GROCERIES OR METAPHOR? - RARE ROCK ART IMAGES OF BUTCHERING GAME:

 

Bighorn sheep with arrows, Three Rivers Petroglyph Site, New Mexico. Photograph 1988, John and Esther Faris.

Back in 2011 I posted a column titled “Bighorn Sheep Petroglyphs – Groceries or Metaphor?”  on RockArtBlog. This was to argue against LaVan Martineau’s nonsense in his book “The Rocks Begin to Speak” that bighorn sheep petroglyphs were actually metaphors for travel. My evidence (aside from common sense) was that not only are there many rock art images of bighorn sheep with arrows sticking in them, but also that an Alibates flint knife from Baca County, Colorado, had proven to have bighorn sheep blood on it when tested for blood protein residues by Dr. Richard Marlar.

Alibates flint knife from Baca County, Colorado, with bighorn sheep blood protein residue. Drawn by Peter Faris, 1994.

At that time I wrote that “Back in the 1980s I was invited to speak about rock art at a meeting being held in the town of Springfield in southeastern Colorado. As part of the presentation I was talking about bighorn sheep petroglyphs which are very common in that area. I don’t honestly remember exactly what I was saying about them, but I was rudely interrupted from the floor by someone who stood up and loudly proclaimed that LaVan Martineau had solved the question of bighorn sheep petroglyphs. ‘They are a metaphor for travel.  The clues needed to understand their meaning are that the length of the legs represents the distance to be traveled, and the contour of the belly of the sheep represents how rough the country to be crossed is. Bighorn sheep petroglyphs with a deeply rounded belly show the contour of the country to consist of deep valleys, in other words rough country with plenty of mountains and valleys to cross.’(Martineau 1973).” (Faris 2011)

Hunters Shelter, New Mexico. , From Billo, Mark and Greer, 2011, Figure 2, page 52.

Hunters Shelter with panels marked, New Mexico. , From Billo, Mark and Greer, 2011, Figure 4, page 53. The butchery scene is Panel A.

A 2011 paper (which I had not seen at the time of my previous column) by Billo, Mark, and Greer presented pictograph panels from two different sites in the Guadalupe Mountains of Southern New Mexico which include scenes of anthropomorphs butchering deer, in other words suggesting that animal portrayals are indeed groceries, not metaphors. These scenes are painted in a general geographical designation that they call the Pecos Miniature Style. These are intimately related to the pictographs known as the Red Linear Style (RLS). “Late Archaic rock art known as the Red Linear Style (RLS) in the Lower Pecos River region of Texas, 400 km to the southeast (Mark and Billo 2009). Attributes of the Guadalupe imagery, such as size, body shape, hairstyles, tools, animals, nets, interaction between figures, general overall action, and technology of the paintings, show a strong similarity between pictographs at Hunters Shelter, White Oaks Spring, and other sites in the mountains.” (Billo, Mark, and Greer 2011:49) (The 400 km cited in the above quotation equals 230 miles.)

Robert Mark recording Hunters Shelter pictographs, New Mexico. , From Billo, Mark and Greer, 2011, Figure 3, page 52.

The first panel is in Hunters Shelter. “Hunters shelter is a 4 x 4 meter room-like shelter (Figure 2) high on a steep slope of an interior canyon back in from the eastern escarpment and commands a view of the valley below.” (p. 52) They designated three panels in the interior on the back wall of this space.

Hunters Shelter panel A, New Mexico. , From Billo, Mark and Greer, 2011, Figure 5, page 53. Seven anthropomorphs butchering a deer.

“Panel A, the deer butchering panel (Figure 5), is a unified scene that depicts a specific event or refers to a specific action, story, or concept. The scene covers an area 20 cm wide, 15 cm tall, and extends from 44 cm. above the floor. Seven people surround a reclined deer on its back and presumably dead. Six of the people, with weapons set aside on the ground, work on the deer. Three hold the legs, one holds the tail, and the remaining two are in the body cavity apparently removing internal organs.” (Billo, Mark, and Greer 2011:53) The figures wear unique head ornamentations, and the authors recognize that this suggests identifiable individuals. “The seventh person, again with a distinctive hairdo and holding hooked sticks, is at the right side of the scene, standing apart as in a kind of observer or instructor.” (Billo, Mark, and Greer 2011:54) Toward the upper right of the grouping there are objects shown lying on the ground which appear to be an atlatl with a pair of darts and lower down another possible pair of atlatl darts along with a more problematic decorated stick or pole. Another probable atlatl is seen at bottom center with a possible dart, and at the top, left of center, two more lines may represent darts.

