{"id":472427,"date":"2026-04-06T13:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-04-06T18:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thisiscolossal.com\/?p=472427"},"modified":"2026-04-06T15:20:46","modified_gmt":"2026-04-06T20:20:46","slug":"ice-age-native-american-ancient-dice-games-archaeology","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thisiscolossal.com\/2026\/04\/ice-age-native-american-ancient-dice-games-archaeology\/","title":{"rendered":"12,000 Years Ago, Native Americans Were Playing Games of Chance with Handmade Dice"},"content":{"rendered":"\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\"><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;\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.thisiscolossal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/dice-1.jpeg 1605w, https:\/\/www.thisiscolossal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/dice-1-640x536.jpeg 640w, https:\/\/www.thisiscolossal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/dice-1-960x804.jpeg 960w, https:\/\/www.thisiscolossal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/dice-1-768x643.jpeg 768w, https:\/\/www.thisiscolossal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/dice-1-1536x1286.jpeg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1605px) 100vw, 1605px\" \/><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\n\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\"><h1 class=\"alignfull wp-block-post-title\">12,000 Years Ago, Native Americans Were Playing Games of Chance with Handmade Dice<\/h1>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group alignfull post-meta is-layout-flex wp-block-group-is-layout-flex\"><div class=\"wp-block-post-date\"><time datetime=\"2026-04-06T13:00:00-05:00\">April 6, 2026<\/time><\/div>\n\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\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><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\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\"><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&#038;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\">\n\t\t<svg width=\"24\" height=\"24\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.1\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" aria-hidden=\"true\" focusable=\"false\"><path d=\"M12 2C6.5 2 2 6.5 2 12c0 5 3.7 9.1 8.4 9.9v-7H7.9V12h2.5V9.8c0-2.5 1.5-3.9 3.8-3.9 1.1 0 2.2.2 2.2.2v2.5h-1.3c-1.2 0-1.6.8-1.6 1.6V12h2.8l-.4 2.9h-2.3v7C18.3 21.1 22 17 22 12c0-5.5-4.5-10-10-10z\"><\/path><\/svg>\t\t<span class=\"wp-block-outermost-social-sharing-link-label \">\n\t\t\tShare\t\t<\/span>\n\t<\/a>\n<\/li>\n\n\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=\"mailto:?subject=12%2C000%20Years%20Ago%2C%20Native%20Americans%20Were%20Playing%20Games%20of%20Chance%20with%20Handmade%20Dice&#038;body=12%2C000%20Years%20Ago%2C%20Native%20Americans%20Were%20Playing%20Games%20of%20Chance%20with%20Handmade%20Dice%20&mdash;%20https%3A%2F%2Fwww.thisiscolossal.com%2F2026%2F04%2Fice-age-native-american-ancient-dice-games-archaeology%2F\" aria-label=\"Email\"  class=\"wp-block-outermost-social-sharing-link-anchor\">\n\t\t<svg width=\"24\" height=\"24\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.1\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" aria-hidden=\"true\" focusable=\"false\"><path d=\"M20,4H4C2.895,4,2,4.895,2,6v12c0,1.105,0.895,2,2,2h16c1.105,0,2-0.895,2-2V6C22,4.895,21.105,4,20,4z M20,8.236l-8,4.882 L4,8.236V6h16V8.236z\"><\/path><\/svg>\t\t<span class=\"wp-block-outermost-social-sharing-link-label \">\n\t\t\tEmail\t\t<\/span>\n\t<\/a>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n<button class=\"simplefavorite-button preset\" data-postid=\"472427\" data-siteid=\"1\" data-groupid=\"1\" data-favoritecount=\"0\" style=\"\"><i class=\"sf-icon-bookmark\" style=\"\"><\/i>Bookmark<\/button>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\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\n\n\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\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" 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\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.thisiscolossal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/dice-4.jpeg 1605w, https:\/\/www.thisiscolossal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/dice-4-640x382.jpeg 640w, https:\/\/www.thisiscolossal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/dice-4-960x574.jpeg 960w, https:\/\/www.thisiscolossal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/dice-4-768x459.jpeg 768w, https:\/\/www.thisiscolossal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/dice-4-1536x918.jpeg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1605px) 100vw, 1605px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Examples of dice with details showing microscopic traces of pigment, with color enhanced for illustration<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;The dice tend to show up in liminal spaces where you have a lot of high mobility,&#8221; 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>. &#8220;It might have something to do with how separated these people are and the need to relate to people you don&#8217;t see very often.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In the report, Madden also says that &#8220;the making and using of dice represent humans\u2019 first known efforts to intentionally generate, observe, and record streams of controlled, random events&#8230;&#8221; 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 &#8220;a crucial early step in humanity\u2019s evolving discovery and understanding of randomness and the probabilistic nature of the universe.