The Common Vein

The Game of Knucklebones

• aka scatter jacks, snobs, astragalus, tali, dibs, fivestones, jacks,
•  game of dexterity played
• small objects
• thrown up, caught
• derived from the Ancient Greek
• uses the astragalus (a bone in the ankle, or hock) of a sheep.^[
• and the talus bone in the human

Knucklebones are believed to be an early precursor of dice

Throwing of the Bones Sangoma Zulu Doctor Diviner

• Sangomas believe
  • they are able to access advice and guidance
  • from ancestors
  • by throwing bones,

Scapulimancy

• practice of divination by use of scapulae
• two forms
  • “apyromantic”,
    • the scapula of an animal was simply examined after its slaughter.
    • practiced in
      •  Europe, Northern Africa and the Near East.
  •  “pyromantic”
    • forms of divination
    • involving the heating or burning of the bone
    •  interpretation of the results,
    • as practiced in
      • East Asia and North America.
• Oxen scapulae with inscriptions