White Oaks Spring rockshelter, New Mexico. From Billo, Mark and Greer, 2011, Figure 9, page 55. The red arrow points to the pictograph panel.

The second panel is at a site called White Oaks Spring Pictograph site.  “White Oaks Spring Pictograph site (LA157206), has more recently been discovered further west in the mountains. Rather than a relatively obscure site situated at the top of a high dry canyon (like Hunters Shelter), this small shallow rockshelter (Figure 9) is in a relatively protected recess in the canyon bottom, near a stream channel with permanent water nearby. Paintings are located about 1.6 meters above the bedrock floor in an area 60 cm wide and 30 cm tall.” (Billo, Mark, and Greer 2011:57)

White Oaks Spring pictographs, New Mexico. From Billo, Mark and Greer, 2011, Figure 10, page 56. The deer butchering scene is in the center.

“In the center is the deer capture or processing scene with hunters holding the four legs of an antlerless deer and an overseer with a long staff (perhaps a typical digging stick for agave extraction) and the same kind of double-recurved club as in the rabbit scene. – Two humans associated with the captured deer are clearly males, with the penis shown, suggesting that portrayal of gender was important, and the individuals perhaps were not wearing pants or loincloths.” (Billo, Mark, and Greer 2011:58)

White Oaks Spring pictographs, New Mexico. From Billo, Mark and Greer, 2011, Figure 10, page 56. Closeup of the deer butchering scene.

“Scenes that depict active capture, butchering, dressing, or processing of game animals are rare, and we know of no other examples in rock art or on pottery of butchering actually in progress. The examples at these two shelters, which almost certainly have the same referent and tell the same story, are essentially unique in this extended region.”  (Billo, Mark, and Greer 2011:59)

Interestingly, in both locations, the butchering panels are associated with pictographs portraying rabbit hunts shown as rabbit drives involving groups of hunters. Possibly the rabbit drives turned lucky and rounded up a deer as well.

“Panels at Hunters Shelter and White Oaks Spring are so similar that they and some other nearby sites – appear likely to have been painted by the same artist. Such images at several sites in the Guadalupe Mountains are strongly similar in content and manner of expression to much of the Lower Pecos Red Linear Style. Turpin (1984:195, 1994:76) suggests that the Red Linear painters were intrusive into the Lower Pecos region and likely represent a different population from the earlier Pecos River Style.” (Billo, Mark, and Greer 2011:68)

The fine details of these miniature red painted panels seem to fit into the Lower Pecos Red Linear Style giving this particular style quite an expansive distribution. “If additional sites can be identified, especially along the Pecos corridor, and perhaps dated (without destroying the art), it could add significantly to our knowledge of the movement of an early hunter-gatherer population who left this intriguing, generally carefully executed imagery on rock walls over such a great distance. We have proposed the term Pecos Miniature Art to encompass in a descriptive sense this kind of small, fine-line rock art along the greater Pecos River corridor from southeastern New Mexico to the Lower Pecos region of Texas.” (Billo, Mark, and Greer 2011:68)

I would suggest that the fact that in neither scene does the deer have antlers would suggest that either, 1. the deer are females, or, 2. if they are males the scenes take place in Spring shortly after they have shed their antlers.

Additionally, I realize that I began with this with arguments based on bighorn sheep, and these scenes are of deer being butchered. To me, however, these scenes of animal butchery as food procurement, added to the fact I cited above of bighorn sheep blood on the Alibates flint knife and a great deal of rock art of bighorn sheep with arrows in them strengthens the argument that animal images in rock art portray food resources, not metaphors for travel as claimed by Martineau (1973:123)

NOTE 1: I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate Evelyn Billo, Robert Mark, and John Greer, for their excellent work, and to thank Robert Mark for permitting me to use their material in this paper. - Any errors in this presentation are solely my responsibility.

This, and many other fascinating papers are available at the Rupestrian Cyberservices website - http://www.rupestrian.com/index.html - then click on their Publications tab.

Bisected bighorn with ten anthropomorphs. Photograph provided by Evelyn Billo.

