A PETROGLYPH OF BIGHORN SHEEP PLAYING PATTICAKE AT NINE-MILE CANYON:

 Column for 1 April, 2025.

Rocky Mountain Bighorn Sheep, lambs playing. Internet image, public domain.

We have all seen photographs of lambs playing, we have probably all seen photographs of bighorn sheep lambs playing at head-butting. Now, from Nine-Mile Canyon in Utah we have photographic proof of adult bighorn sheep playing, not head-butting, but patticake.

Petroglyph panel, Nine-Mile Canyon, Utah. Photograph Peter Faris, 1993.

I took the photograph in 1993, of the entire panel in question in Nine-Mile Canyon, Utah.

Close-up of bighorn sheep playing patticake, petroglyph panel, Nine-Mile Canyon, Utah. Photograph Peter Faris, 1993.

In this close-up you can see it more clearly. Now, I know this seems a little far-fetched, but the only other possible explanation is that they are Siamese Twins with two grown sheep sharing the same hoofs, and that seems really a bridge too far.

So, now I find it encouraging that with the state of the world as it is we can still learn something new about the animals that share the planet with us – at least on April First.

A SMALL STONE CARVED WITH A VIKING SHIP MAY BE THE OLDEST PICTURE IN ICELAND

Carved sandstone showing Viking ship in full sail, from Stöð, Iceland. Credit, The Landnámsskáli group in Stöð.

Iceland had no native indigenous population before European discovery and settlement by the Norse in the second half of the 9^th century, approximately 874 CE. Now archaeologists have found a small round piece of sandstone carved with a picture of a Viking ship. “The stone was found at the archaeological site of Stöð in East Iceland in a longhouse that is believed to predate the permanent settlement of the island.” (Ciric 2023) This means, of course, that there should be no prehistoric rock art.

Viking longhouse excavation, Stöð, Iceland. Photograph Bjarni Einarsson.

“The first exploratory digs at Stöð were made in 2015 and archaeologists have returned every summer since to continue excavating the site, where they first focused their efforts on a settlement-era longhouse. ‘The longhouse is among the largest found in Iceland, 31.4m [103 ft] long. In Scandinavia, only chieftains’ farms had longhouses larger than 28m [92 ft]. It is also the richest longhouse ever excavated in Iceland. We have found 92 beads and 29 silver objects, including Roman and Middle Eastern coins,’ Bjarni F. Einarsson told Iceland Review for a 2020 article on the archaeological site.” (Ciric 2023) This provides a striking illustration as to how cosmopolitan the Vikings really were. Even in this out-of-the-way place there were artifacts from varying cultures throughout much of the known world.

 One of the longhouses excavated at the site, Stöð, Iceland. Photograph Bjarni Einarsson.

“What makes the site still more significant is that archaeologists discovered an even older longhouse underneath the settlement-era longhouse, estimated to date back to around 800 AD, some 75 years before permanent settlement of Iceland. The most striking feature of the older structure is the conspicuous absence of the bones of domesticated animals. ‘My theory is that the older longhouse was a seasonal hunting camp, operated by a Norwegian chief who outfitted voyages to Iceland to gather valuables and bring them back across the sea to Norway,’ Bjarni told Iceland Review. One of these valuables may have been walrus ivory: in 2019 DNA analyses and radiocarbon dating confirmed that Iceland was previously inhabited by a North Atlantic subspecies of walrus, now extinct.” (Ciric 2023)

Much of the ivory used in Medieval Europe was walrus ivory supplied through trade with the Vikings. “New finds of walrus bone and ivory in early Viking Age contexts in Iceland suggest exploitation of nearby walrus for meat, hide and ivory that appears to have driven local Icelandic walrus populations to extinction.

Current evidence suggests that walrus hunting and ivory extraction was a significant activity for early settlers in Iceland, and was probably not limited only to the best-known areas of the south-west coast.

The new excavations and zooarchaeological work appear to support the notion of an initial settlement of at least parts of Iceland driven and ‘financed’ by walrus hunting and connections to Viking Age exchange networks.

As a preliminary conclusion it seems that we can now refine the ‘trading hypothesis’ by verifying or disproving that walrus ivory in north-west European exchange networks may be Icelandic c. 850–1000 CE, but increasingly Greenlandic from 1000 CE onwards.” (Frei et al. 2015)

So Ciric (2023) is proposing that this earlier pre-colonization  longhouse/hunting camp may have existed to hunt walrus ivory before the Iceland walrus was driven to extinction by overhunting.

But the subject of this column is the small engraved piece of sandstone found in the walls of the older longhouse.

“The small but remarkable sandstone featuring a Viking ship with its sails unfurled was found in the walls of the older longhouse, Bjarni told reporters. Such carvings of ships, made in bone, wood, and stone, are fairly common artefacts in the Nordic countries, he stated, but this is the first ever found in Iceland and is likely the oldest picture of any kind ever found on the island.