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\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&#8217;s 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\n\n\n<p>You might also enjoy seeing what may be the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thisiscolossal.com\/2018\/03\/archaeologists-discover-oldest-crayon\/\">world&#8217;s oldest crayon<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" 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\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.thisiscolossal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/dice-2.jpeg 1605w, https:\/\/www.thisiscolossal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/dice-2-640x586.jpeg 640w, https:\/\/www.thisiscolossal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/dice-2-960x879.jpeg 960w, https:\/\/www.thisiscolossal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/dice-2-768x703.jpeg 768w, https:\/\/www.thisiscolossal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/dice-2-1536x1407.jpeg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1605px) 100vw, 1605px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Illustrations of bone dice from Stewart Culin\u2019s book &#8216;Games of the North American Indians (1907)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" 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\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.thisiscolossal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/dice-3.jpeg 1605w, https:\/\/www.thisiscolossal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/dice-3-640x408.jpeg 640w, https:\/\/www.thisiscolossal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/dice-3-960x612.jpeg 960w, https:\/\/www.thisiscolossal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/dice-3-768x490.jpeg 768w, https:\/\/www.thisiscolossal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/dice-3-1536x980.jpeg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1605px) 100vw, 1605px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Examples of early Native American dice<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>New research suggests that dice developed much earlier\u2014to the tune of 6,000 years\u2014than originally thought.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2306,"featured_media":472428,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1320],"tags":[1450,11,2867],"class_list":["post-472427","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-history","tag-archaeology","tag-games","tag-indigenous-culture"],"acf":{"acf_sponsor_post":""},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.9 (Yoast SEO v26.9) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>12,000 Years Ago, Native Americans Were Playing Games of Chance with Handmade Dice &#8212; Colossal<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"New research suggests that games of chance developed much earlier\u2014to the tune of 6,000 years\u2014than originally thought.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.thisiscolossal.com\/2026\/04\/ice-age-native-american-ancient-dice-games-archaeology\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"12,000 Years Ago, Native Americans Were Playing Games of Chance with Handmade Dice\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"New research suggests that games of chance developed much earlier\u2014to the tune of 6,000 years\u2014than originally thought.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.thisiscolossal.com\/2026\/04\/ice-age-native-american-ancient-dice-games-archaeology\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Colossal\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/thisiscolossal\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-04-06T18:00:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-04-06T20:20:46+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.thisiscolossal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/dice-1.jpeg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1605\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1344\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Kate Mothes\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Kate Mothes\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.thisiscolossal.com\/2026\/04\/ice-age-native-american-ancient-dice-games-archaeology\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.thisiscolossal.com\/2026\/04\/ice-age-native-american-ancient-dice-games-archaeology\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Kate Mothes\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.thisiscolossal.com\/#\/schema\/person\/3d0687f86e1920a56f27bc4264ca8ae9\"},\"headline\":\"12,000 Years Ago, Native Americans Were Playing Games of Chance with Handmade Dice\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-04-06T18:00:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-04-06T20:20:46+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.thisiscolossal.com\/2026\/04\/ice-age-native-american-ancient-dice-games-archaeology\/\"},\"wordCount\":412,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.thisiscolossal.com\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.thisiscolossal.com\/2026\/04\/ice-age-native-american-ancient-dice-games-archaeology\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.thisiscolossal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/dice-1.jpeg\",\"keywords\":[\"archaeology\",\"games\",\"Indigenous culture\"],\"articleSection\":[\"History\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.thisiscolossal.com\/2026\/04\/ice-age-native-american-ancient-dice-games-archaeology\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.thisiscolossal.com\/2026\/04\/ice-age-native-american-ancient-dice-games-archaeology\/\",\"name\":\"12,000 Years Ago, Native Americans Were Playing Games of Chance with Handmade Dice &#8212; Colossal\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.thisiscolossal.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.thisiscolossal.com\/2026\/04\/ice-age-native-american-ancient-dice-games-archaeology\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.thisiscolossal.com\/2026\/04\/ice-age-native-american-ancient-dice-games-archaeology\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.thisiscolossal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/dice-1.jpeg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-04-06T18:00:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-04-06T20:20:46+00:00\",\"description\":\"New research suggests that games of chance developed much earlier\u2014to the tune of 6,000 years\u2014than originally thought.