NOTE 2: As I was finishing the writing on this, Evelyn Billo generously sent another pertinent photo seen just above, which appears to portray ten anthropomorphs grouped around a bisected bighorn sheep – definitely groceries, not a metaphor!

PRIMARY REFERENCES:

Billo, Evelyn, Robert Mark, and John Greer, 2011, Hunters Shelter and White Oaks Spring Pictographs: Pecos Miniature Art in the Guadalupe Mountains of Southern New Mexico, American Indian Rock Art, Volume 37, Mavis Greer, John Greer, and Peggy Whitehead, editors, American Indian Rock Art Research Association, pp. 49-74.

Faris, Peter, 2011, Bighorn Sheep Petroglyphs – Groceries or Metaphor?, 22 May 2011, https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/7760124847746733855/4578003363830180535

Martineau, LaVan, 1973, The Rocks Begin To Speak, KC Publications, Las Vegas, Nevada.

SECONDARY REFERENCES:

Mark, Robert, and Evelyn Billo, 2009, Pictographs at Hunters Shelter: Possible Extensions of the Red Linear Style into the Guadalupe Mountains of Southern New Mexico, Plains Anthropologist 54 (211), 201-210.

Turpin, Solveig A.,1994, Lower Pecos Prehistory: The View from the Caves, In The Caves and Karst of Texas, edited by W.R. Elliot and G. Veni, pp 69-84, National Speleological Sociaty, Huntsville.

Turpin, Solveig A.,1984, The Red Linear Style Pictographs of the Lower Pecos River Region, Texas, Plains Anthropologist 29 (105):181-198.

ANOTHER EXAMPLE OF PERSPECTIVE ANAMORPHOSIS IN ROCK ART – THE LASCAUX RED BULL:

Three Kings panel, McConkey Ranch, Vernal, Utah. Photograph Peter Faris, September 1990.

I have discussed the subject of anamorphosis previously on RockArtBlog. According to Wikipedia “Anamorphosis is a distorted projection requiring the view(er) to occupy a specific vantage point - to view a recognizable image. - The word is derived from the Greek prefix ana-, meaning ‘back’ or ‘again’, and the word morphe, meaning ‘shape’ or ‘form’.” (Wikipedia)

Proportions of central figure of Three Kings panel showing that it is eight heads in height (normal proportion should be six-and-a-half to seven). Peter Faris.

On 23 April 2009, in “Portraiture in Rock Art”, I wrote about the central figure in the Three-Kings panel, McConkey Ranch, north of Vernal, Utah, “This figure also displays another interesting detail. When seen from the ground below the figure appears in normal proportion. When observed from a vantage point near its height the figure is seen to be vertically elongated out of proportion (as seen in the photo above). I enjoy imagining a Fremont Indian artist and his young apprentice creating the portrait of an important man of the band or tribe. The young apprentice forced to climb the rocky crag with his tools and materials where he took direction from the master who stayed down on the ground below shouting to him to "make that line higher, no, a little down from there." The result appears in realistic proportion from below on the ground, but is elongated vertically when viewed from a raised viewpoint.” (Faris 2009)

I revisited this subject in “Perspective Anamorphosis – An Example In Rock Art,” on 22 June 2013, where I again included the above quote.

The red aurochs in the Megaloceros Room, Lascaux cave, France. Photograph by Norbert Aujoulat, from donsmaps.com.

Apparently the artists of the painted caves in Europe had discovered the optical distortions of angle and distance on an image and also used anamaphosis to counter them. “When our ancestors painted beautiful works of art, were they intending them to be viewed by others, or did they just paint for their own pleasure? The Lascaux caves in the Dordogne region of France, may have the answer. There you can see a painting of a red cow with a black head high on one of the walls. Up close the cow appears to be stretched from head to toe, but when viewed from the ground the cow regains normal proportions. This technique, known as anamorphosis, is highly advanced and suggests the painter was considering his audience as he painted the cow.” (Ravilious 2010)

Closeup of the red aurochs in the Megaloceros Room, Lascaux cave, France. Internet photo, public domain.

