Researchers have documented 293 sets of historic Native American dice from 1907, revealing two-sided bone and wood dice served as randomizing agents for games of chance and gambling at least 12,000 years ago. These artifacts appear throughout North American prehistory from diverse groups, showing games of chance represented cultural practices of remarkable antiquity on the Western Great Plains.
Native American dice used in gambling 12,000 years ago on Western Great Plains
Key facts
- 293 sets of historic Native American dice documented in a 1907 compendium of Native American games
- Two-sided dice made of bone or wood were used as randomizing agents in games of chance and gambling
- Native American groups on the Western Great Plains were making and using dice no later than 12,000 years ago
- These artifacts appear in archaeological assemblages from diverse groups throughout all periods of North American prehistory
- Native American games of chance and gambling represent cultural practices of remarkable antiquity
Sources
Native Americans had dice 12k years ago | Hacker Newsnews.ycombinator.com
... dice from across North America documented in Stewart Culin's (Reference Culin1907) ethnographic compendium Games of the North American Indians.
Native Americans may have been gaming since the last ice age - CNNcnn.com
Madden used a 1907 analysis by ethnographer Stewart Culin, which identified 293 sets of historic Native American dice, to create a four-part ...
Ancient Native American Dice Predate Any Previously Known ...studyfinds.com
Ancient Native American dice are the oldest on record, predating Near East examples by over 6000 years, new research finds.
Games of the North American Indians : Culin, Stewart, 1858-1929archive.org
Games of the North American Indians. by: Culin, Stewart, 1858-1929. Publication date: 1907; Topics: Indians of North America -- Games ...
Probability in the Pleistocene: Origins and Antiquity of Native ...cambridge.org
This article investigates the prehistory of Native American dice, games of chance, and gambling and for the first time traces these ...
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