Roll the Dice: Iron Age II Gameboards and Playing Pieces from Tel Gezer, eds. I. Shai, J.R. Chadwick, L. Hitchcock, A. Dagan, C. McKinny and J. Uziel. Pp. 956-965, color plates pp. 1092-3. (original) (raw)
Related papers
XII Scripta And Two Excavated Game Boards From Kibyra
SOMA 2013. Proceedings of the 17th Symposium on Mediterranean Archaeology, 2013
Two ‘duodecim scripta’ boards have been found in the on-going excavations of the ancient city of Kibyra, located in the city of Burdur’s Gölhisar district. The first one is of limestone. Like the other examples, this board was curved as to be a shallow pool. The second board was found in the 2014 excavations of the Agora’s first Terrace Street. The table had been reused in the base of a fountain which was constructed around the 5th - 6th centuries AD In this article, from these examples from the Kibyra excavations, comparisons are drawn with other examples and an inquiry is made concerning ‘duodecim scripta’.
Strange Games: Some Iron Age examples of a four-player board game? [2016]
From Cardboard to Keyboard: Proceedings of the XVII Annual Colloquium of the International Board Game Studies Association. UCS Ipswich 21-24 May 2014, 2016
A late Iron Age cremation grave, dated to the second half of the first century BC, excavated from a site in Welwyn Garden City, Hertfordshire, contains an apparently unique set of glass gaming pieces. The gaming pieces are visually striking because of their distinctive appearance: the twenty-four opaque or semi-translucent coloured glass domes (six white pieces, six yellow, six red and six green), each with adorned with decorative spiral motifs, seem to comprise a complete set of game pieces for what may be an unknown four-player game. They were found in a rich burial containing five Dressel 1B wine amphorae and an Italian silver cup, along with other grave goods. Some account of the pieces is given by Donald Harden in Stead’s archaeological report (Stead, 1967), along with a scientific analysis by Tony Werner and Mavis Bimson, based on spectrographic and X-ray examination. Harden describes the game pieces as being “of the greatest interest and rarity,” noting “not only is there is no comparable set extant; there is not even a single gaming piece of the same form and decoration which can be cited as a parallel, whether contemporary or not” (Stead, 1967 p. 15). Harden goes on to suggest “the places where we could most reasonably expect to find parallels to these pieces are eastern and southern Gaul, the Alpine region and the upper Rhineland, and the Po valley, and it is likely that in time parallels to them in or more of those areas will turn up” (Stead, 1967 p. 16). While Harden’s account of the glass pieces emphasises their unique significance for the double-spiral motif, and Werner and Bimson’s analysis suggests the yellow pieces show the earliest example of the use of lead and tin as an opacifying agent, the pieces are also thought to represent a unique example of a game for four players, described by Stead as “similar to a game played in India on a board with cruciform marking. This game was [...] patented with the name ‘ludo”’ (Stead 1967, p. 19). Footnotes in Stead suggest that other examples of what could also be glass gaming pieces for a four player game – or at least incomplete sets of glass gaming pieces that can be organised into four groups by design or colour – have also been found in a number of Italian locations, including sites in the Po Valley. This paper will seek to present several examples of Iron Age Italian gaming pieces, and to offer some comparison to the Welwyn Garden City pieces in order to draw attention to what may be examples of a hitherto overlooked four-player game. (A version of this paper, without the note on game boards, appears in the Board Game Studies Journal 9 (2015) pp. 17-40.)
