Post by @ninawillburger@social.anoxinon.de

@ninawillburger@social.anoxinon.de

2026-08-09 11:26 UTC

One of my favorite #Roman objects: World's oldest known "Swiss army knife", including a hinged knife, fork, spoon, spike, prick, sieve, spatula. Unfortunately, there is no provenance of this multi-tool, but it’s not a unique item: There are a few more examples, e.g. one was found in a Roman tomb in Albintimilium, Italy, dating 2nd/3rd century AD. 📷Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge #archaeology #romanarchaeology

Replies (4)

@hhttg@mastodon.online 2026-08-09 11:50

@ninawillburger@social.anoxinon.de "All right, but apart from the sanitation, medicine, education, wine, public order, irrigation, roads, the fresh water system and public health, what have the Romans ever done for us?" "They gave us the Swiss Army Knife". 😉

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@BrettCoulstock@adforward.org 2026-08-09 13:09

@ninawillburger@social.anoxinon.de You might enjoy this exploration of the subject from @bruces@mastodon.social https://bruces.medium.com/ancient-everyday-weirdness-591955f40a2d

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@ArdentArchivist@archaeo.social 2026-08-09 13:41

@ninawillburger@social.anoxinon.de I do love my Swiss Army knife - er, knives! 😳 (The little ones also make great letter openers and very handy nail scissors! 🤣) I’m sure, after weapons & armour, this was probably the most crucial bit of kit the legionaries possessed!

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@musevg@23.social 2026-08-09 17:14

@ninawillburger@social.anoxinon.de Nice! Do you have any information about the material?

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