Study Finds Evidence of Dice Use by Native Americans 12,000 Years Ago

A study indicates that Native Americans employed dice-like objects for gaming and probability exploration more than 12,000 years ago. These artifacts, identified as binary lots, consist of flat, two-sided pieces made from wood or bone, similar to coin flips.

The findings predate the earliest known six-sided dice from the Bronze Age, which date to approximately 3000 BC in Mesopotamia and the Indus Valley.

The binary lots were discovered at archaeological sites associated with the Folsom Period in Wyoming, Colorado, and New Mexico. These sites date to roughly 12,800 to 12,200 years ago, following the end of the last ice age. The study, published on April 2 in the journal American Antiquity, was led by Robert J.

Madden, a doctoral student in archaeology at Colorado State University in Fort Collins.

developed a four-part test to evaluate whether artifacts were used as dice, drawing from a 1907 analysis by ethnographer Stewart Culin that documented 293 sets of historic Native American dice.

The test examines object shape and markings to confirm binary lots. Using this method, the study identified more than 600 previously unknown sets of Native American dice from 45 prehistoric sites in the western United States, spanning the Late Pleistocene to after European contact.

Previously, archaeologists often classified these non-cube-shaped objects as generic gaming pieces due to their unfamiliar form.

The research addresses gaps in understanding pre-European dice use in the Americas. It provides new criteria for deciphering ancient dice, enabling further examination of game evolution over time.

Crist, an archaeologist at Leiden University specializing in ancient games and not involved in the study, noted that games archaeology has been overlooked in mainstream research.

He stated that the paper demonstrates possibilities when applying knowledge of traditional gaming practices to the archaeological record. Crist highlighted similarities with binary dice traditions in West and South Asia, North Africa, using natural objects like cowry shells or sheep ankle bones, which are difficult to identify archaeologically.

The study suggests that such natural objects may have been used even earlier, before manufactured polyhedral dice emerged around the time of the earliest states.

Historical records show Native American dice use over the past 1,000 to 2,000 years following European arrival, but the research extends this timeline significantly backward. The findings affect prehistoric archaeology by revealing early mathematical and social practices through gaming. Affected parties include researchers in American archaeology and global studies of ancient games.

Future work may involve applying the criteria to additional sites, potentially uncovering more evidence of early probability-based activities.