# What Ice Age gaming pieces reveal about probability?

**URL:** <https://forum.kirupa.com/t/what-ice-age-gaming-pieces-reveal-about-probability/679981>\
**Category:** talk\
**Created:** [April 4, 2026, 10:00am UTC](https://forum.kirupa.com/t/what-ice-age-gaming-pieces-reveal-about-probability/679981 "2026-04-04T10:00:31Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Ellen1979](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex011/user_avatar/forum.kirupa.com/ellen1979/32/31260_2.png) [@Ellen1979](https://forum.kirupa.com/u/Ellen1979)\
**Post date:** [April 4, 2026, 10:00am UTC](https://forum.kirupa.com/t/what-ice-age-gaming-pieces-reveal-about-probability/679981/1 "2026-04-04T10:00:31Z")

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Ars says Ice Age hunter-gatherers in North America may have used dice-like objects in repeatable, rule-based games, which suggests they understood and deliberately used randomness long before formal math showed up.

> **[Ice Age dice show early Native Americans may have understood probability](https://arstechnica.com/science/2026/04/ice-age-dice-show-early-native-americans-may-have-understood-probability/)**
>
> Ice Age hunter-gatherer "were intentionally relying on random outcomes in repeatable, rule-based ways."

Ellen 😊

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**Author:** ![HariSeldon](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex011/user_avatar/forum.kirupa.com/hariseldon/32/31261_2.png) [@HariSeldon](https://forum.kirupa.com/u/HariSeldon)\
**Post date:** [April 4, 2026, 10:07am UTC](https://forum.kirupa.com/t/what-ice-age-gaming-pieces-reveal-about-probability/679981/2 "2026-04-04T10:07:08Z")

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You do not need equations to notice that one marked bone comes up more than another over many throws, and that kind of play trains fair-sharing and dispute-settling at the group level.

Hari