In 1992, archaeologists excavating at the site of the Roman fort of Vindolanda on Hadrian’s Wall in Northumberland discovered what they thought was a darning tool. The artefact was subsequently ignored and as a result remained unresearched. Until now.
Recently, archaeologists Rob Collins of Newcastle University and Rob Sands of University College Dublin took another look at the artefact and had a shock. Upon examination, they came to a somewhat different interpretation, identifying it not as a darning tool, but as a phallus. And not just any phallus: to date, the only known life size wooden phallus to have survived intact from the Roman period.
Through my research into ancient prosthetics, I know that Roman shoemakers often moonlighted in a more daring trade. Could they have been behind this wooden tool, which looks to be an ancient Roman dildo?
