Gold

In which Rat has a new theory

Good time of day, humans! Is it silly time again?

Fact check: well, hard to know. The earliest known gold coins weren’t particularly round:

…and of the shape of ancient cheese we know even less as it’s been all eaten up. While the remains of ceramic sieves attributed to cheesemaking are mostly round(ish), wooden equipment was also used:

[Cyclops] curdled half the milk and set it aside in wicker strainers, but the other half he poured into bowls that he might drink it for his supper. — The Odyssey, 9.4

…and wooden tools for obvious reasons are not preserved.

I for one have an outlandish etymological theory that Latin caseus ‘cheese’ might even be derived from capsa ‘box’. Even if so, it would still tell us nothing about its shape.

I still like Rat’s theory though.