News — History Mystery

Last week's History Mystery was tough. Only one of you wanted to take a stab at the mysterious 12-sided metal objects, which are known as dodecahedrons. The sole response was a good one: Perhaps they were a jeweler’s tool used to determine finger size for rings, or used by an armorer to build gauntlets, which has fingers.  I’m guessing they were found in Europe or Asia, somewhere craftsmen were located. They look very old, plus never having heard of them before tells me they came from a far away place, from a very long time ago. Maybe Byzantium or Rome? I...

(Want to participate in the next EasyGenie History Mystery? Sign up for the free EasyGenie newsletter, which regularly feature a mystery photo and ask subscribers to guess what it is.)  This was the best history mystery so far. There wasn't much to go on - just a picture of an old wooden contraption - so people's imaginations worked overtime to come up with a solution. Some people's imaginations worked overtime! The answer is below, but first, some of the other guesses.  Visions of treasure hunts were high on the list:  "Turbines can use water to create power (like electricity). It looks old...