What was this Bronze item used for?

Does anyone know what this bronze item might have been used for? Actually, WHAT is it?

I have checked google and sellers of ancient items of bronze, iron etc. but have not found anything similar to this. I mean I don't even really know what to search for because I don't know what it's called. Time period is somewhere around 1st - 3rd century A.D.

Thanks in advance.

MEASUREMENTS: 18 mm x 31 mm.

looks like a piece that would go on a tiller. To churn up the soil for farming?

Ancient garden weasel? Does this mean our ancestors had their own annoying Billy Mays shouting at them to purchase this thing?

reply to post by chancemusky


That would be my guess too

Or perhaps part of a pulley to work as a gear

reply to post by Topato


Some idea of scale might be helpful too.

Knowing their mechanical aptitude (eg: the Antikythera mechanism) I think this would be a gear.

I'm assuming it is Greek but I just realised that there is nothing in the post that identified it as such.

It looks like a well stop. For when the bucket was up to the top a wooden pin would hold it, while the user was handling the water bucket.

Doesn't have a ruler to measure so its a guess.

reply to post by Topato


Can you give us a link to more information on this, or the dimensions of it?

To me, appears obvious that it's a gear & winch/pulley mechanism of some sort - knowing the size would help. The hole in center would be for some sort of mount post/axle, and the groove between the two teethed edges would be for a rope/cable.

Looks like would be part of a device that pulls rope to rotate it, causing the teeth to turn gears or the like on both sides.

Just realised, it's a hexal-sprocket sparval vane!

Took me a while because the dingle arm wasn't attached (you need the dingle arm to prevent sinusoidal pleneration).

MEASUREMENTS: 18 mm x 31 mm.

Sorry completely forgot to include those. But yeah, relatively small.

Without some size reference I can only speculate but if it's about the size of a fist it could be the head for a mace or scepter of some kind.

Then again if its small it could be a bobble on a necklace...

EDIT: ok scratch the mace then - likely a representation of the sun on some necklace or something.

reply to post by Topato


Ah, in that case...

Exactly what I said, but designed for and used by the Lilliputians from Gulliver's Travels.

Either that or it's just a small, fancy thread spool for old-school high-class ladies that could afford that type of work.

FINE, I'll shut up now. Anyone else got any bright ideas.

Based on wear marks on it I am going guess that it some kind of cog used to adjust the speed of some manner of primative machinery. Perhaps a grainery pestle with it's grinding stone driven by horse or water wheel?

While I dont know what this item is I do not think it is part of any sort of mechanical device. The workmanship tells me its some sort of adornment.

reply to post by chr0naut


Or maybe a primitive electromagnetic gigaflux reactivator?

www.wowhead.com...=9492/electromagnetic-gigaflux-reactivator

Just throwing fun words around

Originally posted by Topato
reply to post by chr0naut

 

Or maybe a primitive electromagnetic gigaflux reactivator?

www.wowhead.com...=9492/electromagnetic-gigaflux-reactivator

Just throwing fun words around

No I think gigaflux rectivator would have more of a heptadic choro-resonance cavity visible inward of the fonduli, so I think that is ruled out.

I'm still going with the sparval vane, however I can see why you may have concluded that, with all the corrosion that has probably occurred.

it's the first fishing reel

maybe its a ancient game peice they used to make a move on a gameboard..Im just guessing
was probley used as a part to a pully..

Maybe an earring.

Ask somebody who works at a piercing shop and see if it matches the sort of size one would expect for the kinds of earrings that create big ear holes. I'm not into that stuff, but I think the hole would be big but not unusually big for a busy shop these days. I have no idea about the width though, as in if it's too wide or not, but a piercer would know.

I'm not sure about the sun or star shape being on both sides. That might actually be the more interesting thing to get a piercing shop worker's opinion on.

It seems like from wiki that bronze is a plausible material for a piercing at least:

en.wikipedia.org...

Also, bronze in general is fairly resistant to sea water corrosion, so it wouldn't be a bad choice for an ancient sea farer. Yarrrrrrrr.

reply to post by chr0naut


I know who you are, Dont even try to deny it. You are that guy at the oil change place that tried to sell me some headlight fluid and windshield wiper timing gears. You are soooooo busted.

reply to post by Topato


This is strange but I'm going with

Annunaki French Tickler?