It’s not a party until someone brings out the animal matter. Israeli archaeologists have discovered the unusual purpose behind 600 Hellenistic-era dice fashioned from the talus bones of ancient ...

Archaeologists in Israel found over 600 knuckle bones, called astragali. They determined they functioned like dice in everything from children’s games to gambling and divination. Each can land on four ...

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Ethnic minority groups in China have long relied on a gruesome method to predict their fortunes: beating a rooster to death and reading its femur bones, a practice that has lasted for centuries.

While dating back 3,000 years, no one recognized how special the oracle bones of the Shang Dynasty were until 1899. Yet the antiquarian who first perceived the value of the artifacts, etched with ...

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IIIF provides researchers rich metadata and media viewing options for comparison of works across cultural heritage collections. Visit the IIIF page to learn more. Collected in 1926 by anthropologist ...