Native Americans were gambling with dice 6,000 years earlier than anyone else, study says

A collection of presumed dice made from wood and bone by Native American hunter gatherers. The dice at top left comes from the Agate Basin archaeological site in Wyoming and are about 12,000 years old. Photograph: Robert Madden

Native American hunter gatherers were using dice for gaming and gambling more than 6,000 years before the practice appeared anywhere else, a new study argues.

It says dice were being made and used on the western great plains of North America at the end of the last ice age, more than 12,000 years ago.