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Hi Emma I have not seen any pictures of your find. It is very likely a gaming piece, dice - the usual oblong square shape is like this in thje viking Age. On their sides they usually have contric circles denominating the numbers. They come from context of grave finds, and from sets of gaming pieces most of them dome-shaped glass pieces. These games are called hnefatavl a form of chess. I find some illustrations in: (p246-No71,322-No360)Else Roesdahl & David M. Wilson From Viking To Crusader. The Scandinavians in Europe 500-1200. Rizzoli New York 1992. ISBN 0847816257 Best regards Jesper Østergaard Hessensgade 22, 2tv 2300 Copenhagen S. Denmark --- emma evans <[log in to unmask]> wrote: > Hi, I have found a worked bone object from a Late > Iron Age site near Gloucester that, according to > McGregor in his book on worked bone, antler and > ivory is a dice. It is a small oblong shaped object, > with each of the four long sides having numbers > etched into them (numbers 3 - 6). Whilst according > to the book it seems to obviously be a dice, it is > about half the size of the ones he mentions, and > appears to be made from the solid shaft of a large > long bone, with a hole drilled through it rather > than a larger sheep sized long bone such as a > metapodial which would naturally have a hole through > the middle. It is also very nicely polished. > Basically, what we are wondering is if this object > was originally made as a very small dice, or if it > could have been a bead decorated like a dice. I was > wondering if anyone had found anything similar to > this, and what their thoughts were on the object. > Thanks > Emma-Jayne > > -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- > Emma-Jayne Evans, Oxford Archaeology > [log in to unmask] > Jesper S. Østergaard Hessensgade 22, 2tv 2300 Copenhagen S DenmarK __________________________________ Discover Yahoo! Use Yahoo! to plan a weekend, have fun online and more. Check it out! http://discover.yahoo.com/