Native American dice and games of chance date back over 12,000 years

A study published in American Antiquity reports that Indigenous people in the western United States made dice more than 12,000 years ago, based on hundreds of artifacts from dozens of archaeological sites. Researchers say the artifacts suggest dice were used as social tools for exchange and may represent an early use of probability.

A new archaeological study finds that Indigenous people in the western United States made and used dice more than 12,000 years ago. The research covers artifacts from the Late Pleistocene through the past several centuries and is presented by archaeologist Robert Madden in the journal American Antiquity. The work draws on museum and archive collections and on historic descriptions of Native American games. The study interprets dice use as a social practice linked to exchange and interaction rather than modern commercial gambling. Key findings: - The study catalogued over 600 examples identified as dice or probable dice from dozens of western U.S. sites, including 565 classified as diagnostic and 94 as probable across 58 archaeological sites. - The earliest examples come from Folsom culture sites in Wyoming, Colorado and New Mexico and date to about 12,900 years ago. - Dice are reported across the Great Plains and the Rockies on both sides of the mountain range, while similar artifacts do not appear in the eastern half of the present-day United States until after European contact. - Historic descriptions characterize these objects as "binary lots" that produced near 50/50 outcomes and that were often tossed in groups to generate more complex chance results. - The article notes that, in more than 80% of recorded historic dice games, participants were exclusively women, and it suggests games may have served as a social technology for connecting people and redistributing goods. - Madden observes that these Native American examples predate Old World dice by several thousand years, which has implications for the history of chance and probability. Summary: The research extends the known timeline of dice and games of chance in North America and presents them as structured social practices used in exchange and social integration. Undetermined at this time.