"Kushan" Dice Found in India

Pre-historic findings in Rajasthan district
February 3, 2010
Special Correspondent Article from The Hindu Online:

JAIPUR: Fragments of pre-historic ostrich eggshells estimated to be 25,000 years old and earthen dice belonging to the Kushan period are the latest additions to a treasure trove of archaeological objects discovered in Bundi district of Rajasthan. The findings are set to throw new light on the hoary past of the Hadauti region which is believed to have sustained an ancient civilisation.

Amateur archaeologist Om Prakash Sharma alias Kukki, who has made the spectacular discoveries, was honoured at the Republic Day ceremony of the Directorate of Archaeology at Albert Hall Museum here on January 26.

A barely literate grocer with a passion for artefacts of yore, Kukki has discovered rock paintings belonging to the Mesolilithic-Chalcolithic age and numismatic objects and tools of the Copper Age and the Mauryan and post-Gupta period in the vast hilly tracts of Bundi, Kota and Bhilwara districts over the past two decades.  .  .  .  .

Kukki says he discovered about 20 earthen dice from the mounds in Richcha Ki Jhonpriya hamlet, 34 km from Bundi, at the end of the previous monsoon when the soil from the mounds shifted naturally. “The small cubes are tastefully designed with lines, which probably denote the number assigned to each of them,” he says.

The dice, used on the chessboard for the indoor games of chance, belong to the Kushan period of 1st to 3rd Century A.D. Kukki affirmed that if the sand mounds in the region are excavated the traces of an ancient civilisation and human habitation could be found, connecting the missing links in Indian history.

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Note: I am thinking that the "earthen dice" must be some form of hard-fired clay, otherwise they probably would not have survived since the 2nd or 3rd century, CE.