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.thisiscolossal.com\/2026\/04\/ice-age-native-american-ancient-dice-games-archaeology\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.thisiscolossal.com\/2026\/04\/ice-age-native-american-ancient-dice-games-archaeology\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.thisiscolossal.com\/2026\/04\/ice-age-native-american-ancient-dice-games-archaeology\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.thisiscolossal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/dice-1.jpeg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.thisiscolossal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/dice-1.jpeg\",\"width\":1605,\"height\":1344,\"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\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.thisiscolossal.com\/2026\/04\/ice-age-native-american-ancient-dice-games-archaeology\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.thisiscolossal.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"12,000 Years Ago, Native Americans Were Playing Games of Chance with Handmade Dice\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.thisiscolossal.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.thisiscolossal.com\/\",\"name\":\"Colossal\",\"description\":\"The best of art, craft, and visual culture since 2010.\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.thisiscolossal.com\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.thisiscolossal.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.thisiscolossal.com\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Colossal\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.thisiscolossal.com\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.thisiscolossal.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.thisiscolossal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/icon-crow-sandal.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.thisiscolossal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/icon-crow-sandal.png\",\"width\":988,\"height\":988,\"caption\":\"Colossal\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.thisiscolossal.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/thisiscolossal\/\",\"https:\/\/mastodon.art\/@colossal\",\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/thisiscolossal\/\",\"https:\/\/bsky.app\/profile\/thisiscolossal.com\"],\"description\":\"Colossal is an online art magazine that celebrates contemporary art and visual culture across a wide range of creative disciplines.\",\"email\":\"hello@colossal.art\",\"legalName\":\"Colossal Projects Inc.\",\"foundingDate\":\"2013-03-01\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.thisiscolossal.com\/#\/schema\/person\/3d0687f86e1920a56f27bc4264ca8ae9\",\"name\":\"Kate Mothes\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.thisiscolossal.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8b51c69827feccd335b39303132e9a7519bf5c28770703f523ff4389f89ffeda?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8b51c69827feccd335b39303132e9a7519bf5c28770703f523ff4389f89ffeda?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Kate Mothes\"},\"description\":\"In addition to her role as editor for Colossal, Kate Mothes is an independent, semi-nomadic contemporary art writer, curator, and organizer based most of the time in the Upper Midwest. She is also the founder of Young Space and a regular contributor to Arts Midwest's Creativity News Desk, Ceramics Monthly, and others. Learn more about her work at katemothes.net.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.thisiscolossal.com\/author\/kmothes\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"12,000 Years Ago, Native Americans Were Playing Games of Chance with Handmade Dice &#8212; Colossal","description":"New research suggests that games of chance developed much earlier\u2014to the tune of 6,000 years\u2014than originally thought.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.thisiscolossal.com\/2026\/04\/ice-age-native-american-ancient-dice-games-archaeology\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"12,000 Years Ago, Native Americans Were Playing Games of Chance with Handmade Dice","og_description":"New research suggests that games of chance developed much earlier\u2014to the tune of 6,000 years\u2014than originally thought.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.thisiscolossal.com\/2026\/04\/ice-age-native-american-ancient-dice-games-archaeology\/","og_site_name":"Colossal","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/thisiscolossal\/","article_published_time":"2026-04-06T18:00:00+00:00","article_modified_time":"2026-04-06T20:20:46+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1605,"height":1344,"url":"https:\/\/www.thisiscolossal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/dice-1.jpeg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Kate Mothes","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Kate Mothes","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.thisiscolossal.com\/2026\/04\/ice-age-native-american-ancient-dice-games-archaeology\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.thisiscolossal.com\/2026\/04\/ice-age-native-american-ancient-dice-games-archaeology\/"},"author":{"name":"Kate Mothes","@id":"https:\/\/www.thisiscolossal.com\/#\/schema\/person\/3d0687f86e1920a56f27bc4264ca8ae9"},"headline":"12,000 Years Ago, Native Americans Were Playing Games of Chance with Handmade Dice","datePublished":"2026-04-06T18:00:00+00:00","dateModified":"2026-04-06T20:20:46+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.thisiscolossal.com\/2026\/04\/ice-age-native-american-ancient-dice-games-archaeology\/"},"wordCount":412,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.thisiscolossal.com\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.thisiscolossal.com\/2026\/04\/ice-age-native-american-ancient-dice-games-archaeology\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.thisiscolossal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/dice-1.jpeg","keywords":["archaeology","games","Indigenous culture"],"articleSection":["History"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.thisiscolossal.com\/2026\/04\/ice-age-native-american-ancient-dice-games-archaeology\/","url":"https:\/\/www.thisiscolossal.com\/2026\/04\/ice-age-native-american-ancient-dice-games-archaeology\/","name":"12,000 Years Ago, Native Americans Were Playing Games of Chance with Handmade Dice &#8212; Colossal","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.thisiscolossal.