The oldest known dice date back about 12,000 years in North America

The oldest known dice in the world are roughly 12,000 years old and from western North America, a new study suggests. Before the discovery, the oldest dice recorded were from Mesopotamia, made around 5,500 years ago. That pushes the invention of dice back by about 6,000 years.

Many Native American cultures have rich histories of dice games and still play them today. These games were historically tools for social cohesion, increasingly important as isolated groups of people began to grow and mingle more, says Robert Weiner, an archaeologist at Dartmouth College.

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