BRONZE AGE ROCK ART GAME BOARDS FOUND IN AZERBAIJAN:

Capmali rock shelter (shadows right of center), Gobustan National Reserve, Azerbaijan. Figure 4, Crist and Abdullayev, 2024. 

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.’

Closeup of Capmali rock shelter (arrow shows location of the game board), Gobustan National Reserve, Azerbaijan. Figure 5, Crist and Abdullayev, 2024. 

“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.

58-hole game board from Capmali rock shelter, Gobustan National Reserve, Azerbaijan. Figure 6, photograph by Ronnie Galagher, 2024. 

“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)

Patterns of 58-hole game boards, Azerbaijan. Figure 6, Crist and Abdullayev, 2024. 

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.

58-hole game board. Photograph by W. Crist, Courtesy of the director of the Gobustan State Historical and Cultural Preserve.

“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.

Abbas Islamov and Ronnie Gallagher indicating the location of the two Ağdaşdüzü boards in the centre of the settlement. Reproduced by permission of Ronnie Gallagher

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.

 

GAME BOARD PETROGLYPHS IN INDIA:

Petroglyph rock and water hole at the site. Photograph Kumar, 2021-22, Figure 1.

Over the years I have posted a number of columns about petroglyphs apparently created as game boards in various parts of the world (see the cloud index at bottom of page). This revisiting of the subject adds some petroglyphs interpreted as game boards located at Buchkewadi, Taluka Junnar, District Pune, Maharashtra India. Ajit Kumar, in a paper published in 2021 discussed new petroglyph discoveries at this site including a number of game boards.

It seems board games have been popular throughout human history. Most early games of this type are variations of moving pieces and/or possibly capturing pieces from the other player. I have previously written about game boards carved into the rock in Oman, Azerbaijan, Hawaii, Kenya, Greece, and Mexico, so we can assume that these are pretty much a world-wide phenomena.

Solah Guttiya-Guti game board (right), and possible Pallanguzhi board (left), Photograph Kumar, 2021-22, Figure 11, page 73.

 “Game boards of different nature are noticed in the Petroglyphs here. The common game board noticed is of Solah Guttiya/Guti (Sixteen soldiers or balls) which in some areas is also called Bagh Bakari.  Other game boards noticed include that of Pallanguzhi (called Mankal in some areas) and Chaupar or Pachisi. The largest Solah Guttiya board is around 70cm square. Similar game boards are also noticed on the floors of some caves at Ellora and Nasik. Though these games were prevalent in society from ancient times, the game boards in the caves were possibly engraved after they fell into disuse for religious practices. Game boards are not seen in cave sites like Ajanta or Nadsur, which remained isolated and unused for leisure activities after their abandonment. Ajanta seems to have been totally abandoned possibly around 7th - 8th CE (based on inscriptions) and Nadsur around 2nd CE (in the absence later inscriptions and Buddha sculptures).” (Kumar 2021:70-71)  Some of these game boards in Buchkewadi are considerably more complex than most of the examples we have previously seen. Particularly the Solah Gottiya board is not a simple pursue and capture type board. It has much more complicated rules suggesting a level of cultural sophistication.

Solah Guttiya-Guti Game Board. Photograph Kumar, 2021-22, Figure 13, page 74.

Solah Guttiya is played much like the game we know as checkers where pieces are moved along from node to node on the pattern on the board and can capture the opponent’s pieces by jumping over them to an empty node. The pieces should be distinguishable from the opponent’s pieces and each player starts with sixteen pieces.

Pallanguzhi game board. Photograph Kumar, 2021-22, Figure 12, page 74.

Possible pallanguzhi game board and bull petroglyphs. Photograph Kumar, 2021-22, Figure 15, page 75.

“The Pallanguzhi board has 16 cups for holding the Tamarind or similar seeds or gotis (tokens) and at times, there are also larger receptacles on the board ends or middle to keep the seeds /gotis. This game is still played in many parts of India, especially Tamil Nadu. The Solah Guttiya game board has four main squares separated in the middle and two triangular boards attached to either side. Each of these main squares are further divided into 8 segments and each player gets a total of 16 segments from the two squares. Player(s) choose differently colored gotis and arranging 16 gotis each on the board, they sit opposite to each other and make their moves. Players capturing the greatest number of gotis, thus leaving the opponent with no gotis to play with becomes the winner. This game is still vogue in some rural parts of India, though not popular with younger generations. Engraved here is also a game board of Chaupar or Pachisi. This game also has a great antiquity and continues to be still played in some pockets of India. There are also large game boards some with 40 cups, and others 24 cups and as they are close to the Solah Guttiya and other game boards, it seems that it was meant to play some modified version of the Pallanguzhi game.” (Kumar 2021:73) Pallanguzhi uses a game board much like the African Mancala game board, and the Pachisi game is known here as Parchisi, a game adopted from the Indian.

