18th Century Dice- St. Augustine, FL
Institution: Florida Public Archaeology Network, East Central
State: Florida
Object: Dice
Era: 18th Century
This die was discovered during an excavation in downtown St. Augustine, Florida. The area was founded by the Spanish in 1565 and served as the administrative center for the colony of La Florida. At one point, Florida was ceded to Britain during the Seven Years War. The dice comes from an 18th century deposit, the era in which the city transferred from Spanish to British and back again.
Although we are uncertain of where or how this die was found, evidence suggests that bone dice games originated with the Spanish but adopted by indigenous groups during early contact periods. In Spain, game pieces are made of animal ankle bones and known as Taba. In indigenous contexts, dice are often found in bowls or jars as grave goods for children’s burials.
The Taba version of the game is played by continuously throwing the single die until it lands on the “flat side”. However, six-sided dice were immensely popular in colonial-era Europe, leading to the standardizing the arrangement of numbers so all opposing sides added to seven so players could recognize “loaded” dice.
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