Native Americans Invented Dice, Probability 12,000 Years Ago

Study suggests gambling traditions began in US Southwest long before Europe, Asia, Africa

Apr. 3, 2026 at 8:00pm

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A highly structured abstract painting in earthy tones, featuring sweeping geometric arcs, concentric circles, and precise botanical spirals, conceptually representing the complex mathematical and spiritual foundations of dice and probability as invented by ancient Native American cultures.Groundbreaking research suggests ancient Native Americans pioneered the intellectual concepts behind gambling and probability theory millennia before their counterparts in the Eastern Hemisphere.Folsom Today

A new study in the journal American Antiquity argues that Native Americans in the present-day US Southwest were using dice and grappling with ideas of chance and probability roughly 12,000 years ago—about 6,000 years before anything comparable shows up in Europe, Africa, or Asia.

Why it matters

This research challenges the long-held assumption that the origins of gambling and probability theory trace back to ancient civilizations in the Eastern Hemisphere, suggesting that Native American cultures in North America were pioneering these intellectual concepts millennia earlier.

The details

Researcher Robert Madden, a former trial lawyer turned archaeology doctoral student at Colorado State University, sifted through decades of excavation reports and imposed consistent criteria for what counts as dice. He traced two-sided, meticulously shaped bone and wooden pieces back to ice age-era Folsom culture sites in Colorado, Wyoming, and New Mexico, then forward in an unbroken line to modern Native communities.

  • The dice artifacts date back approximately 12,000 years.
  • The study was published in the journal American Antiquity in 2026.

The players

Robert Madden

A 62-year-old former trial lawyer turned archaeology doctoral student at Colorado State University who conducted the research.

Folsom culture

An ancient Native American culture that inhabited the present-day US Southwest region during the ice age, and whose archaeological sites contained the earliest known dice artifacts.

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What they’re saying

“These are not casual by-products of bone-working. They were made to generate random outcomes.”

— Robert Madden, Archaeology doctoral student

“What we're really looking at here is an intellectual accomplishment.”

— Robert Madden, Archaeology doctoral student

What’s next

Madden's findings are expected to spur further research into the origins and evolution of gambling and probability theory in ancient Native American cultures.

The takeaway

This discovery challenges long-held assumptions about the origins of gambling and probability theory, suggesting that Native American civilizations in North America were pioneering these intellectual concepts thousands of years before their counterparts in Europe, Asia, and Africa.