An Altered Past: Modified Dice Tells Tales of Medieval Gambling in Norway

Ancient Origins

Is it true cheaters never prosper? Archaeologists believe that a 600-year-old wooden dice found in Norway was used in Medieval gambling. It was apparently a prized possession of a shifty player, who may have had to toss his “lucky charm” as people caught on to his unfair advantage in their game.

The Norwegian Institute for Cultural Heritage Research (NIKU) reports the dice had the unusual feature of two fours and two fives, but no one or two. The wooden artifact was not only crooked, but also slanted. It measures 2.1 cm (0.83 inches) high and wide in the top, but 2.2 cm (0.87 inches) in the bottom. The piece weighed a somewhat heavy 16.7 grams.

The dice was probably used by a cheater in Medieval gambling. ( Angela Weigand, UIB )

Archaeologist Ingrid Rekkavik writes that gambling was rather widespread in Bergen in the Medieval period. The problem was severe enough that the practice was eventually banned by the authorities. Rekkavik explains that there was even a city law in 1276 which allowed the King’s Ombudsmen to seize any money from the betting table and fine the gamblers about 107 grams of silver for breaking the law.

The kings throw dice. "Olav the Sacred Saga" by Snorri Sturlason, King Saga, Kristiania 1899. ( Nasjonalmuseet)

 The location where the dice was found was filled with inns and pubs in the Middle Ages, so project manager Per Christian Underhaug is not surprised that it could have been used in gambling. It was unearthed by a wooden street which dates back to the 1400s.

 How did the altered dice end up in the street? Underhaug says it is equally likely to have been intentionally discarded as lost.

Rekkavik has created a couple of possible scenarios for how the dice made its way to the street. She suggests the person trying to cheat at the game was either suspected or caught in the act. One of his fuming opponents may have thrown the dice into the street or the cheater could have dropped the wooden piece when he noted people looking at him suspiciously.

The excavation. The dice was found during an excavation inside this concrete frame in Øvre Korskirkeallmenning in Bergen. ( NIKU)

Live Science reports archaeologists are uncertain how the dice could have worked in betting, but it seems probable that the game saw the roll of a one or two as unlucky and four or five as good.

Although most signs suggest the Medieval dice was a gambler’s tool, there is also the possibility that the artifact was used in some unknown game which didn’t include the numbers one or two.

NIKU writes the object is rare because of its alterations, but it isn’t the only time Medieval dice have been found in Bergen – more than 30 have been recovered so far.

A February 2018 study shows that there are several instances of people attempting to cheat at dice in the ancient past. It says,

“In Roman times, many dice were visibly lopsided, unlike today's perfect cubes. And in early medieval times, dice were often “unbalanced” in the arrangement of numbers, where 1 appears opposite 2, 3 opposite 4, and 5 opposite 6 […] Gamblers may have seen dice throws as no longer determined by fate, but instead as randomizing objects governed by chance.”

Selection of Roman era dice and jetons (tokens). ( CC0)

Top Image: This Medieval dice has two 4's and two 5's but no 1 or 2. Archaeologists believe that it was likely used to cheat while gambling. This photo shows the two 5's. Source: Angela Weigand/UiB

By Alicia McDermott

How Dice Changed in the Middle Ages

Medievalists

These are 14th century medieval dice from the Netherlands recovered during an excavation in the 1990s. Credit: Jelmer Eerkens, UC Davis

BY NATALIE ANDERSON Whether at a casino playing craps or engaging with family in a simple board game at home, rolling the dice introduces a bit of chance or “luck” into every game. We expect dice to be fair, where every number has equal probability of being rolled.

But a new study shows this was not always the case. In Roman times, many dice were visibly lopsided, unlike today’s perfect cubes. And in early medieval times, dice were often “unbalanced” in the arrangement of numbers, where 1 appears opposite 2, 3 opposite 4, and 5 opposite 6. It did not matter what the objects were made of (metal, clay, bone, antler and ivory), or whether they were precisely symmetrical or consistent in size or shape, because, like the weather, rolls were predetermined by gods or other supernatural elements.

Renaissance brings change
All that began to change around 1450, when dice makers and players seemingly figured out that form affected function, explained Jelmer Eerkens, University of California, Davis, professor of anthropology and the lead author of a recent study on dice. “

A new worldview was emerging — the Renaissance. People like Galileo and Blaise Pascal were developing ideas about chance and probability, and we know from written records in some cases they were actually consulting with gamblers,” he said. “We think users of dice also adopted new ideas about fairness, and chance or probability in games.”

Standardization comes into play “Standardizing the attributes of a die, like symmetry and the arrangement of numbers, may have been one method to decrease the likelihood that an unscrupulous player had manipulated the dice to change the odds of a particular roll,” Eerkens said.

Dice are not common finds in archaeological sites. They are typically found in garbage, domestic areas, or cemeteries, and frequently are recovered as lone objects in a site, Eerkens said. Many are not accurately dated.

After looking at hundreds of dice in dozens of museums and archaeological depots across the Netherlands, Eerkens and his co-author, Alex de Voogt, of the American Museum of Natural History, New York, were able to assemble and analyze a set of 110 carefully dated, cube-shaped dice. Their findings were published in the journal Acta Archaeologica in December.

Die, 9th-10th century, Iran. Metropolitan Museum of Art, 38.40.93.

The researchers found that:

 Dice made before 400, or in Roman times, are highly variable in shape, size, material and configuration of numbers.

Dice are very rare between 400 and 1100, corresponding to the Dark Ages.

When dice reappear around 1100 they are predominantly in the “primes” configuration, where opposite numbers tally to prime numbers (1-2; 3-4; 5-6), a numbering style that was also popular in ancient Mesopotamia and Egypt. Early medieval dice also tend to be quite small relative to their Roman predecessors.

Around 1450 the numbering system quickly changed to “sevens” where opposite sides add up to seven (6-1; 5-2; 3-4). Dice also became highly standardized in shape, and also were made larger again. Standardization may be, in part, a byproduct of mass production.

Eerkens said he studied dice because they are a convenient item in which to isolate the function from the style, as opposed to other artifacts found in archaeological sites, such as arrowheads, a functional item used for hunting. “A lot of artifacts we study as archaeologists conflate the two… . We know for dice they are purely stylistic.”

The study also shows that dice, like many material objects, reflect a lot about people’s changing worldviews, Eerkens said.

“In this case, we believe it follows changing ideas about chance and fate.” The researchers conclude in their article, “Gamblers may have seen dice throws as no longer determined by fate, but instead as randomizing objects governed by chance.”