Hello all,

I am writing about small white die, 3/8" square, made of what appears to be ceramic. It is cracked and appears to be very old, but it has not yellowed. 

I know that dice are among the oldest gaming instruments known, and after doing the usual literature searching, googling, etc., so far I've found lots of histories of the game, but not much in terms of material or size chronology. I did find a couple of sites which talk about materials, but not in relation to date of production. I also haven't found any mention of ceramic dice in the literature, other than a couple of examples from Europe. This particular die was found in an African American neighborhood near downtown Houston.

If anyone has any ideas, or similar examples, I'd be most grateful. I can also send a pic to anyone who might want it.

With thanks,
carol

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Carol McDavid, Ph.D.
Project Director, Public Archaeology, Yates Community Archaeology Project
Adjunct Asst. Professor, University of Houston
1638 Branard
Houston, TX 77006
www.webarchaeology.com
www.publicarchaeology.org