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The Museum of London holds an important collection of over 170 dice from a range of archaeological periods, excavated from across London over the past 60 years. Evidence for dice in London dates back to the Iron Age and no doubt these not uncommon objects have been used to play games, gamble (and even cheat with!) over the millennia. A well-known group of ‘false’ dice which were weighted with mercury were discovered on the Thames foreshore and are currently on display in the Museum’s Medieval gallery. The dice in the museum’s collection have been assigned to a typology depending upon whether they are formed of a solid cube (type 1) or a composite cube (type 2). All type 2 dice from London are Roman in date suggesting that the creation of these dice from a hollow section of animal long-bone with plugs to fill the cavity is a particularly Roman design. Bone dice are by far the most common but examples in amber, stone and metal have also been found. It is very common for the face values of dice to be marked with ‘pips’ and standard dice have their opposite faces adding up to seven. Standard dice have been assigned to another group (Potter types 1 to 16) based on the arrangement of the pips on each face in relation to each other (see Egan 1997). It is very difficult to date dice without an archaeological context and evidence of non-standard dice have been found from all historical periods in London. Each die in this group has been digitised to form a cruciform for consistency of recording and easy comparison. When of a standard arrangement the Potter type for the die is firstly established by observing the relationship of faces 2, 3 and 6 to each other (see Egan 1997). Face 6 is always placed at the centre of the cruciform net aligned horizontally, resulting in face 1 always being placed at the foot of the cruciform. The position and orientation of the remaining faces is established by the correct alignment of faces 2 and 3 about the ‘central’ face 6. These dice have been catalogued and digitised as part of the Archaeological Archive’s volunteer programme 'Opening Up to Archaeology', funded by Arts Council England (ACE). Our volunteers are now researching the assemblage to explore important questions around manufacture and use. A particular focus is on the Roman period, exploring the more unusual contexts in which dice turn up such as in burials and in special deposits. It suggests that these small objects at times had more than a simple, practical function. Thanks go to our volunteer team: Guy Bloom, Sunny La Rose and John Walledge. References and further reading: • Egan, G. 1997. Dice. Finds Research Group Datasheet 23. • MacGregor, A. 1985. Bone, antler, ivory & horn: the technology of skeletal materials since the Roman period. London: Croom Helm; Totowa, N.J.: Barnes & Noble • Spencer, B. 1985. The false dice and their container. Antiquaries Journal 65.2. 451-3.

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