Trade beads, Stöð, Iceland. Photograph Bjarni Einarsson.

This spring, archaeologists used survey equipment to scan a larger area around Stöð and found indications of still more structures and boat burial sites. While there is much that is unknown about the early settlement of Iceland, the amount of beads, coins, and silver found at Stöð certainly suggests significant wealth and trade.” (Ciric 2023)

Hnefaltafl game board and pieces, Online image, public domain.

Wherever they roamed, whether for trade, colonization, or raiding, Vikings carried with them an important element of their culture, the board game known as hnefaltafl.

Carved stone hnefaltafl game board, Online image, public domain.

"Over the past 150 years, excavators have unearthed large quantities of gaming material from Viking boat burials. Dating from the 7th to the 11th centuries, most of it consists of checker-like pieces constructed from glass, whale bone, or amber. These pieces range from ordinary discs to ornate figurines and are usually uniform in shape and size, save for one prominent king piece, known as the hnefi. The archaeologist Mark Hall recently chronicled the contents of 36 burials containing such pieces in a 2016 article for the European Journal of Archaeology. This material, he says, indicates the game was much more than a frivilous way to kill time between raids. 'Its presence in these burials suggests it was an aspect of everyday life that was desirable to see continued,' he says, as well as 'a significant element that helped define the status of the deceased." (Crown 2018) In other words hnefaltafl seems to have had a ritual or ceremonial element as well as just recreational. Between its recreational popularity, and its ritual/ceremonial importance it seems to have been ubiquitous in the Viking world.

"That archaeologists and game historians can confidently make such claims is a testimony to more than 100 years of painstaking research. Indeed, until the early 20th century, few scholars differentiated hnefatafl from other contemporary board games. Early published editions of the Sagas relied upon wildly disparate translations of medieval Iclandic texts,, with also confused the matter. Because the oldest extant copies of these documents often refer to the gam as 'Tafl' - a Germanic word denoting 'board' or table'  - translators regularly mistook references to it for generic allusions to chess." (Crown 2018)

Carved sandstone showing Viking ship in full sail, from Stöð, Iceland. Credit, The Landnámsskáli group in Stöð.

Early assumptions that hnefatafl somehow developed from contact with cultures that played chess have been proven wrong, indeed, some claim that the Viking game preceded chess. In any case, their origins are hard to pin down and they were played side-by-side in some cultures.

"Tafl games (pronounced [tavl], also known as hnefatafl games) are a family of ancient Northern European strategy board games played on a checkered or latticed gameboard with two armies of uneven numbers. Most probably they are based upon the Roman game Ludus latrunculorum." (Wikipedia)

So, we have a very early Viking residence in Icelend, apparently there some time before the actual period of settlement by Europeans, and in excavating it a small piece of sandstone was found hiddenn in the wall as it it were important enough to keep concealed. It is my suggestion that perhaps the small piece is a prized game piecer, and logically the game would have been hnefaltafl, the Viking board game. Now, being made from sandstone it would not have been valued so much for its material, but Vikings were very superstitious by today's standards. Maybe this piece was prized for the number of games it won, much like a boy playing marbles today prizes his winning shooter almost superstitiously.

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:

Ciric, Jelena, 2023, Stone Carved With Viking Ship May Be Oldest Picture Ever Found in Iceland, 15 June 2023, https://www.icelandreview.com. Accessed online 17 June 2023.

Crown, Daniel, 2018, The Board Game at the Heart of Viking Culture, 26 June 2018, https://atlasobscura.com. Accessed online 24 June 2023.

Frei, Karin M. et al., 2015, Was it for walrus? Viking Age settlement and medieval walrus ivory trade in Iceland and Greenland, Taylor & Francis, ISSN 0043-8243. Accessed online 24 June 2023.

Wikipedia, Tafl Games, https://en.wikipedia.org. Accessed online 25 June 2023.

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 IN ROCK ART, REVISITED – MU TORERE:

Petroglyph, Pu'uLoa, Hawaii, Photo Joe Belef, 2007.

On 2/1/13, referring to a photograph taken by Joe Belef used in my posting GAME BOARDS, CONTINUED, on 12/29/12,  Anonymous sent the following comment: “The 8 hole pattern around a central hole looks exactly like a game board for Mu Torere.This game was played by the Maori people of New Zealand.The Maori were Polynesians as were the original Hawaiians.The conclusion is inescapable;this is a board for the same game.” 

That promising information required some checking out so I have been looking into this. I think that Anonymous may well be right. With two different, but related cultures (they both have Polynesian origins) as well as the possibility of prehistoric contact through long-distance sailing voyages, it seems eminently reasonable for us to assume this possibility.

Maoris playing Mu Torere, Dominion Museum Photo,

http://nzetc.victoria.ac.nz/tm/scholarly/tei-BesGame-t1-body-d5-d1-d2.html.

