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Wood/Other Toys and Games

By Patricia Samford and Taylor Williamson

Wooden toy
Figure 1. Wood and iron train from the Magruder House (18MO324) in Montgomery County.

This section of the website includes toys made from wood, bone, plastic, rubber, and other materials. While wood does not generally survive well in the archaeological record, the anerobic environments of some privies will allow wooden artifacts to remain intact. Common wooden toys in the MAC Lab collections include spinning tops, skittles, dominos, and game pieces like checkers. Bone dice are also relatively common. Moving into the late 19th and 20th centuries, toys of rubber and plastic become increasingly common.