Long before modern dice existed, native Americans were already leaving the outcome to chance; here's how they did it before anyone else

Long before casinos, board games or modern probability theory, hunter-gatherers living on the western Great Plains may already have been leaving outcomes to chance. Archaeologists say small pieces of carefully worked bone found across North America could represent the earliest known dice in the archaeological record pushing evidence for such gaming back more than 12,000 years. The research, published in the peer-reviewed journal American Antiquity, challenges the long-held focus on ancient societies in Europe, Africa and Asia when discussing the early history of dice. Colorado State University researcher Robert Madden authored the study.

Dice that looked nothing like those used today

Anyone expecting six-sided cubes would probably struggle to recognise these ancient objects as dice. The earliest examples examined in the study date to the Folsom period, roughly 12,800 years ago, and come from archaeological sites in Wyoming, Colorado and New Mexico. Rather than cubes, they were small, two-sided pieces of bone sometimes oval or rectangular designed to be thrown onto a surface.

The opposite faces could be distinguished through markings, colour or other modifications. In principle, they functioned somewhat like tossing coins: one side represented a particular result. Sets could be thrown together, with scores determined according to how many pieces landed with their designated counting side facing upwards. Madden described the objects as simple but deliberately constructed tools designed to generate random outcomes.

Researchers revisited more than a century of evidence

One challenge was determining whether archaeological objects previously described simply as “gaming pieces” really functioned as dice. To address this, Madden developed a checklist of physical characteristics that could be applied consistently to archaeological finds. The criteria drew partly on 293 sets of dice documented by American ethnologist Stewart Culin in his landmark 1907 work Games of the North American Indians, published by the Bureau of American Ethnology.

Researchers then applied the criteria to previously published archaeological evidence.

The resulting survey identified more than 600 diagnostic or probable dice across 57 archaeological sites in 12 US states, spanning different cultures and periods of North American prehistory.

According to Madden, many of these objects were not newly excavated. Some had been known for decades, but researchers lacked a continent-wide framework for identifying and comparing them as dice.

Games may have served a social purpose

Why were people throwing dice 12,000 years ago Entertainment and gambling are possibilities, but Madden suggests games of chance could also have helped create structured social spaces where different communities interacted. Such gatherings could provide opportunities to exchange goods and information, strengthen relationships or establish alliances. In that sense, games may have served purposes extending far beyond deciding who won or lost.

An ancient human fascination with chance

The discovery adds an intriguing chapter to the history of games. Objects that might appear insignificant in an archaeological collection small pieces of marked bone could provide evidence of surprisingly sophisticated social traditions among some of North America's earliest inhabitants. Thousands of years before anyone rolled dice across a casino table, people were apparently already fascinated by the same fundamental question: what happens when you leave the outcome to chance?