Readers of RockArtBlog will recognize that one subject I enjoy looking into is board games portrayed in rock art panels (refer to game or game boards in the cloud index at the bottom of this blog). A report in November of 2023 told us about the discovery of a number of boards for the game of ‘58 Holes’ or ‘Hounds and Jackals in Azerbaijan.’
“In 2018, archaeologists uncovered ancient game boards on the Absheron Peninsula, located in present-day Azerbaijan. These game boards date back to the late third to early second millennium BCE, making them among the oldest examples of the Game of 58 Holes. The game boards were found at several archaeological sites, including Çapmalı in the Gobustan National Reserve near the Caspian Sea, as well as Yeni Türkan, Düb əndi, and Ağdaşdüzü.” (Radley 2024) These game boards were engraved onto bedrock in some cases, or onto slabs of stone in other cases.
“The game of fifty-eight holes, sometimes known as ‘hounds and jackals’ (so named because the first gaming pieces found feature either a jackal’s or a hound’s head, was played for more than a millennium from the Middle Bronze Age into the Iron Age. Its ancient name is lost, though it could have been the isb from the Middle Kingdom Egyptian Tomb of Khety or the patti-abzu mentioned in a letter from Tushratta to Amenhotep III. Boards have been found in a broad region covering Egypt, the Levant, Mesopotamia, Iran, and Anatolia. Recently, patterns of shallow depressions identified on stone outcrops and portable stone objects indicate that this game was also played during that period in the southern Caucasus. Here we discuss these game boards to show that the Caspian coast was culturally connected to the wider region through playing this game.” (Criss and Abdullayev 2024:1)
These discoveries considerably expand the area in which the game is known to have been popular, and provides earlier examples as well.
“The game of fifty-eight holes was played in Egypt, Mesopotamia, Anatolia, Iran, and the Caucasus during the late third– early second millennium BC. While all these regions have boards without lines connecting holes, those with lines show that there are regional differences in the arrangement of these lines. In Egypt, the lines only connect holes in the same track, while in Anatolia, Iran, and Azerbaijan the lines connect holes in different tracks.” (Criss and Abdullayev 2024:15) Slight regional variations are only to be expected such an early time. Without mass marketing and social media to submerge ideas to the lowest common denominator their spread and uses would depend on individual criteria. “Hey, I learned this great game on my trip. I cannot remember all the details but we can improvise a little.” Indeed, many game players like to create variations in their favorite games.
“The evidence from Azerbaijan shows that people played the game of fifty-eight holes there during the late third–early secondmillennium BC, and that they participated in regional interactions that ranged throughout south-western Asia. To date, six patterns with the distinctive geometry of the game have been identified on the Abşeron Peninsula and to the southwest of it, in the Gobustan National Reserve. One each was found at Çapmalı, Yenı Türkan, and Dübəndi, and three came from Ağdaşdüzü.” (Criss and Abdullayev 2024:4) This game was obviously quite common and popular. Perhaps, at one time it would have been the national game, remember, they didn’t have television.
“Clearly, further early evidence for the game from precisely dated contexts is required to credit a specific culture for inventing this game. Whatever the origin of the game of fifty-eight holes, it was quickly adopted and played by a wide variety of people, from the nobility of Middle Kingdom Egypt to the cattle herders of the Caucasus, and from the Old Assyrian traders in Anatolia to the workers who built Middle Kingdom pyramids. The fast spread of this game attests to the ability of games to act as social lubricants, facilitating interactions across social boundaries. Games are particularly amenable to building relationships between traders because games are one way that people use to judge trustworthiness, informing future social and economic relationships. At certain times in antiquity, particular games were regionally popular, suggesting that they helped to connect cultures that regularly interacted with one another, as has been documented in more recent times. The game of fifty-eight holes probably served this purpose in the second millennium BC in Egypt and south-western Asia, because it was the only game that was played throughout the region. Indeed, the game was particularly embedded into the social lives of people living in towns involved in the Old Assyrian karum system, of which all of the Anatolian sites producing Middle Bronze Age games were a part. Other games were only locally popular.” (Criss and Abdullayev 2024:16)
Since the term ‘Karum System’ is not
commonly used in rock art studies it is explained in the following. “During the first centuries of the second
millennium BCE, Assyrian merchants originating from Assur, on the Upper Tigris,
organized large-scale commercial exchanges with central Anatolia. They settled
in several localities called karums. This Akkadian word, which usually
designates the quay or port in Mesopotamian cities, refers in Anatolia to the
Assyrian merchant district and its administrative building. Thus, the karum
period – which comprised the Old Assyrium period – covers the time during which
the Assyrians traded in Anatolia, from the middle of the twentieth to the end
of the eighteenth century BCE; it corresponds, more or less, to the Middle
Bronze Age. In Anatolia, this period is characterized by an important phase of
urbanization, with a flourishing material culture mixing native and foreign
styles.” (Michel 2012) Perhaps a more recent analogy for this would be the
British East India Company and the enclaves they established for trade in the
colonies.
There is, however, a deal of
uncertainty in the dating of these. “The authors caution that it can be
complicated to achieve precise dating for this period. "Clearly, further
early evidence for the game from precisely dated contexts is required to credit
a specific culture for inventing the game," they wrote. Regardless of the
game's origin, "it was quickly adopted by a wide variety of people.... The
fast spread of this game attests to the ability of games to act as social
lubricants, facilitating interactions across social boundaries." (Oullette 2024)
Along with serving as a social lubricant as stated above, the playing of board games goes has a role to play in socializing children into the families and societies that they must grow up with. Like baby bighorn sheep practice butting heads, and baby wolves practice play fighting, children playing board games are learning how to navigate social interactions and appropriate emotional responses.
NOTE 1: I have omitted citations from the quotes above. To see all secondary references I would refer you to the original publications.
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:
Crist, Walter, and Rahman Abdullayev, 2024, Herding with the Hounds: The Game of Fifty-eight Holes in the Abseron Peninsula, European Journal of Archaeology, 2024, pp. 1-29. Doi.10.101/eaa.2024.24. Accessed online 3 September 2024.
Michel, Cecile, 2012, The Karum Period on the Plateau, pp. 313-336, from The Oxford Handbook of Ancient Anatolia (10,]000 – 323 BCE), Gregory McMahon and Sharon Steadman editors, published 21 November 2012.
Oullette, Jennifer, 2024, Archaeologists believe this Bronze Age board game is the oldest yet found, published online by Ars Technica, https://arstechnica.com. Accessed online 17 September 2024.
Radley, Dario, 2024, Bronze Age game board in
Azerbaijan challenges Egyptian origin of ‘Hounds and Jackals’, 2 September
2024, Archaeology Magazine online, https://archeologymag.com. Accessed online
3 September 2024.
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