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.thisiscolossal.com\/2026\/04\/ice-age-native-american-ancient-dice-games-archaeology\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.thisiscolossal.com\/2026\/04\/ice-age-native-american-ancient-dice-games-archaeology\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.thisiscolossal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/dice-1.jpeg","datePublished":"2026-04-06T18:00:00+00:00","dateModified":"2026-04-06T20:20:46+00:00","description":"New research suggests that games of chance developed much earlier\u2014to the tune of 6,000 years\u2014than originally thought.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.thisiscolossal.com\/2026\/04\/ice-age-native-american-ancient-dice-games-archaeology\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.thisiscolossal.com\/2026\/04\/ice-age-native-american-ancient-dice-games-archaeology\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.thisiscolossal.com\/2026\/04\/ice-age-native-american-ancient-dice-games-archaeology\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.thisiscolossal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/dice-1.jpeg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.thisiscolossal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/dice-1.jpeg","width":1605,"height":1344,"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"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.thisiscolossal.com\/2026\/04\/ice-age-native-american-ancient-dice-games-archaeology\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.thisiscolossal.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"12,000 Years Ago, Native Americans Were Playing Games of Chance with Handmade Dice"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.thisiscolossal.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.thisiscolossal.com\/","name":"Colossal","description":"The best of art, craft, and visual culture since 2010.","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.thisiscolossal.com\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.thisiscolossal.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.thisiscolossal.com\/#organization","name":"Colossal","url":"https:\/\/www.thisiscolossal.com\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.thisiscolossal.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.thisiscolossal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/icon-crow-sandal.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.thisiscolossal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/icon-crow-sandal.png","width":988,"height":988,"caption":"Colossal"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.thisiscolossal.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/thisiscolossal\/","https:\/\/mastodon.art\/@colossal","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/thisiscolossal\/","https:\/\/bsky.app\/profile\/thisiscolossal.com"],"description":"Colossal is an online art magazine that celebrates contemporary art and visual culture across a wide range of creative disciplines.","email":"hello@colossal.art","legalName":"Colossal Projects Inc.","foundingDate":"2013-03-01"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.thisiscolossal.com\/#\/schema\/person\/3d0687f86e1920a56f27bc4264ca8ae9","name":"Kate Mothes","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.thisiscolossal.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8b51c69827feccd335b39303132e9a7519bf5c28770703f523ff4389f89ffeda?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8b51c69827feccd335b39303132e9a7519bf5c28770703f523ff4389f89ffeda?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Kate Mothes"},"description":"In addition to her role as editor for Colossal, Kate Mothes is an independent, semi-nomadic contemporary art writer, curator, and organizer based most of the time in the Upper Midwest. She is also the founder of Young Space and a regular contributor to Arts Midwest's Creativity News Desk, Ceramics Monthly, and others. Learn more about her work at katemothes.net.","url":"https:\/\/www.thisiscolossal.com\/author\/kmothes\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thisiscolossal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/472427","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thisiscolossal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thisiscolossal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thisiscolossal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2306"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thisiscolossal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=472427"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/www.thisiscolossal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/472427\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":472501,"href":"https:\/\/www.thisiscolossal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/472427\/revisions\/472501"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thisiscolossal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/472428"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thisiscolossal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=472427"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thisiscolossal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=472427"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thisiscolossal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=472427"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}