This could, in fact, be true, the painter may have been aware of the distortion effects of angle and adjusted the image to appear correct from the floor of the cave. But, it is also possible that the anamorphosis appeared accidentally as I described above for the McConkey Ranch Three-Kings panel. An elderly master painter may have been directing a young apprentice high up on a scaffold painting the cow. With the master giving directions from ground level when he told the apprentice where to place the lines of the back and belly of the cow because they looked correct to the master on the ground, the anamorphosis would be automatically built in to the image. Either way, images high on cave walls (with the Lascaux red cow as our particular example) can be found which display perspective anamaphorsis, which makes the cave artists either technically highly sophisticated or the lucky recipients of a happy accident – either way with interesting results.

Lascaux replica, France, another red Aurochs. Internet photograph, public domain.

Lascaux replica, France, brown Aurochs. Photograph, Ministere de la culture, Norvert Aujoulat.

There is, however, another possibility that we have to visit. This thick bodied bovine image may be merely a stylistic choice. Indeed, other painted aurochs from Lascaux show the same features of a small head and an abnormally thick torso. But, as I said above, whatever the truth, the question is fascinating.

NOTE: Some images in this posting were retrieved from the internet with a search for public domain photographs. If any of these images are not intended to be public domain, I apologize, and will happily provide the picture credits if the owner will contact me with them. For further information on these reports you should read the original reports at the sites listed below.

REFERENCES:

Ravilious, Kate, 2010, The Writing on the Cave Wall, New Scientist, 17 February 2010, https://www.sott.net/article/203166-The-writing-on-the-cave-wall

Wikipedia, Anamorphosis, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anamorphosis, accessed on 27 February 2022

UPPER MIDWESTERN “BISON STONES”, EFFIGIES OR PAREIDOLIA:

Iniskim, photograph Scott Burgan. Note the contour of the division line between upper and lower sections.

Fossil baculite, photograph Peter Faris, 11 November 2010. Notice the sectional contour of the end.

Buffalo-Effigy - possibly Crow, 1600-1899, photograph pages.vassar.edu.

There are some three distinct types of rock objects referred to as “bison effigy stones” or buffalo stones. That phrase is sometimes used to refer to "iniskim", the Blackfoot buffalo-calling stone. You have read about these often enough that I don’t intend to go into it at length other than to correct one common misconception. A true iniskim is a usually section of a fossil, sometimes a coiled ammonite, or a baculite which is a type of ammonite that has a straight shell. Another type of “bison effigy stone” is small, portable carved stone bison. These can be as small as a Puebloan effigy, or larger for rites and ceremonies. Finally, we have the large bison effigy stones wherein a large boulder is perceived to resemble a recumbent bison. Some of these are additionally carved to add features, and one form of that effigy is the ‘ribstone.’

Viking rib stone near Alberta, Canada (one of a pair). Photograph Carol Tulpar.

“ribstones pecked on rocks along the Canadian border to enhance a replica of an animal believed to be contained within the rock itself. In the north these stones were regarded as fetishes containing the spirits of bison, and they were often regarded as prayer stations by Siouan– and Algonkian-speaking tribes.” (Loendorf 2008:205)

Ribstone, Pine Coulee, Alberta, Canada. A'kee Piskun (buffalo jump), 2630± 80 to 2530± 70 BP. Internet photograph, public domain.

“Distributed across the Great Plains, the most spectacular ribstones – and the ones with the best ethnographic information about their use – occur in southern Alberta and Saskatchewan and in northern Montana and North Dakota. Manufactured from glacial erratic boulders, ribstones are usually made of quartzite. The largest examples occur on stationary boulders that measure nearly 2 meters long by 1 meter high, although many smaller, portable examples have also been found.

Ribstones may vary in their details, but all consist of a long, vertical line or groove along the length of a boulder that is crossed by shorter grooves, creating a figure that represents the backbone and ribs of a buffalo. The grooves have been pecked and abraded into the boulder surface to a depth of 1 or 2 centimeters, and a series of cupule-like holes have been placed in between the lines. The inclusion of pecked eyes, ears, a mouth, and horns suggests a living buffalo, and the presence of buffalo hoofprints on a number of boulders creates the impression of movement.

Plains groups like the Cree believed that ribstones embodied the spirit of a bison, which they honored by leaving offerings and saying prayers at sites where the stones occur. The holes between the rib lines represented wounds and were said to protect the interior spirit by allowing an arrow or bullet to pass through the stone.” (Loendorf 2008:214)

If such a boulder does not have features added it is harder to be sure that it actually served as a buffalo effigy for the First Nations people. Some have been identified ethnographically, for some others offerings placed around them provide the clue to identification. Many other boulders have been so identified without any proof and may, in fact, be dependent on the subjective imagination of the viewer, with no objective evidence to back it up. Extraordinary claims demand extraordinary evidence, and so far I see little for some of these.

