The Emperor Hadrian (76-138 AD) ordered the construction of a gigantic defensive system in the north of the province of Britannia in the year 122 to protect it from the warlike Picts and to extend the rule of Rome over the island with more security.
It is what is known as Hadrian's Wall, an impressive military complex that included a 117-kilometre wall protected by moats, castles with permanent troops, forts for cavalry and infantry, a road for internal movements and huge gates.
Among all these constructions, the best known is the Vindolanda fort, excavated since the 1930s, and in whose peripheral landfill have since been found numerous objects from the military and social life of its inhabitants.
The troops stationed there used to live accompanied by their spouses.
One of the last items found was a wooden dildo ―the first known from the Roman world― and which was initially considered a darning tool.
But Cambridge University archaeologists Rob Collins and Rob Sand, in their report
Touch wood: luck, protection, power or pleasure?
A wooden phallus from Vindolanda Roman fort
(Touch wood: luck, protection, power or pleasure? A wooden phallus from the Roman fort of Vindolanda), they deny it and assure that it is the dildo of a woman, possibly the wife of a high man. military leader, who kept it at home and who ended up wearing it out due to its “continuous use”.
More information
Found in Córdoba one of the largest phallic sculptures of the Roman world
Collins and Sand recall, in their report published last Monday in the prestigious
Antiquity
magazine , that the anaerobic conditions of the ditches where the residents of the fort dumped their waste have made it possible to "preserve numerous organic objects, including wooden writing tablets and a couple of of leather boxing gloves.
Between 1970 and 1980, for example, more than 500 wax tablets were found containing everything from birthday invitations to requests to send more beer to the soldiers.
In the Roman world, two- and three-dimensional representations of penises were very common.
They possessed not only an erotic, but also a magical and apotropaic function.
It is relatively easy to discover them in mosaics, frescoes, tableware or walls.
Most were made of metal, stone, bone, and occasionally ceramic.
They have been found attached to the walls of public and private buildings, but the most numerous were portable ones.
These could be worn in the form of earrings or pendants, but they also existed with a decorated handle.
Large portable dildos "are rare to find, although when they are, they are usually made of stone or metal, since wood rots easily," experts say.
That is to say, it is not that they were not manufactured, it is that they are not located by organic decomposition.
“But in the case of the Vindolanda landfill, this has not been the case.
In fact, more than 2,000 portable wooden objects have been found, dating mainly between the 1st and 2nd centuries AD.
C.”.
This erotic toy, which has been registered under the name W-1992-1062, measures 16 centimeters long and was carved from ash wood.
It has a wide cylindrical base and its final part represents the glans.
However, the exact measurements of the contraption cannot be known, the Cambridge archaeologists write, because "wood is prone to shrinking and warping and all measurements obtained are current, so it was possibly larger."
The Vindolanda military complex was made up of nine constructions of different sizes that were occupied between the end of the 1st century and the middle of the 5th century, although it was possibly reused until the 10th century. Its demolition sealed the deep ditch-shaped dumps that surrounded it and caused the the perfect conditions for the conservation of the objects thrown there were produced.
The dildo in question has been dated between the years 165 and 200 AD.
C., which places it in the period of Emperor Antonino, Hadrian's successor.
In addition to the dildo, in the same dump ditch, they have found, among other items, 217 sandals, 25 beauty accessories, 14 combs, 22 wax
pencils, eight weapons, five coins and four game tokens
.
The report from the University of Cambridge recalls that “repeated use of wooden objects can damage or smooth their surfaces, depending on the intensity and frequency of handling and the time of use.
Other factors, such as the transfer of sebum from the skin during handling, can cause the surfaces to polish”, as is the case.
“The frame handle, also made of ash, suggests that repeated gripping during the sawing motion, combined with oils from the skin, has smoothed the wood.
The original carved surface of the handle shows signs of a polished effect, the surface retains a slight shine and feels smoothest to the touch exactly where the user's grip had been strongest.
The preservation level of the object is “very good”, which shows that it was not exposed to the elements”, but was stored inside a building “for an extended period before being thrown” into the landfill.
In any case, “it is possible that the wooden phallus was originally placed to protrude and provide protection at the entrance to one of the key buildings within the fort, such as the commanding officer's house (praetorium), the
headquarters
building (
principia
) or the granaries (
horrea
).
However, the lack of surface weathering suggests that, if used in such a manner, the phallus was kept indoors or in a sheltered location, or at least not placed in an exposed position for any appreciable period of time." .
The researchers conclude that, due to the wear, more at its end than on the sides, the dildo was used by a woman to stimulate herself and not by a man, but since "there is no definitive investigation" on this matter, they cannot either. demonstrate.