Roman Die Made of Elephant Ivory

From BBC News:

24 September 2012 Last updated at 11:58 ET
Roman die at Gloucester museum 'made of elephant ivory'

A scientific study on an ivory Roman gaming die found in Gloucestershire has ended a 40-year mystery.

The die was found in Frocester near Stroud about 40 years ago

The small cube was found in Frocester near Stroud in the late 1960s but until now the type of ivory was unknown.

Dr Sonia O'Connor from the University of Bradford has carried out tests at Gloucester City Museum which she says prove the ivory came from an elephant.

The museum's curator David Rice said he was "disappointed" the object was not made of rarer whale ivory.

"We've been puzzling about it for 30 years [since it has been in the museum]," he said.

"I am disappointed, but it's good to know what it is.

"It shows Gloucestershire was connected to the world even 2,000 years ago, with things coming from Africa to the county."

Trade routes

Dr O'Connor first studied the die in the early 1980s, but revisited it after the award of new funding.

It has allowed her to study objects made of hard animal tissue such as ivory, antler, bone, horn and tortoiseshell.

"Although it had been identified as ivory nobody could work out what the species was, and at the time I couldn't get any further either," she said.

Dr O'Connor came to the elephant ivory conclusion after studying the texture of the surface.

"I would love for it to have been one of the unusual ivories for the Roman period but it is actually elephant ivory.

"The species helps us understand trade routes and the importance of the piece.

"The rarer the material perhaps the more valuable it was to the people who owned it."

Mr Rice said he now planned to put the die on permanent display in Gloucester Museum.

"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.