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Touch wood: luck, protection, power or pleasure? A wooden phallus from Vindolanda Roman fort

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 February 2023

Rob Collins*
Affiliation:
School of History, Classics and Archaeology, Newcastle University, UK
Rob Sands
Affiliation:
UCD School of Archaeology, University College Dublin, Ireland
*
*Author for correspondence ✉ robert.collins@newcastle.ac.uk
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Abstract

The anaerobic conditions at the Roman fort of Vindolanda, close to Hadrian's Wall in northern Britain, have famously preserved a variety of finds made of organic materials, including wooden writing tablets and a pair of leather boxing gloves. Here, the authors re-examine a wooden object originally recovered in 1992, re-interpreting the find as a large, disembodied phallus. Stone and metal phalli are known from across the Roman world, but the Vindolanda example is the first wooden phallus to be recognised. Combining evidence for potential use-wear with a review of other archaeological and contextual information, the authors consider various possible interpretations of the function and significance of the Vindolanda phallus during the second century AD.

Information

Type
Research Article
Creative Commons
Creative Common License - CCCreative Common License - BYCreative Common License - NCCreative Common License - ND
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is unaltered and is properly cited. The written permission of Cambridge University Press must be obtained for commercial re-use or in order to create a derivative work.
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2023. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of Antiquity Publications Ltd
Figure 0

Figure 1. Location of Vindolanda Roman fort (map by K. Murphy, Newcastle University, using Hadrian's Wall GIS datasets (Garland 2020a, 2020b, 2020c)).

Figure 1

Figure 2. Object W-1992-1062 from Vindolanda (photographs by R. Sands).

Figure 2

Figure 3. Key measurements of object W-1992-1062 (illustration by R. Sands, using 3D data files relit and rendered in Blender).

Figure 3

Table 1. Summary of select objects, sorted by functional categories, found in the Antonine ditch fills at Vindolanda in general proximity to the wooden phallus.

Figure 4

Figure 4. Main areas of damage on object W-1992-1062 (illustration by R. Sands, using 3D data files relit and rendered in Blender).

Figure 5

Figure 5. Ash wood framesaw handle (W-1987-0341) from Vindolanda, indicating wear of the handle through use (photographs by R. Sands).

Figure 6

Figure 6. Close-up of toolmark signatures on object W-1992-1062. Arrows A and B show two different applications of the same tool (photograph by R. Sands).

Figure 7

Figure 7. Main smooth area on object W-1992-1062 (shown in green), and key areas of toolmarks with signatures (shown in yellow). Note that facets are visible across the object; shorter and smaller examples occur as the carver adjusts the angle between the shaft and the base (illustration by R. Sands, using 3D data files relit and rendered in Blender).

Figure 8

Figure 8. Assessment of the fit of the phallus base if placed into a socket as a herm (illustration by R. Sands, using sections extracted from 3D data files using Meshlab).