A group of amateur archaeologists have discovered one of only 33 dodecahedrons found in the UK. The object, due to go on display in Lincolnshire, was found by the Norton Disney History and Archaeology Group.
It is believed to be one of the largest of its kind ever found, weighing in at 245g and measuring around 8cm in height. Express.co.uk spoke exclusively to secretary of the Norton Disney History and Archaeology Group Richard Parker to find out more about the significant discovery.
Mr Parker said: “Last June the Norton Disney History and Archaeology Group were getting towards the end of their summer dig when in the last couple of days we made the amazing discovery of the dodecahedron.
“It was a complete surprise, we never expected to find anything quite so wonderful and ours is a smashing example of one, it’s complete, undamaged and in a really excellent condition.
“After we found it we then began to appreciate the significance of what we’d found and we waited a few months before announcing its discovery when it appeared on BBC’s Digging for Britain with Professor Alice Roberts.”
Following their discovery, the dodecahedron is being put on display around the UK. Mr Parker said there were several reasons why the discovery of this particular one was significant.
He added: “Before ours was found there were only 32 other examples known in Roman Britain. Ours is the 33rd but is perhaps one of the best examples of a dodecahedron. It’s only the fourth found in an archaeological excavation.
“Ours is a really special find in that we now can start to begin to understand the archaeological context of where it was found.”
Mr Parker added that the discovery of each dodecahedron was crucial because archaeologists have still not been able to work out what they are for.
He continued: “They are one of archaeology’s great enigmas, they have been baffling archaeologists for nearly 300 years.”