These carved game boards are associated with a considerable number of bull petroglyphs. “This is possibly for the first time that such a large number of bull figurines associated with game board(s) and Shivling/Yoni (Shiva lingam/Yoni) motif(s) have been observed on basalt rock formation(s) as petroglyphs, especially from the Maharashtra region. The motif, especially the bull(s) facing each other depicted here have similarity in style with those reported along the Western Coast. It is interesting to note that only ithyphallic bull finds (are) represented and not cows or other bovine forms. The bull represented here seems to be of the Khilar/Khilari breed, which is still vogue on this region along with other breeds like the Holstein, Friesian and others. The petroglyphs depicted here are possibly creations of shepherds who visited the area for grazing and watering livestock. From the various game boards noticed along the hillock it is apparent they also spent quality time in recreation while attending to the livestock. The Shivling/Vulva and Labyrinths/Concentric circle motifs are definitely of the religious sphere, possibly done as votive offerings.” (Kumar 2021:60)

Finding original versions of Pachisi (our modern version is Parchisi) game boards carved into rock suggests a truly immense time depth for this game. Indeed, the resemblance of the other game boards to various modern games carries the same implication of time depth. It was not until the modern addition of electronic circuitry to games that games proliferated into the huge variety we see today. For millennia, most games basically were based upon moving and/or capturing tokens. Some were more complicated than others, some were made with greater craftsmanship, or more precious materials than others, but the basic principles were the same up until the latter half of the 20^th Century.

NOTE 1: In my quotations from Kumar I have made a number of spelling corrections and some grammar changes to reflect the usages of English. No meanings have been altered in this process.

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 this reports you should read the original report at the site listed below.

REFERENCES:

Kumar, Ajit, 2021, An Appraisal of Petroglyphs from Buchkewade, Taluka Junnar, District Pune, Maharashtra, Heritage: Journal of Multidisciplinary Studies in Archaeology 9, 2021-22, pp. 67-79. Accessed online 19 March 2024.

 

MORE GAMES IN ROCK ART - STONE SPHERES ARE BELIEVED TO BE ANCIENT GREEK GAME PIECES:

Minoan stone spheres. Internet photograph, public domain. 

Minoan stone spheres from Akrotiri, Thera island, Greece. Photograph from Fernee and Trimmis, 2022.

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.

Minoan stone spheres from Akrotiri, Thera island, Greece. Photograph from Fernee and Trimmis, 2022.

“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)

Akrotiri, Thera island, Greece. Internet photograph, public domain.

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 16^th 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)

Stone slab with pecked depressions. Phaistos, island of Crete, Greece. Internet photograph, public domain.

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.

Stone slab with pecked depressions. Phaistos, island of Crete, Greece. Internet photograph, public domain.

“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.

 

 

GAME BOARDS, CONTINUED:

Tlacuachero game board. From Games People Play, Barbara Voorhies,

p. 48, Archaeology Magazine, May-June 2012.

An article in the May/June 2012 issue of Archaeology magazine illustrated another possible use for groups of small holes. In this article Barbara Voorhies (Professor Emeritus, University of California, Santa Barbara) described discoveries at the site of Tlacuachero in the Mexican state of Chiapas which was inhabited between 5,050 to 4,230 years ago. The floors of some of the huts excavated had circular or oval patterns of holes in them that she identified as game boards. Voorhies source of inspiration for this identification came from the book Games Of The North American Indians, by Stewart Culin, originally published in 1907 as the Twenty-fourth Annual Report of the Bureau of American Ethnology, 1902-1903, Smithsonian Institution, Washington. Voorhies explained that “Culin’s book pulled together ethnographic accounts showing that board games were played by societies across the area that is now Canada, the United States, and Mexico.”

Walapai game board, Fig. 279, p. 208, From: Culin, Stewart,

Games of the North American Indians, Vol. 1, Twenty-fourth

Annual Report of the Bureau of American Ethnology,

1902-1903, Smithsonian Institution.

White Mountain Apache game board, Fig. 86, p.88, 

From: Culin, Stewart, Games of the North American

Indians, Vol. 1, Twenty-fourth Annual Report of the

Bureau of American Ethnology, 1902-1903,

Smithsonian Institution.

One category of games in the system of classification developed by Culin was “race games”, such as our modern children’s game of Candyland where the winner is the first to reach the final goal. “In race games, the winner is the first player to move his or her pieces to a goal – Candyland and Snakes and Ladders are modern versions of race games. The “boards” themselves were usually improvised arrangements of small stones. In places where stones were not easily available, people made their game boards by digging small holes. The Hualapai people of Arizona used a type of game board closely resembling the oval features at Tlacuachero.” (Voorhies 2012: 50)

Pecked holes in lava flow, Puako, Hawaii, Photograph: Ellen Belef, Sept. 2012.

Pecked holes in rock, PuuLoa, Hawaii, Photograph: Joe Belef, 2007.

I shall not go into details about how these games were played referring any interested parties to go to the original publication. Suffice it to say, however, the knowledge of the existence of these features, and the reasons for them, should suggest to us that there are other possible identifications that may be considered for circular, or oval, patterns of holes. These patterns of holes can be found in many locations among the rock art. I have illustrated two examples from among the photographs of Hawaiian rock art given me by Joe and Ellen Belef, but I have seen such patterns in many places in the American west. As I stated elsewhere these are often misidentified as piko stones no matter where they are found (including the American west). All too often rock art enthusiasts parrot a line such as “holes in a stone are meant to put a newborn’s umbilical cord in,” but even in Hawaii where piko stones really exist, not all patterns of holes in a rock may be correctly identified as piko stones.

So, in the future, while pondering the true nature of a pattern of holes in a rock surface I submit that we must also keep in mind the possibility that patterns of holes may have other purposes such as counting or for use as game boards. Remember humanity’s predilection for play.

Thank you again to Ellen and Joe Belef for sharing their Hawaiian rock art photographs with us all.

REFERENCES:

Culin, Stewart

1907    Games Of The North American Indians, Twenty-fourth Annual Report of the Bureau of American Ethnology, 1902-1903, Smithsonian Institution.

Voorhies, Barbara

2012    GAMES PEOPLE PLAY, Archaeology Magazine, May/June 2012, pages 48 – 51.