Among other artifacts from the fascinating Minoan Culture are stone spheres of various sizes. Also found at Minoan sites are stone slabs with pecked cupules or depressions. A 2022 study by Christianne L. Fernee and Konstantinos P. Trimmis associated these artifacts and postulated that the spheres are pieces in an ancient Minoan board game with the pecked stone slabs representing the boards.
“The Minoan civilization was a Bronze Age Aegean civilization on the island of Crete and other Aegean Islands, whose earliest beginnings date to c. 3500 BC, with the complex urban civilization beginning around 2000 BC, and then declining from c. 1450 BC until it ended around 1100 BC.” (Wikipedia)
Although these artifacts have been found at a number of Minoan sites, by far the greatest number of the spheres have been discovered at the Minoan city of Akrotiri. “The site of Akrotiri on the modern-day island of Thera (Santorini) is a well-known Bronze Age town that was destroyed by the eruption of the island’s volcano during the Middle Bronze Age (possibly during the early 16th century BCE. In Akrotiri, among a wealth of finds, 746 spherical lithic objects have been catalogued, of which 65% were brought to light in the recent excavations for the new shelter. The spheres come in different sizes, colours, and stone materials, and have been found throughout the settlement, in both open and closed spaces. Small numbers of similar objects have been discovered in Cyprus and Crete. Akrotiri, however, is unique due to the large number of spherical objects published to-date. The wealth of spherical objects in Akrotiri, has resulted in different interpretations regarding their use by different researchers. Marinatos (1971) interpreted the spheres as either sling stones or as tossing balls. Later, this interpretation was rejected by Valacy (2022) and Tzachili (2007). They suggest that the spheres are unlikely to have been sling stones as all other examples from this period, and from later periods, are generally heavier than most ot the spheres from Akrotiri and are more ovoid in shape. Valacy and Tzachili suggest they are unlikely to have been used as tossing balls as they could easily harm the players if not caught. They agree, however, that the spheres may have been used as a counting/record-keeping system or as counters/pawns for a type of board game.” (Fernee and Trimmis 2022)
What does not seem to have been considered in these studies is the possibility that the stone spheres are weights. Akrotiri was a Minoan city, and the Minoans were traders with their ships known all over the eastern Mediterranean. Weights and measures are vital to traders of commodities. Most known Minoan weights, however, are made of lead, and while stone weights have been found they are generally cone or disc shaped, not spherical. (Alberti 2006) Given the presence of the stone slabs with pecked cupules it would seem more likely that the spheres represent game pieces with the slabs representing the game boards.
“It will here be suggested that the Cretan stones with the depressions arranged in a roughly circular shape represent a simplified version of Mehen (an Egyptian board game). This suggestion is strengthened by the fact that stones on which the depressions seem to be arranged in the form of a spiral have been found at Malia as well as in a Middle Minoan context at Dato Zakro, while at Gournia several of the floor slabs in House Aa have a double ring of depressions as does one of the stone from Chrysolakkos.” (Whittaker 2002:77)
Another example of game boards pecked out of the surface of a stone once again emphasizes the importance of game playing in human cultures. I wonder how far back we will eventually be able to trace this phenomenon.
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.
PRIMARY REFERENCES:
Fernee, Christianne L. and Konstantinos P. Trimmis, 2022, The rolling stones of Bronze Age Aegean: Applying machine learning to explore the use of lithic spheres from Akrotiri, Thera, October 2022, Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports, Volume 45. Accessed online 14 December 2022.
University of Bristol, 2022, Stone spheres could be from Ancient Greek board game, 30 September 2022, https://phys.org/news/2022-09-stone-spheres-ancient-greek-board.html. Accessed online 14 December 2022.
Whittaker, Helene, 2002, Minoan Board Games: The Function and Meaning of Stones with Depressions (so-Called Kernoi) from Bronze Age Crete, pp.73-87, Aegean Archaeology Vol. 6, Studies and Monographs in Mediterranean Archaeology and Civilization, Ser. II, vol. 7, Art and Archaeology, Warsaw.
Wikipedia, Minoan Culture, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minoan_civilization. Accessed online 4 February 2023.
SECONDARY REFERENCES:
Alberti, M.E., E. Ascalone, and L. Peyronel, (Editors), 2006, Weights in Context: Bronze Age Weighing Systems of the Eastern Mediteerranean Chronology, Typology, Material and Archaeological Contexts, Instituto Italiano di Numismatica, Rome, p. 384, ISBN 88-85914-44-6, Judith Weingarten reviewer. Accessed 2 February 2023.
Marinatos, S., 1971, Excavation at Thera V, Hetaireia, Athens.
Tzachili, I., 2007, Poikila. In: Doumas, C. (Ed.), Akrotiri Thera, Western House, Athens, Archaeological Society of Athens, 256-258.
Valacy, L., 2022, The Small Stone Spheres from
Akrotiri, Thera, In: Doumas (Ed), Akrotiri,
40 years of Research, Archaeological Society of Athens, Athens.
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