Object Record
Images
Metadata
Catalog Number |
01.C.89 |
Object Name |
Dodecahedron |
Title |
Dodecahedron |
Artist |
Unknown |
Place of Origin |
Found 30 miles from Marietta, Ohio, along the Ohio River |
Description |
Black slate stone in the form of a dodecahedron (a geometric solid with twelve flat faces). The side of each pentagon is about one and one half inches. Markings are incised on the faces. |
Label |
This black stone, carved in in the shape of a dodecahedron (12-sided solid), is a continuing mystery. Charles Brown, who sent it to the APS in 1792, said that he found it on the banks of the Ohio River. Researchers who examined the stone and its incised markings in 1897 theorized that a Native American shaman had used it as a lunar calendar, but we still do not know for certain who made it or for what purpose. No examples of similar objects have been found. |
Material |
Slate |
Dimensions |
H-3.75 W-3.75 D-3.75 inches |
Credit line |
American Philosophical Society. Gift of Charles Brown, 19 October 1792. |
Search Terms |
Native America measurement astronomy natural history archaeology |