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• 1 2017-05-28T14:14:32-07:00 Weathered Bone Die 6 object page plain 2017-09-17T15:09:29-07:00 Dice are important to our understanding of Scandinavian life because it implies the existence of something that was previously unavailable for large portions of the viking world – leisure time. Dice, as well as other game pieces, indicate that an increasing amount of people had segments of time they could devote to learning and playing a variety of games that required various accoutrements, as well as crafting these pieces. Leisure time would probably have been reserved for the coldest months of winter when people were unable to farm and less likely to leave their homes for hunting.^[1]
  
  The concentric rings that denote face value are a design also found on other examples of viking-age dice.^[2] The die itself is made of bone – a common material for many viking age objects, or at least a material that survived well. It’s possible that dice and another gaming materials could have been made from wood or other mediums that did not survive as well. This particular die was likely lost accidentally or thrown out after splintering or cracking. This die was found on Öland, one of the largest Swedish islands, but the context of its finding is unknown.
  
  Although a small find, this die points to a culture that was far more complex than pillaging and swilling mead. The game piece implies time and labor leftover after survival to create activities of leisure, and the fact that leisure exists reveals to us that viking life was, sometimes at least, peaceful.