Archaeologists have uncovered a 1,700-year-old stone carving of what appears to be a very phallic object.
Immature kids might tag these on trains, political posters, and at bus stops these days, and it appears Romans did the same hundreds of years ago.
The silly carving and its associated text have delighted archaeologists at the Roman site of Vindolanda, near Hadrian's Wall in the UK.
Experts revealed that the text next to the doodle actually forms an insult, seemingly used to roast another Roman soldier.
Advert
Writings on the stone read as 'Secvndinvs cacor', which translates in English to 'Secundinus, the s**tter'.
Poor Secundinus. Imagine if he pooped his daks only for people to know about it 1,700 years later. Brutal.
As the author would have painstakingly carved each letter experts said there was 'little doubt' about the feelings of dislike towards poor ole Secundinus.
According to the BBC, the stone was found by Dylan Herbert, a retired biochemist from South Wales.
It is 40cm wide and 15cm tall, meaning we're looking at a very small carving of a very small penis. Hopefully it wasn't to scale.
Herbert said he made the discovery on May 19 as he was wrapping up his second week volunteering on excavations.
"I'd been removing a lot of rubble all week and to be honest this stone had been getting in my way, I was glad when I was told I could take it out of the trench," he told the BBC.
"It looked from the back like all the others, a very ordinary stone, but when I turned it over, I was startled to see some clear letters.
"Only after we removed the mud did I realise the full extent of what I'd uncovered, and I was absolutely delighted."
Director of excavations at the Vindolanda Trust Dr Andrew Birley said the discovery 'really raised [their] eyebrows'.
"Its author clearly had a big problem with Secundinus and was confident enough to announce his thoughts publicly on a stone," Birley said.
"I have no doubt that Secundinus would have been less than amused to see this when he was wandering around the site over 1,700 years ago."
He added to the Telegraph: "It's very likely it would have been carved by another Roman soldier because they were all trained in Latin, and it was from somebody who was literate."
A total of 13 penis carvings have now been found at the site near Hexham.
Topics: UK News
Rachel Lang