The Indus Civilization c10.9

c10.9

Although it is obvious from the markings that some tabular objects served as dice, others have been found of the same shape, or sometimes three-sided or cylindrical, whose use is still unknown. These certainly cannot have been dice, for they have the same pattern incised, either on each face or on the two opposite ones, and they may therefore have been casting-bones whose significance depended not on the pattern which came uppermost but on the manner in which the objects themselves fell after being thrown. These divining-bones, if indeed they did serve that purpose, are as commonly found as the dice, and in several cases have been found in groups of three.