Hundreds of Gaming Pieces Unearthed in Utah Cave
Thursday, May 21, 2015
(Courtesy Ives and Yanicki)
EDMONTON,
CANADA—A cave on the shore of Utah’s Great Salt Lake has yielded
butchered bison and elk bones and hundreds of child-sized moccasins made
by the members of the Promontory culture in the late thirteenth
century. Now archaeologist John Ives of the University of Alberta is
studying dice, hoops, and carved pieces of cane from the cave that are
thought to have been used for gambling. “The numbers and diversity of
gaming artifacts that we see in the Promontory record are unparalleled
in western North America,” Ives told Western Digs.
Many of the gaming pieces were discovered around a central hearth near
the entrance to the cave, in what was probably a social, domestic space.
“The propensity of the Promontory people for gaming signifies a genuine
interest in engaging in peaceful interactions with neighbors extending
over the far-flung area in which they ranged,” added University of
Alberta’s Gabriel Yanicki, who has studied historical accounts of games
played with similar objects. To read about a famous collection of
figurines found in Utah, go to "Investigating a Decades-Old Disappearance."
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