What was once thought to be a textile tool may be a 2,000-year-old Roman 'sex toy'

Experts were previously wrong when they mistook an ancient object for a textile tool, which apparently was something else. They believed that the object found at a Roman fort on Hadrian's Wall was used for sewing but now new theories have emerged, suggesting that the object may have been a second-century sex toy.

According to the study published in the journal Antiquity on Sunday, researchers unearthed the object in 1992 in a ditch at the Roman Fort of Vindolanda, near Hadrian’s Wall. The region was once marked the Roman Empire’s northwest frontier, in northern England.

The object was found alongside dozens of shoes and dress accessories. Several small tools and craft waste products were also found such as leather off-cuts and worked antler — probably the reason behind the misidentification.

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The latest theory of this phallus-shaped tool being a sex toy is quite intriguing but the experts said they had not ruled out whether it could have been a good luck symbol or a grinding tool.

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But now, the researchers at Newcastle University and University College Dublin researchers have reinterpreted the artefact as a disembodied phallus.

They have examined it closely and have outlined some of its most likely possible functions. The report mentioned that the Vindolanda phallus is 16cm long. Both ends were quite smoother, which indicated that it was repeatedly used over time.

Newcastle University archaeology senior lecturer Rob Collins, said, "I have to confess. Part of me thinks it’s kind of self-evident that it is a penis."

"I don’t know who entered it into the catalogue. Maybe it was somebody uncomfortable with it or didn’t think the Romans would do such silly things," Collins added.

Collins said, "What makes this a first is that it is not a small, miniature phallus. It's lifesize. It’s also important because wood just doesn’t normally survive … we couldn’t find any parallels."

The object being used for sexual reasons is one theory, but researchers have two more reasoning. They think the object can also be used as a pestle or it could be used to slot into a statue for good luck.

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