View of the Milk River buffalo effigy rock showing the carved or pecked ribs and distinctive backbone line. Internet photograph, public domain.

“Other somewhat larger, fully-shaped or sculpted bison effigies with a base on which they stood have been discovered. Likely hidden or secreted away and never reclaimed they are thought to have had a history of use as altar pieces in buffalo rituals. Grinnell however, an inveterate explorer and chronicler, was not referring to the small, personal iniskim stones or larger altar pieces when he described a large boulder which resembled a reclining bison: ‘Down in the big bend of the Milk River, opposite the eastern end of the Little Rocky Mountains, lying on the prairie, is a great gray boulder, which is shaped like a buffalo bull lying down. This is greatly reverenced by all Plains Indians, Blackfeet included, and they make presents to it. ‘Many other examples of similar character might be given.’ (Grinnell 1892:263) Knowledge of the ‘Many other examples of similar character . . .’ came through Grinnell’s Blackfoot informants, his trained eye, awareness and a recognition of phenomenological shapes in inanimate objects like rocks. - - The phenomenalogical shape or congruence has led to many of the boulders being relocated for viewing as tourist attractions or curiosities. The Milk River buffalo effigy rock described by Grinnell is one example, not longer in its original location having been moved to the city park in Malta, Montana.” (Bender 2013:47)

Proposed buffalo stone, Ashford Hill, Wisconsin. From Bender, figure 10, p. 49. Photograph Herman Bender.

Another proposed buffalo stone, Wisconsin. From Bender, figure 2, p. 44. Photograph Herman Bender.

Bender (2013) described roughly 29 boulders in Wisconsin which he identified as bison effigy stones. Some are shaped more like a recumbent bison than others, some may have some simple features added (or perhaps natural contours are being identified as added features). And some, I fear, are examples of pareidolia. “Pareidolia is the tendency for perception to impose a meaningful interpretation on a nebulous stimulus, usually visual, so that one sees an object, pattern, or meaning where there is none.” (Wikipedia)  Virtually none of these have the characteristics of the ribstones described by Loendorf (2008) although Bender’s 2013 paper does make reference to the Milk River ribstone which is authentic.

Proposed bison effigy stone, Missouri. Photograph Nancy Bryant.

 

Proposed bison effigy stone, Missouri. Photograph Nancy Bryant.

Another paper, "Native American Stonework of Missouri", by Nancy Bryant (2003) illustrates a number of rocks that it claims as bison effigy stones as well. None of these convince me.

Like the face on Mars, or the rabbit on the Moon, pareidolia shows us things that really are not there, and can lead a researcher astray if not relentlessly searched out and identified. Now some of Bender’s bison effigy stones may well be actual bison effigy stones, and since I have not personally seen them I cannot really testify to their authenticity, but, most of them show me little resemblance to bison and I will have to see more evidence to be convinced.

As I said above, “extraordinary claims demand extraordinary evidence, and so far I see little.” Just because some large oblong boulders are identified as buffalo effigies, not all of them are.

NOTE 1: The Secondary Reference to George Bird Grinnell is listed in the bibliography of the paper by Herman Bender (2013) as dated 1962, but in his quote from page 47 as 1892. I located the George Bird Grinnell (1892) paper “Blackfoot Lodge Tales” and that quote is accurate. Bender’s reference in his bibliography appears to be to a 1962 reprint of Grinnell’s 1892 original and his spelling of it as Blackfoot Lodge Tails is a misprint.

NOTE 2: Some images in this posting were retrieved from the internet with a search for public domain photographs. If any of these images are not intended to be public domain, I apologize, and will happily provide the picture credits if the owner will contact me with them. For further information on these reports you should read the original reports at the sites listed below.

REFERENCES:

Bender, Herman, 2013, Bison Effigy Stones In Wisconsin, FRAO 2013 Proceedfings, American Indian Rock Art, Vol. 40, American Rock Art Research Association, 2013, pp. 43-80, Herman Bender Session Editor, Peggy Whitehead Volume Editor.

