Cubic numbered dice
Dados cúbicos numerados
- Date
- c. 2500 BCE · confidence medium
- Place
- Mohenjo-daro and Harappa, Pakistan
- Credited to
- Indus Valley Civilisation
- Field
- Tools
⚠️ Disputed: the sources disagree.
What it is
Terracotta and stone dice with values from one to six marked in dots, common in the cities of the Indus. Along with those from Shahr-i Sokhta, they are the oldest known cubic dice, and games of chance appear later in the Vedic texts.
Shahr-i Sokhta (Iran) has dice of a similar date; some Indus dice pair 1-2, 3-4 and 5-6 on opposite faces, unlike the later norm of opposite faces summing to seven.
What it led to
- games of chance and gambling (Rigveda, Mahabharata)
- spread of the cubic die across West Asia