printed templates and identifies where someone filled in the form on it. The customer was putting the cards in upside down.
ouRKaoS@lemmy.today 2 weeks ago
And you know what to look for, have the resources to find it, and can interpret the information when you find it.
Imagine having an Xbox, a router, a cable modem, an iPhone 11, the control board from a washing machine, and the central unit from a Tesla and trying to explain what each of them was without any other context, cables, chargers, etc…
Maybe not even a compatible source of electricity!
Don’t even get me started on the ephemeral nature of software…
TimelordTraveler@lemmy.today 2 weeks ago
I mean, isn’t it obvious? It’s for winding up string or twine. Clothing thread or fishing line or thin rope….. So many uses!
Whats_your_reasoning@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
This is the explanation I’ve seen. IIRC there’s a video where someone uses one of these to make fine gold threads.
blockheadjt@sh.itjust.works 2 weeks ago
In case anyone isn’t in on the joke, it’s a device for circumcising boys
You find the hole of the appropriate diameter, stick his penis in, then spin it as you pull it off and it cuts the foreskin off (the inner edges are sharp)
AwesomeLowlander@sh.itjust.works 2 weeks ago
And if you used the wrong hole, you now have a new daughter!
stembolts@programming.dev 2 weeks ago
I do not believe you.
blockheadjt@sh.itjust.works 2 weeks ago
Ok, what do you think it is?
ShyBeluga@lemmy.zip 2 weeks ago
Oh my god
glitch1985@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
So like a really old soda can?
amlor@piefed.social 2 weeks ago
Phone stand
homosapien@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 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)
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.
Hazel@piefed.blahaj.zone 2 weeks ago Nothing like showing off your mastery of the craft by… making the exact same thing everyone else did.
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.
AwesomeLowlander@sh.itjust.works 2 weeks ago
Check out 90% of woodworking posts, logic holds up.
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.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! 🤪
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.
python@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
A new hand touches the beacon.
sidebro@lemmy.zip 2 weeks ago
I can’t believe this is not known. Its the Continuum Transfunctioner.
Buddahriffic@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
That is a very mysterious and powerful device. I’ve heard its mystery is only exceeded by its power.
Neverclear@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 weeks ago
Eh, the turbo encabulator actually subsumes all the useful features of the continuum transfuctioner. Plus, thank to its panendermic semi-boloid slots in the stator, it only has a quarter of the current draw!
- Hazel@piefed.blahaj.zone 2 weeks ago
I bet it’s a massage tool of some sort.
Chee_Koala@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
Looks like you would need to be a 6 dimensional creature to enjoy being massaged by something like that. Or maybe I’m just looking at this all the wrong way
- Hazel@piefed.blahaj.zone 2 weeks ago
Not any worse than gua sha.
And they probably attached some absorbent material to it, choosing a hole size depending on the desired driprate for the medicinal herbs.
It’s a flawless theory really.
Evil_Incarnate@sopuli.xyz 2 weeks ago
It’s a cigarette lighter.
vision@lemmy.blahaj.zone 2 weeks ago
When you are feeling under pressure, do something different! Roll up your sleeves or eat an orange.
fakeman_pretendname@feddit.uk 2 weeks ago
That feels like a random quote from the “Little Book of Calm”
Malgas@beehaw.org 2 weeks ago
Fun fact: While these are from the Roman period, they’ve mostly been found in what were then the provinces of Brittania and Gaul, and none have ever been found in Italy. Which tends to suggest that they’re Celtic or Romano-Celtic rather than Roman.
fakeman_pretendname@feddit.uk 2 weeks ago
Yeah, in Yorkshire we still make and use them actually, but I’m not allowed to tell thee what they’re for, because of Brexit.
Zulu@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
Idk how many times i have to post this, but it’s clearly a prime chaotic resonator. Slot some fossils into that bad boy and craft some good gear!
djsoren19@lemmy.blahaj.zone 2 weeks ago
look at this larper, he doesn’t even recognize a bigass thundercube.
You use this for krangling your items.
Ardyssian@sh.itjust.works 2 weeks ago
I got this reference
Zizzy@lemmy.blahaj.zone 3 weeks ago
Craft good gear? Its just a tool to help you delete divines.
Catoblepas@lemmy.blahaj.zone 3 weeks ago
Before someone posts it, no, it’s not for knitting; there are solid ones that would have been useless for that and knitting isn’t known to have been present in the Roman Empire.
Ratio_Tile@lemmy.blahaj.zone 3 weeks ago What do you mean knitting wasn’t present in the roman empire? That’s slightly less absurd than saying knots didn’t exist in the bronze age! Lack of evidence doesnt mean it’s not present! There’s lots of things we know for sure happened during the roman empire despite no one writing about it, like child baptism in early christianity. We don’t know what it looked like, but we know where it happened and that everyone was in agreement about the method.
DrSoap@lemmy.world 4 days ago
I don’t know. I knit a lot. I loom knit too by hand. There are methods for making knitted cords that use nails hammered into a circular wood.
This really looks like it’s meant to make gloves and each hole is dedicated to a different finger and a center for sleeves. Maybe it was combined with weaving and there is rope or a wooden hook that we wouldn’t see today.
I was going to 3D print one to experiment and see if I could work something out myself.
The fact that there are solid ones really throws me off though. I was dead convinced this was a knitting/weaving tool.
Dumnorix@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
Knitting is 17th century (in Europe). In Rome you’d have nalbinding as an alternative.
There’s a lot of evidence, both direct and indirect, of textile production techniques. I can recommend reading books from Karina Grömer, if you’re interested in the subject.
Catoblepas@lemmy.blahaj.zone 2 weeks ago
Knitting is a technology, and there isn’t evidence it emerged uniformly throughout the world. Think about the environment that Rome is in; what good is something knitted in a hot Mediterranean climate? We have tons of art and literature documenting weaving, which was very important to Romans, but none of knitting. If you have evidence they had it you should publish it.
CapuccinoCoretto@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
Your mom’s butt plug.
AdolfSchmitler@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
Too small
zero_spelled_with_an_ecks@programming.dev 2 weeks ago
I think the majority of historians agree that flare technology had been invented by then, spurred on by the massive amounts of olive oil in use at the time.
MajorMajormajormajor@lemmy.ca 3 weeks ago
Looks like a toy, the ancient equivalent of a fidget spinner.
AnyOldName3@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
They never have any signs of wear, and children are always a destructive force, so this is unlikely.
Feathercrown@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
It’s so funny to see people post their theories on this and every time it’s already been tested and answered
Tar_alcaran@sh.itjust.works 3 weeks ago
The broken ones didn’t get saved.
Edit: I’m just now remembering the staggering amount of broken and discard pipes and pottery we have in display cases literally everywhere. Nevermind.
Naz@sh.itjust.works 2 weeks ago
Multipurpose candle holder.
Holds candles of different diameters.
It’s so obvious we probably shouldn’t write it down