Since it was found in 1992 in excavations in northern England, it had been classified in the catalog of the Vindolanda museum in Hexham, UK, as a utensil known in Dutch as a stop mushroom. Used to repair a hole in a garment.
“I just think it’s very obvious that it should represent a penis,” says Rob Collins, an archaeologist at Newcastle University. “I don’t know who put it in the catalogue. Maybe someone who felt embarrassed by it, or who couldn’t imagine the Romans doing such strange things,” he told the British newspaper The Guardian.
Erotic scenes
The latter seems far-fetched: for hundreds of years erotic images were abundant in Roman culture. Two years ago, for example, a chariot was excavated in Pompeii with pewter and bronze decorations on the sides of the wheels depicting men and women in erotic scenes.
Because it can never be determined with one hundred percent certainty, researchers are cautious: the object may be a mischievously designed mortar or part of a statue that people could touch out of superstition.
Shrunk
Originally it was probably a bit bigger: wooden objects shrink over time due to drying out. This specimen was found in an exposed hole along with dozens of shoes, pieces of leather and clothing accessories. The combination makes the original idea that it was a tool a bit more plausible, the archaeologists say.
If it was indeed an object that was used for sexual purposes, according to archaeologist Collins, it is still questionable whether it is a sex toy: according to him, it could also have been an instrument of torture.
First of its kind?
If it is indeed a sex toy, then that makes the find all the more ‘exciting’, he says. “Because that would mean, as far as we know, it’s the first Roman dildo found by archaeologists.” And not in Italy, the cradle of the Roman Empire, but in one of its northernmost extremities. “That would be really amazing.”
