Excavations at the Roman fort of Vindolanda near Hadrian’s Wall in 1992 found a six-inch piece of wood, smoothed at both ends. It was recorded as a darning tool and that was that.
More than 30 years on, academics from Newcastle University and University College Dublin have looked at it with fresh eyes and come to a different conclusion. They have concluded that it is the first wooden phallus of its kind recognised in the Roman world.
They suspect the piece might have been a good luck charm, a pestle or perhaps it was put to more practical uses. Dr Rob Collins of Newcastle University, co-author of the paper in the journal Antiquity, said: “We know ancient Romans and Greeks used sexual implements. This object