Bryant, Nancy, 2000, Native American Stonework of Missouri, September 2000, http://www.neara.org/images/pdf/missouri.pdf

Grinnell, George Bird, 1962, Blackfoot Lodge Tales – The Story of a Prairie People, University of Nebraska Press, Lincoln.

Loendorf, Lawrence L., 2008, Thunder and Herds: Rock Art of the High Plains, Left Coast Press, Walnut Creek, California

Wikipedia, Pareidolia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pareidolia, accessed on 2 November 2021.

ANOTHER GAME BOARD PETROGLYPH:

Omani game board, Qumayrah Valley, Oman. Photograph J. Sliwa, Polish Centre of Mediterranean Archaeology, University of Warsaw, Poland.

I have, in the past, written a few columns about petroglyphs that seem to be intended as game boards. There is now a new report about another one found in Oman by a joint project between the University of Warsaw and the Omani Ministry of Heritage and Tourism.

“The work is carried out by an Omani-Polish project ‘The development of settlement in the mountains of northern Oman in the Bronze and Iron Ages’ headed jointly by Prof. Piotr Bielinski from the Polish Centre of Mediterranean Archaeology, University of Warsaw (PCMA UW) and Dr. Sultan al-Bakri, Director General of Antiquities at the Ministry of Heritage and Tourism (MHT) of the Sultanate of Oman.” (ASZY 2022)

Oman is located on the southeast tip of the Arabian Peninsula adjacent to the Indian Ocean and the ruins are near the village of Ayn Bani Saidah in the Qumayrah Valley in the north of the Sultanate of Oman. (ASZY)

“In the latest study, the researchers identified an ancient settlement from the Umm al-Nar period (2500-2000 BC), where they unearthed the remains of several large circular towers and Bronze Age buildings.” (HeritageDaily 2022)

Closeup of Omani game board, Qumayrah Valley, Oman. Photograph J. Sliwa, Polish Centre of Mediterranean Archaeology, University of Warsaw, Poland.

“In one of the rooms we’ve found…a game-board – beams the project director. The board is made of stone and has marked fields and cup-holes. Games based on similar principles were played during the Bronze Age in man economic and cultural centers of that age. Such finds are rare, but several examples are known from India, Mesopotamia and even the Eastern Mediterranean basin.” (ASZY 2022) Unfortunately, none of the references identified which of the co-directors of the project this quotation should be attributed to.

10th century ivory board from Muslim Spain, Museum of Burgos, photograph Wikipedia.

The board appears to have 14 holes carved into what looks in the photos to be a block of limestone. It seems to be intended for use in a variant of the family of games known as Mancala in which seeds or stones are moved from pit to pit to either capture an opponent’s pieces, or to bank the most pieces for yourself. (Wikipedia)

“Researchers also found evidence of processing copper at the site, as well as several copper objects, suggesting that the settlement participated in this lucrative trade for which Oman was famous at that time, with mentions of Omani copper present in the cuneiform texts from Mesopotamia.” (HeritageDaily 2022)

I think that we can assume that any group of people who have the leisure time to play board games are, if not prosperous, at least secure in their environment, and emotionally relaxed enough to enjoy themselves, and this game board would seem to prove this. I can picture prosperous copper merchants relaxing with a game of mancali. There is, however, another possibility, that this is a counting board. These work on the same principle as an abacus with each hole in each marked off sector having a value. The operator can essentially do fairly complicated mathematical operations by placing, moving, or removing counters between the various valued holes. If this were the case we need to picture the prosperous copper merchants calculating their profits. Remembering, however, that the board appears to have 14 holes I know of no mathematical system that would require 14 holes to work.

NOTE: Some images in this posting were retrieved from the internet with a search for public domain photographs. If any of these images are not intended to be public domain, I apologize, and will happily provide the picture credits if the owner will contact me with them. For further information on these reports you should read the original reports at the sites listed below.

REFERENCES:

ASZY, 2022, Qumayrah Valley in Oman: ancient towers, copper trade and games, 4 January 2022, Polish Centre of Mediterranean Archaeology, University of Warsaw, accessed 8 January 2022

HeritageDaily, 2022, Archaeologists discover 4,000-year-old stone board game, https://www.heritagedaily.com, accessed 7 January 2022.

Wikipedia, Mancala, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mancala, accessed 9 January 2022