• ringwraithfish@startrek.website
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    6 months ago

    What a wonderful rabbit hole to go down. My takeaways are it could possibly be used for knitting, but traditional spool knitting that the Grandma uses in the video doesn’t show up in history until the 1500s. If the Romans did use it for gloves then knitting has been around much longer than we have evidence of or they were using a different method with the dodecahedron.

    • SchmidtGenetics@lemmy.world
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      6 months ago

      I think I also read these were usually found with treasures and with minimal or no wear, so there isn’t any evidence they were used for anything.

      • Catoblepas@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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        6 months ago

        The best suggested explanation IMO is that it’s a way for blacksmiths to demonstrate their skill.

        “lol stupid scientists don’t know what knitting is” I would file under “actively anti-intellectual”.

        • Tar_Alcaran@sh.itjust.works
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          6 months ago

          Kinda like the little nib on top of old saw blades. It doesn’t really do anything, but if they can make that complex little nib, then they can probably make pretty decent sawblades too.

          • Poppenlockenheimmer@lemm.ee
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            6 months ago

            I’ve always heard that the nib was meant to help you gauge when to stop your pull stroke and start your push stroke so that you use the whole saw and don’t wear the teeth unevenly. Is this not the case?

              • Blue_Morpho@lemmy.world
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                6 months ago

                Google says it’s a vestigial ornament to represent a handle from when steel quality was poor.

                That is all saws used to have two handles because of poor steel quality. The nib was where the front handle would attach. Later the front handle wasn’t needed but the nib remained and was later shrunk.

                A toolmaker could put a nib and still have bad quality teeth. Doesn’t seem like you would judge quality by the nib.

        • BarqsHasBite@lemmy.ca
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          6 months ago

          Iirc it was only found in northern areas. Can’t see demonstrations of skill being only there.

  • FaceDeer@fedia.io
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    6 months ago

    Except that’s probably not what they’re for, I saw a video recently (I think it was this one) that went into detail about the reasons why it doesn’t make much sense for these to be a knitting tool.

    • Rooskie91@discuss.online
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      6 months ago

      There’s a lesson here about the differences between history and a good historical narrative, but that’s the lesson of most history and no one ever listens to it.

      • daltotron@lemmy.world
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        6 months ago

        There’s a lesson here about the differences between history and a good historical narrative, but that’s the lesson of most history and no one ever listens to it.

        There’s a lesson here about the differences between history and a good historical narrative, but that’s the lesson of most history and no one ever listens to it.

    • gregorum@lemm.ee
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      6 months ago

      First and foremost: knitting wasn’t invented until centuries later and didn’t appear in Europe until about the 14th century.

      • Entropywins@lemmy.world
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        6 months ago

        I hope this is the next episode of hardcore history. I could use 30 hours of Dan Carlin context on knitting…

        • gregorum@lemm.ee
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          6 months ago

          Not to yuck your Yum, but I think some people are far too into knitting.

    • JohnDClay@sh.itjust.works
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      6 months ago

      What’s up with the narrator? He’s got like 20 big channels he reads for. Are the channels connected and run by the same group, or does he host for a bunch of independent channels?

      • FaceDeer@fedia.io
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        6 months ago

        I think he’s just snowballed in popularity over the years because he’s good at reading these scripts in a way that sounds both smart and fun. The different channels focus on different styles and subject areas, letting you pick and choose what kind of thing you’re interested in.

        I rather like his “Decoding the Unknown” channel, where he gets scripts debunking various paranormal or otherwise mysterious events and he reads them for the first time as it’s being recorded, taking lots of opportunities to interject his own theories and speculation and just generally rag on the concept of the paranormal as he goes.

      • Lightfire228@pawb.social
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        6 months ago

        I’m pretty sure he maintains the YT channels themselves, but he has a host of writers who write his scripts

        The two Channels / Podcasts I follow are Decoding the Unknown (deep dives into unsolved mysteries and paranormal debunks) and the Casual Criminalist (true crime)

        For both, he does a cold read, and often interjects with his own stories and theories

  • CarbonIceDragon@pawb.social
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    6 months ago

    Last time one of these threads popped up, I saw someone suggest that it might have been a holder for some of those bottles with pointed bottoms the Romans had, don’t remember the name. I’m not sure if this is a hypothesis with any level of acceptance, but it feels like it could be plausible just from looking at the thing, having different sized holes would allow different sizes of bottle to fit, and you’d want feet for each possible side that it could be resting on, which would explain the prongs.

    • BottleOfAlkahest@lemmy.world
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      6 months ago

      These devices are rather small and most amphora seem to be much larger. The shape of amphora helped with shipping, so they were typucally larger than a device that can fit in your hand.

    • PoliticalAgitator@lemmy.world
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      6 months ago

      I’m not sure if this is a hypothesis with any level of acceptance

      Unless an actual record is found describing what they were used for, it’s all just guesses anyway.

  • MonkderDritte@feddit.de
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    6 months ago

    Future archeologist: What do you think they used those things for?

    My point is, maybe it was just art, fun, deko?

  • TootSweet@lemmy.world
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    6 months ago

    My mother got really interested in these things a while ago. I think she mostly buys into the glove-knitting theory. Whatever the case, I 3D printed her a model of one and it’s sitting on the mantle over her fireplace.

    • drolex@sopuli.xyz
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      6 months ago

      Archaeologists in 2000 years will be puzzled again. “Plastic dodecahedra found near broken mantelpieces, what could it be used for? Anyway I made one out of technetium for my grandma”

    • Tar_Alcaran@sh.itjust.works
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      6 months ago

      I 3D printed her a model of one and it’s sitting on the mantle over her fireplace.

      That kinda hints to it not being very useful then…

  • PiJiNWiNg@sh.itjust.works
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    6 months ago

    To me it looks like something you’d use to easily make a Monkey Fist for throwing line to/from a pier. Though I guess that doesn’t make much sense appearing in mountainous regions, unless they were made in the mountains (proximity to ore?)