Board Game Studies Journal, 2015
A late Iron Age cremation grave, dated to the second half of the first century BC, excavated from a site in Welwyn Garden City, Hertfordshire, contains an apparently unique set of glass gaming pieces. The gaming pieces are visually striking because of their distinctive appearance: the twenty-four opaque or semi-translucent coloured glass domes (six white pieces, six yellow, six red and six green), each with adorned with decorative spiral motifs, seem to comprise a complete set of game pieces for what may be an unknown four-player game. They were found in a rich burial containing five Dressel 1B wine amphorae and an Italian silver cup, along with other grave goods. Some account of the pieces is given by Donald Harden in Stead's archaeological report (Stead, 1967), along with a scientific analysis by Tony Werner and Mavis Bimson, based on spectrographic and X-ray examination. While Harden's account of the glass pieces emphasizes their unique significance for the double-spiral motif, and Werner and Bimson's analysis suggests the yellow pieces show the earliest example of the use of lead and tin as an opacifying agent, the pieces are also thought to represent a unique example of a game for four players, described by Stead as "similar to a game played in India on a board with cruciform marking. This game was [...] patented with the name 'ludo'" (Stead, 1967, p. 19). Footnotes in Stead suggest that other examples of what could also be glass gaming pieces for a four player game---or at least incomplete sets of glass gaming pieces that can be organized into four groups by design or colour---have also been found in a number of Italian locations, including sites in the Po Valley. This paper presents several examples of Iron Age Italian gaming pieces, and offers some comparison to the Welwyn Garden City pieces in order to draw attention to what may be examples of a hitherto overlooked four-player game.
Ancient Egyptians at Play : Board Games across Borders
Ancient Egyptians at Play : Board Games across Borders, 2016
gaming to larger social and political developments including trade, migration, conquest, and colonization. This study is also innovative in discussing not only the religious, but also the social significance of gaming not only in Egypt but also throughout the Near East and to some extent northeast Africa, considering the most modest game boards in addition to the fancy sets of nobles and Pharaohs. Their discussions of the material residues of gaming provide useful tools for archaeologists in identifying and contextualizing elements from boards, 'dice' and playing pieces. In sum, this volume provides a fascinating glimpse into the mechanics and dynamics of play in antiquity. The authors' concern for gaming's temporal, geographic and social contexts adds an important dimension to their study, making it an essential source for those who are interested in gaming in the Near East and northeast Africa and indeed at all times and places.
New Evidence for the 10th Century BCE at Tel Gezer
New Evidence for the 10th Century BCE at Tel Gezer, in A. Faust, Y. Garfinkel and M. Mumcuoglu (eds.) State Formation Processes in the 10th Century BCE Levant (Jerusalem Journal of Archaeology 1): 221–240., 2021
Recent excavations at Tel Gezer under the auspices of the Tandy Institute for Archaeology have systematically revealed a broad exposure west of the Iron Age gate complex (popularly referred to as the "Solomonic Gate"). This report focuses on the occupation layers of the 10th century BCE (our Strata 8 and 7, dated by 14C and ceramic analyses). Stratum 8 represents a unique period of Gezer's history when the city experienced a major shift in urban planning, as evidenced by a monumental administrative building and casemate fortifications that are associated with the Iron Age gate. This city was intensely destroyed, probably as a result of Sheshonq's campaign. Stratum 7, which was also destroyed, exhibits a major shift to domestic quarters.
Games in the Ancient World: Places, Spaces, Accessories
Games in the Ancient World: Places, Spaces, Accessories, 2024
Le volume réunit une série d’études présentées lors de colloques organisés par le projet ERC Locus Ludi (#741520) ainsi que d’autres contributions. Un large éventail de cas met en lumière la diversité culturelle des comportements dans l’espace et le temps. Ces études révèlent l’étendue géographique et chronologique des pratiques ludiques, de l’Égypte pharaonique à la Grande-Bretagne romaine et à la périphérie celtique du haut Moyen Âge. Malgré l’abondance de témoignages, le matériel conservé est souvent fragmentaire et dispersé, occulté par la perception occidentale moderne des jeux comme des passe-temps futiles. En déconstruisant la complexité des pratiques ludiques antiques, cet ouvrage met en lumière l’intersection des jeux avec la vie sociale, culturelle et religieuse dans l’Antiquité, et livre une perspective nouvelle sur un aspect jusqu’ici négligé de l’histoire humaine.