{"id":1868581,"date":"2026-04-06T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-04-05T21:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1868581"},"modified":"2026-04-06T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2026-04-05T21:00:00","slug":"12000-years-ago-native-americans-were-playing-games-of-chance-with-handmade-dice","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1868581","title":{"rendered":"12,000 Years Ago, Native Americans Were Playing Games of Chance with Handmade Dice"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"entry-content prose-colossal max-w-none\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-group alignfull is-style-default entry-header is-vertical is-layout-flex wp-container-core-group-is-layout-fe9cc265 wp-block-group-is-layout-flex\">\n<figure class=\"colo-post-featured-image wp-block-post-featured-image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1605\" height=\"1344\" src=\"https:\/\/www.thisiscolossal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/dice-1.jpeg\" class=\"attachment-post-thumbnail size-post-thumbnail wp-post-image\" alt=\"a composite photo of archaeological finds thought to be ancient dice carved from stone and bone, found in the American West and Southwest\" style=\"object-fit:cover\"><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Early examples of Native American dice, dating from the Late Pleistocene to the Late Holocene periods, found in the U.S. All images by Robert J. Madden, courtesy of Cambridge University Press<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<div class=\"wp-block-group post-title is-vertical is-layout-flex wp-container-core-group-is-layout-0bc941e6 wp-block-group-is-layout-flex\">\n<h1 class=\"alignfull wp-block-post-title\">12,000 Years Ago, Native Americans Were Playing Games of Chance with Handmade Dice<\/h1>\n<div class=\"wp-block-group alignfull post-meta is-layout-flex wp-block-group-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-post-date\"><time datetime=\"2026-04-06T13:00:00-05:00\">April 6, 2026<\/time><\/div>\n<div class=\"taxonomy-category wp-block-post-terms\"><a class=\"category-history\" href=\"https:\/\/www.thisiscolossal.com\/category\/history\/\" rel=\"tag\">History<\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"wp-block-post-author-name\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thisiscolossal.com\/author\/kmothes\/\" target=\"_self\" class=\"wp-block-post-author-name__link\">Kate Mothes<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"wp-block-group alignfull post-share-group is-layout-flow wp-block-group-is-layout-flow\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-group is-nowrap is-layout-flex wp-container-core-group-is-layout-6c531013 wp-block-group-is-layout-flex\">\n<ul class=\"wp-block-outermost-social-sharing has-visible-labels has-icon-color is-style-logos-only is-layout-flex wp-block-outermost-social-sharing-is-layout-flex\">\n<li style=\"color: #1c1e0d\" class=\"outermost-social-sharing-link outermost-social-sharing-link-facebook has-crow-color wp-block-outermost-social-sharing-link\">\n\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.thisiscolossal.com%2F2026%2F04%2Fice-age-native-american-ancient-dice-games-archaeology%2F&amp;title=12%2C000%20Years%20Ago%2C%20Native%20Americans%20Were%20Playing%20Games%20of%20Chance%20with%20Handmade%20Dice\" aria-label=\"Share\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"wp-block-outermost-social-sharing-link-anchor\"><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t<span class=\"wp-block-outermost-social-sharing-link-label \"><br \/>\n\t\t\tShare\t\t<\/span><br \/>\n\t<\/a>\n<\/li>\n<li style=\"color: #1c1e0d\" class=\"outermost-social-sharing-link outermost-social-sharing-link-mail has-crow-color wp-block-outermost-social-sharing-link\">\n\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.thisiscolossal.com\/cdn-cgi\/l\/email-protection#ecd39f998e86898f98d1dddec9deafdcdcdcc9dedcb5898d9e9fc9dedcad8b83c9deafc9dedca28d98859a89c9dedcad81899e858f8d829fc9dedcbb899e89c9dedcbc808d9585828bc9dedcab8d81899fc9dedc838ac9dedcaf848d828f89c9dedc9b859884c9dedca48d8288818d8889c9dedca8858f89ca8d819cd78e838895d1dddec9deafdcdcdcc9dedcb5898d9e9fc9dedcad8b83c9deafc9dedca28d98859a89c9dedcad81899e858f8d829fc9dedcbb899e89c9dedcbc808d9585828bc9dedcab8d81899fc9dedc838ac9dedcaf848d828f89c9dedc9b859884c9dedca48d8288818d8889c9dedca8858f89c9dedcc9a9dec9d4dcc9d5d8c9dedc8498989c9fc9dfadc9deaac9deaa9b9b9bc29884859f859f8f8380839f9f8d80c28f8381c9deaadedcdedac9deaadcd8c9deaa858f89c18d8b89c1828d98859a89c18d81899e858f8d82c18d828f85898298c188858f89c18b8d81899fc18d9e8f848d898380838b95c9deaa\" aria-label=\"Email\" class=\"wp-block-outermost-social-sharing-link-anchor\"><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t<span class=\"wp-block-outermost-social-sharing-link-label \"><br \/>\n\t\t\tEmail\t\t<\/span><br \/>\n\t<\/a>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><button class=\"simplefavorite-button preset\" data-postid=\"472427\" data-siteid=\"1\" data-groupid=\"1\" data-favoritecount=\"0\"><i class=\"sf-icon-bookmark\"><\/i>Bookmark<\/button>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Archaeologists have long known that the ancient peoples of North America\u2014not unlike us\u2014played a lot of games. Going back millennia, cultures around the world developed myriad ways to keep entertained, and for a long time, it was thought that the first dice ever used could be traced to the ancient Eastern European and Near East cultures of Mesopotamia, the Indus Valley, and the Caucasus. But according to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cambridge.org\/core\/journals\/american-antiquity\/article\/probability-in-the-pleistocene-origins-and-antiquity-of-native-american-dice-games-of-chance-and-gambling\/E38C7B1F4CE7F417D8EFAC5AFEEF20A2\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">a new paper<\/a> by Robert Madden, published by Cambridge University Press, games of chance developed much, much earlier than originally thought\u2014halfway around the world.<\/p>\n<p>Researchers previously believed that the earliest dice originated about 5,500 years ago, but Madden shares that examples excavated in North America date back as far as the Late Pleistocene\u2014the Ice Age. Among the oldest reported examples are a few found in modern-day Wyoming, Colorado, and New Mexico. The rich archaeological sites in these places are associated with the Folsom Culture, representing a dispersed hunter-gatherer lifeway that extended across the North American West, Southwest, and Great Plains around 12,000 years ago.