File:Post-Medieval Die (FindID 157952).jpg

English: A complete cast or wrought lead throwing die of possible Post Medieval date (c. AD 1500 - c. AD 1800). Dimensions 12.0mm x 11.3mm x 11.9mm. Weight 13.14g.

The six-sided die is almost cubic in form and has rounded edges and corners. The sides (or faces) are flat and bear numeric values of one to six. The numbers six, three and two are adjacent to each other and the values on opposite faces add up to seven, an arrangement that is termed the ‘regular’ layout. This layout is found on Roman dice and on some of Medieval and Post Medieval date. It is also the layout used on modern dice.

In this die the numbers on each face are small shallow indentations of differing shapes and depth. They have not been punched or drilled, but appear to have been gouged out with a sharp instrument.

This die might be classified as a Potter Type 10/12 (Potter 1992, 79-91). However, the two holes for number two are on a transverse alignment, rather than the diagonal alignment used on most other recorded dice. Four other dice noted on the Portable Antiquities Scheme database have this same unusual arrangement. See finds from Newton and Haceby Parish, Lincolnshire, Scopwick Parish, Lincolnshire, Kentchurch Parish, Hereford and Worcester and Fordham Parish, Cambridgeshire: <a href="http://www.findsdatabase.org.uk/hms/pas_obj.php?type=finds&id=00144B61B0C01DC7">LIN-619914</a>, <a href="http://www.findsdatabase.org.uk/hms/pas_obj.php?type=finds&id=0014383041501962">DENO-303AB4</a>, <a href="http://www.findsdatabase.org.uk/hms/pas_obj.php?type=finds&id=001417D092801C77">HESH-D064A5</a> and <a href="http://www.findsdatabase.org.uk/hms/pas_obj.php?type=finds&id=0013EA1612801E67">SF9176</a>.

The condition of this die is good and generally it has a well developed whitish /buff patina. A dent on face four has a similar patina but scuffs on face five and on the edge between faces one and four are recent. The edges and corners are worn and one of the indentations representing the number four is almost worn away, perhaps as a result of constant use.

The history, development and dating of gaming dice has been discussed by Geoff Egan. See: Egan 1997. Finds Research Group 700-1700: Datasheet 23 and Egan 1998, 290-91, fig. 221, refs. 953 and 954.

Roman dice made of bone have been recovered from archaeological excavations in Colchester (Crummy 1983, 96-97, fig. 102, refs. 2500-2506).