25 January 2017 — By Glynn Davis
Can you identify 3 mystery archaeological objects?
You may think you know what it looks like, but its purpose might surprise you. Look at the images to guess their use and see if you guessed correctly.
London Museum’s Archaeological Archive holds millions of objects excavated across the city, many of which present a puzzle to archaeologists. What did these objects – many incomplete, broken or decayed – look like, and what were they used for? Here are three archaeological mystery objects from our collection.
Guess what each object was used for.
Mystery object #1
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What could the purpose of the hole be?
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Notice how flat this surface is?
Our first artefact is a favourite at the archive and regularly features in a game of ‘guess the object’. They’re made from the metapodial bones (long bones in hands and feet) of large animals (commonly horses and cattle). These objects are usually completely flat on one side, smoothed down through use. They sometimes have a bevel or point at the front and can feature holes drilled into the front and/or back. There has been some debate in the past about their use, with some having interpreted them as a tool to smooth linen, or perhaps used in textile preparation. However, through ethnographic study, experimental archaeology and even literary evidence, archaeologists have interpreted these objects as…
A medieval ice skate, carved from bone.
The earliest examples date back to the Bronze Age and can be found in central Europe – London’s examples primarily come from medieval sites, with this particular example having been excavated from Queen Victoria Street in 1987.
Mystery object #2
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This object was buried for 200–300 years under Newgate Street.
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Examples have been found from the medieval period in the London and some even excavated from Saxon or Norman sites.
Our next perplexing object is not entirely uncommon among the archive’s archaeology store. It is made from a mushroom-shaped lump of glass. This particular example is incomplete, and would have once had a handle. The rainbow shine on its surface is sometimes mistaken for decoration, but is actually a result of the glass decaying over the centuries. This object was buried for 200–300 years under Newgate Street, but these objects have been in use for far longer. Examples have been found from the medieval period in the London and some even excavated from Saxon or Norman sites.
Glass calender, used like an iron to smooth linen, around 1700. Excavated from Newgate Street.
This object is exactly what our ice skate was mistaken for: it’s a linen smoother, a kind of primitive iron known as a calendar. There is some debate as to whether the glass would have been heated or not. Perhaps, later post-medieval examples were made with a handle for exactly this purpose. With the introduction of metal irons, this once common household object fell out of fashion and can now appear puzzling.
Mystery object #3
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This particular die is enigmatic.
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The six sides read: P / VA / EST / ORTI / VRBIS / ITALIA.
Our first two objects may have appeared mystifying at first glance, but our last cryptic object probably looks familiar. It is indeed a common six-sided die, but it’s also around 1,800 years old. It was excavated from the floor of a 2nd century Roman workshop in Southwark. The Romans were incredibly fond of games and gaming – the emperor Claudius even wrote a book (now lost) about dice games, De arte aleae. This particular die, however, is enigmatic. Instead of dots denoting the values one to six, each of the sides is carved with Latin words, inlaid with lead and silver based paint. The six sides read:
P / VA / EST / ORTI / VRBIS / ITALIA
Roman die carved with letters, used in some form of word game. Basalt with silver and lead letters, 43–450 AD.
If read the letters in sequence this very (very) roughly translates as ‘P[ublius] is arisen from the city Italy’. Only five other lettered dice of this nature are known from across the Roman Empire – four from France and one from Hungary. All have similar formulae of lettering, but with slightly different words in each case. No one has figured out the exact nature of this game, and we don’t even know if they were used with counters, a board or in combination with other lettered dice. Looks like this artefact remains a mystery, even once we’ve worked out what it is.
Glynn Davis was former Archaeological Collections Manager at London Museum.
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