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thisiscolossal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/dice-4.jpeg\" class=\"swipebox\" data-rel=\"lightbox-gallery-472427\" title=\"Examples of dice with details showing microscopic traces of pigment, with color enhanced for illustration\" data-rl_title=\"Examples of dice with details showing microscopic traces of pigment, with color enhanced for illustration\" data-rl_caption=\"Examples of dice with details showing microscopic traces of pigment, with color enhanced for illustration\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1605\" height=\"959\" src=\"https:\/\/www.thisiscolossal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/dice-4.jpeg\" alt=\"a composite photo of archaeological finds thought to be ancient dice carved from stone and bone, found in the American West and Southwest, including color-enhanced details showing the remains of pigment\" class=\"wp-image-472431\"><\/a><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Examples of dice with details showing microscopic traces of pigment, with color enhanced for illustration<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>\u201cThe dice tend to show up in liminal spaces where you have a lot of high mobility,\u201d Madden told <em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.livescience.com\/archaeology\/americas\/native-americans-invented-dice-and-games-of-chance-more-than-12-000-years-ago-archaeological-study-reveals\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Live Science<\/a><\/em>. \u201cIt might have something to do with how separated these people are and the need to relate to people you don\u2019t see very often.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In the report, Madden also says that \u201cthe making and using of dice represent humans\u2019 first known efforts to intentionally generate, observe, and record streams of controlled, random events\u2026\u201d He adds that, possibly for the first time, people were comprehending patterns or regularities in probability\u2014a kind of precursor to understanding what we now call the <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Law_of_large_numbers\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">law of large numbers<\/a>. Anthropologists consider this to be \u201ca crucial early step in humanity\u2019s evolving discovery and understanding of randomness and the probabilistic nature of the universe.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Madden compared hundreds of examples found across the American West with a comprehensive, several-hundred-page publication called <em><a href=\"https:\/\/archive.org\/details\/gamesofnorthamer00culirich\/page\/52\/mode\/2up\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Games of the North American Indians<\/a>, <\/em>published in 1907 as part of an annual report by the <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Bureau_of_American_Ethnology\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Bureau of American Ethnology<\/a>. It\u2019s currently available in a <a href=\"https:\/\/bookshop.org\/a\/96\/9780803263550\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">two-volume edition<\/a> from Bison Books.<\/p>\n<p>You might also enjoy seeing what may be the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thisiscolossal.com\/2018\/03\/archaeologists-discover-oldest-crayon\/\">world\u2019s oldest crayon<\/a>.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thisiscolossal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/dice-2.jpeg\" class=\"swipebox\" data-rel=\"lightbox-gallery-472427\" title=\"Illustrations of bone dice from Stewart Culin\u2019s book \u2018Games of the North American Indians (1907)\" data-rl_title=\"Illustrations of bone dice from Stewart Culin\u2019s book \u2018Games of the North American Indians (1907)\" data-rl_caption=\"Illustrations of bone dice from Stewart Culin\u2019s book \u2018Games of the North American Indians (1907)\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1605\" height=\"1470\" src=\"https:\/\/www.thisiscolossal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/dice-2.jpeg\" alt=\"An early 20th century illustration of various kinds of ancient carved dice or tokens\" class=\"wp-image-472429\"><\/a><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Illustrations of bone dice from Stewart Culin\u2019s book \u2018Games of the North American Indians (1907)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thisiscolossal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/dice-3.jpeg\" class=\"swipebox\" data-rel=\"lightbox-gallery-472427\" title=\"Examples of early Native American dice\" data-rl_title=\"Examples of early Native American dice\" data-rl_caption=\"Examples of early Native American dice\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1605\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/www.thisiscolossal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/dice-3.jpeg\" alt=\"a composite photo of archaeological finds thought to be ancient dice carved from stone and bone, found in the American West and Southwest\" class=\"wp-image-472430\"><\/a><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Examples of early Native American dice<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<aside class=\"after-entry\" role=\"complementary\" aria-label=\"After Entry\">\n<section id=\"block-16\" class=\"widget widget_block widget_text\">\n<p><mark style=\"background-color:#88caf0\" class=\"has-inline-color\"><strong>Do stories and artists like this matter to you?<\/strong><\/mark> Become a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thisiscolossal.com\/members\/\" data-type=\"page\" data-id=\"118516\">Colossal Member<\/a> now, and support independent arts publishing.<\/p>\n<\/section>\n<section id=\"block-17\" class=\"widget widget_block\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-columns are-vertically-aligned-top is-layout-flex wp-container-core-columns-is-layout-28f84493 wp-block-columns-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-vertically-aligned-top member-benefits is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\" 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Madden, courtesy of Cambridge University Press 12,000 Years Ago, Native Americans Were Playing Games of Chance with Handmade Dice April 6, 2026 History Kate Mothes Share Email Bookmark Archaeologists have [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[226,270],"class_list":["post-1868581","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-crawlmanager","tag-thisiscolossal-com"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1868581","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1868581"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1868581\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1868581"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1868581"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1868581"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}