Presented as a challenge to retired dungeonmasters and ninth-level paladins. The image is presented without further explanation in an Archaeology article about excavations in Naples, Italy. Ancient Romans were well known for their propensity for gaming (type "Roman dice" into Google Images), but I've never seen a die hollowed out in this fashion.
It looks to have been made of ivory or bone, and unless it was created or adapted for some decorative purpose, the hollowing-out must have been intended for some functional purpose. The two affected sides are for the 3- and 4-pips, with the latter evident on the image around the edges of the cavity, so I think it was still used as a six-sided die, not as a four-sided one.
One might assume that the hollowing was done to prove that the die was not asymmetrically weighted, but would it then still be a fair die?
And if it would not be a fair die on a throw, does that revert us back to the other option - that this was decorative, perhaps worn as a ring on a finger?
See also: A 20-sided die... from the 2nd century A.D.
Photo credit Pasquale Sorrentino.
Addendum: An anonymous reader found this (unfortunately unsourced) similar die at The Cartographer:
This one was "deliberately carved from a large animal bone with the marrow channel as a feature," and on the 3-pip side the hole became the central pip.
Addendum #2: A big hat tip to MacGregor Historic Games for what appears to be the definitive answer to my question:
This was actually a fairly common technique to make larger dice out of marrow bones of sheep from Roman times and even later. This one is simply missing the two plugs or end caps that would be glued in place to cover the holes. The book "Face to Face with Dice" (ISBN: 90-76953-88-0) discusses them and has several pictures and illustrations. It explains that a sheep or goat metatarsal bone could be ground into a square "stick" and then cut into several cubes. The faces with three and four were usually placed on the caps.
There have been some writers who have thought that these might be "loaded" dice with a bit of lead glued inside to favor one number, but X-rays of complete examples have yet to find any weighted versions of this type of hollow dice. I assume the thickness of the end caps might compensate a bit for the balance being a little off, or that they may not be "off" enough to be reliably predictable as loaded dice.
Here are some pictures of some complete examples.
Maybe it was worn as a necklace?
ReplyDeleteI agree with Andrew; easy transportation would be one explanation.
ReplyDeletePerhaps if gambling were banned or taxed it would be a nice decorative piece of jewelry that could be used discreetly to throw dice?
ReplyDeleteThat looks like a bone die with the marrow channel exposed and incorporated as a feature rather than a bug. Quite unusual and rare.
ReplyDeleteStrangely enough, I know about this because of a much older post about polyhedral gaming die on your blog. Desultory link clicking led to this: http://al-zahr.blogspot.com/2004/12/dimensus.html
Of course, that post is now featured along with this post as a 'See Also..."
Thanks, Anon. I've incorporated the link and image you found into the body of the post. :.)
DeleteOf course, what I meant to say with my first comment is, 'No, I can't explain it. I can only tell you what it is."
ReplyDeleteOne ring to play them all?
ReplyDeleteI have seen modern bone beads in a cylindrical shape with similar decorations engraved.
ReplyDeleteI think we're looking at the bit that was thrown away and the die was a handy source of bone/ivory for another project.
ReplyDeletering
ReplyDeleteThis was actually a fairly common technique to make larger dice out of marrow bones of sheep from Roman times and even later. This one is simply missing the two plugs or end caps that would be glued in place to cover the holes. The book "Face to Face with Dice" (ISBN: 90-76953-88-0 http://home.hccnet.nl/vd.heijdt/English%20version.htm ) discusses them and has several pictures and illustrations. It explains that a sheep or goat metatarsal bone could be ground into a square "stick" and then cut into several cubes. The faces with three and four were usually placed on the caps.
ReplyDeleteThere have been some writers who have thought that these might be "loaded" dice with a bit of lead glued inside to favor one number, but X-rays of complete examples have yet to find any weighted versions of this type of hollow dice. I assume the thickness of the end caps might compensate a bit for the balance being a little off, or that they may not be "off" enough to be reliably predictable as loaded dice.
Here are some pictures of some complete examples.http://averweij.web.cern.ch/averweij/bone.htm
(I've been in the business of researching and selling games of the past for several years)
Thank you. I've incorporated your comments into the body of the post.
DeleteNo problem, I've been enjoying following your blog for a couple months now.
DeleteBTW as far as the balance/randomness of the dice, there seems to be a lot of surviving Roman dice that are a lot less accurate that we would want for a gambling game. http://www.ancientresource.com/lots/roman/roman_dice.html But then, for some games it doesn't matter that much as long as everyone is using the same pair of dice.
My very pedestrian notion is simply that it was modified to be used as a scarf ring much as the ones used by the boy scouts and the U.S. army cavalry of days gone by, for example.
ReplyDelete