>===== Original Message From HISTORICAL ARCHAEOLOGY <[log in to unmask]> =====
>I've seen a reference (and naturally didn't make a note of where I found
>it...) of soldiers during the Civil War playing marbles.  That correlates
>well with "male" but not so well with "little." It could also correlate
>with doing ANYTHING to relieve the boredom of days in camp or on the march.
>
>RCL

Serendipitously enough, during a recent Phase I survey on the campus of 
Lincoln Memorial University in Harrogate, Tennessee, we found a clay marble 
that had been ground on one side, rendering it useless as a marble, but 
perhaps useful as a checkers piece or other gaming token. It was recovered on 
a slope from which local metal detector enthusiats have found many Civil War 
items over the years, and was the location of a probable rifle trench, and 
possibly a camp site as well.

Dan Marcel ([log in to unmask])
Archaeologist II
Archaeological Research Laboratory, (http://arl.as.utk.edu/)
The University of Tennessee, Knoxville
5723 Middlebrook Pike Room 237
Knoxville, Tennessee  37996-0060
ph:  (865) 974-9647
fax:  (865) 946-1883