# \[Roman\] Dodecahedrons **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 27, 2023, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/roman-dodecahedrons/980459 "2023-02-27T21:46:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 1\ **Showing post:** 890
**Author:** ![Retzbu\_Tox](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/retzbu_tox/32/11829_2.png) [@Retzbu\_Tox](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Retzbu_Tox)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2025, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/roman-dodecahedrons/980459/890 "2025-06-03T23:12:44Z")
I was curious whether anything made using the “Viking Chain Knit” technique (aka Trichinopoly Chain) might be contemporaneous with Gallo-Roman Dodecahedrons. I started looking for examples online. In the process, I came across an article on scribd by Lora-Lynn Stevens, titled _ **A Research Journey: Trichinopoly Chainwork Is It Viking Chain Knitting.** _ She was trying to figure out if the technique is really old enough for Vikings to have used it. She cited books by James Graham Campbell and Leena Tomanterä that included photographs and descriptions of many pieces of Viking jewelry that appear to be the earliest items made using this technique. They date back to about as far as the 9th century CE. It doesn’t sound like there are any examples of Gallo Roman trichinopoly chain. The technique came into existence about 500 years after the heyday of Gallo Roman Dodecahedrons. Trichinopoly chain might also require pulled wire, rather than the inconsistent wire made with earlier methods. The earliest archaeological find of a drawplate for making wire may be from Sweden during the Vendel Period, 550 to 775 CE. So, my opinion would be that dodecahedrons were not used for weaving ‘Viking Chain Knit’. I don’t think that particular technique for weaving wire had been invented yet, and the tool for making the required type of wire had not been invented yet. > **[Trichinopoly Documentation | PDF | Sami People | Jewellery](https://www.scribd.com/document/75440437/Trichinopoly-Documentation)** > > This paper shares my journey researching a chain making technique attributed to the Vikings in recent literature. A second chain making technique that I believe produces similar looking object is known as loop-inloop. I first became interested in... --- _[View the full topic](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/roman-dodecahedrons/980459)._