The 5,000 Year Old History of Marbles

Marbles as a method of passing the time probably hit their peak in the early part to mid 20^th century. Today, of course, if you gave the average kid a marble he wouldn't have the slightest idea what to do it. It doesn't connect to a TV so what use could it possibly be? The really fascinating thing is it actually took marbles roughly 5,000 years to reach its peak. Yes, it it's true: marbles can be traced back to at least 3000 BC. And, as you might well expect, it was the aliens of world history that introduced marbles to the marketplace, the ancient Egyptians. And as is the case with cards, Ouija boards and Frisbees, marbles actually began as quite adult toys, not children's toys, to be used in the art of divination.

The first marbles were constructed from bones of dogs and sheep and were in use in the Far East for probably 1,000 years before the evolved to become the plaything of children. The earliest excavated marbles have been found at both temple ruins and in the tombs of children so it has become rather easy for the tomb raiders and ark raiders to locate a rough period that witnessed the transformation of marbles from items used by adults to playthings of kids. It was at a child's tomb in Negada that the earliest marbles located in a child's tomb was discovered and this tomb was erected around 3,000 B.C. Jump forward to the year 1435 B.C. and a wealth of marble polished from agates were discovered in excavations on the island of Crete. It was determine the Minoan children enjoyed a game of marbles on a regular basis. In fact, it was from these marbles that the name itself is derived; from the Greek work marmaros which is what the agate material was called.