“MuTorere is one of two games that are known to have been played before they were absorbed into the British Empire (Wikipedia), and it is played on a board with a central hole, called the petahi, and eight or more holes around it called, kewai.” (www.gamesoftheworld.com).

Mu Torere board diagram.

httpwww.boardgamesoftheworld.commutorere.html

And from http://nzetc.victoria.ac.nz/tm/scholarly/tei-BesGame-t1-body-d5-d1-d2.html we are told  “this game, known as torere and mu torere, is one of the most interesting items we have to discuss, on account of its resemblance to our game of draughts, and the existence of a doubt as to whether or not it was a pre-European diversion. The board or diagram used is utterly different in form to that employed by us, there is no crowning of kings, and old natives have stated that, so far as they knew, it was an old Maori game.

Mohi Turei, a well informed and very old man of the Ngati-Porou tribe informs us (1912) that mu torere was the old name for the game, and, in this connection, he quotes an old saying:—"E mu torere mai ana ranei ko utou ki au, e hoa ma !" used in the sense of—"Are you striving against me, or, are you looking for trouble?" Tuta Nihoniho, of the same tribe, stated that the European game of draughts was introduced into that district in the time of his grandfather, probably by sailors, or early traders, or missionaries. In the far off Hawaiian Isles, a game resembling draughts was played, and known by two names, mu and konane.” 

According to available references mu torere boards could be painted or carved on wood as we can see from the illustration that shows the game being played , or just scratched out in the sand. This photgraph also illustrated a board with eight peripheral holes (the kewai), and one central hole (the petahi), exactly the same layout as the Hawaiian petroglyph. This is really exciting to me. Through discussion about our shared interest we have added a small, but real, item of knowledge to the encyclopedia of rock art. Thank you Anonymous! 

REFERENCES:

http://nzetc.victoria.ac.nz/tm/scholarly/tei-BesGame-t1-body-d5-d1-d2.html

Wikipedia

www.gamesoftheworld.com

GAME BOARDS IN ROCK ART - PATOLLI:

Any student of rock art would happily classify a design marked on a slab of rock that they discovered somewhere out in the wilderness as rock art. Most of us would even classify markings that we know had been created by a culture for utilitarian purpose as rock art. Examples of that include tool grooves and bedrock metates. But how would we classify markings on a piece of rock that was considered to be a household item for frequent use? In this posting we look at another game board carved in rock, this example reported from Hopi.

Aztec game of patolli. In Games People Play, Barbara Voorhies,

p. 51, Archaeology magazine, May-June 2012

In the article Games Ancient People Played, by Barbara Voorhies, in Archaeology Magazine, May/June 2012, p. 48-51, one illustration shows an Aztec game being played on a very distinctive game board. This gambling game, known as Patolli, shows the gamblers and the Aztec god Macuilxochitl, the god of games, to whom they pray for luck. His name can be translated as “Five Flowers” shown in the illustration by the flower in his hand as five circles at the top center.

 

Four-player tolosi game board, Fig. 195, p. 162, Stewart Culin, 1907,
Games Of The North American Indians, Twenty-fourth Annual
Report of the Bureau of American Ethnology, 1902-1903,
Smithsonian Institution, Washington D.C.

The other illustration is from Games Of The North American Indians, Twenty-fourth Annual Report of the Bureau of American Ethnology, 1902-1903, Smithsonian Institution, 1907, by Stewart Culin. It illustrates a Hopi game board CARVED IN SANDSTONE which is essentially identical to the patolli board of the Aztecs, that Culin identified as having been used in a Hopi game called tolosi.  It is a board for four players as is the Aztec example. This game is played by throwing cane dice to control the player’s moves. This is very likely done much like the Aztec example described below.

Two-player tolosi game board, Fig. 194, p. 162, Stewart Culin, 1907,
Games Of The North American Indians, Twenty-fourth Annual
Report of the Bureau of American Ethnology, 1902-1903,
Smithsonian Institution, Washington D.C.

According to Wikipedia “Patolli is a race/war game with a heavy focus on gambling. Players would meet and inspect the items each other had available to gamble. They bet blankets, Maguey plants, precious stones, gold adornments, food or just about anything. In extreme cases, they would bet their homes and sometimes their family and freedom. Agreeing to play against someone was not done casually as the winner of the game would ultimately win all of the opponent's store of offerings. Each player must have the same number of items to bet at the beginning of the game. The ideal number of items to bet is six, although any number would be acceptable as long as each player agreed. The reason for having at least six bits of treasure is because there are six jade markers that will traverse the game board. As each marker successfully completes the circuit around the board, the opponent is required to hand over ownership of an item from his or her treasure. Once an agreement is made to play, the players prepare themselves by invoking the god of games, Macuilxochitl (as in the Aztec illustration), by offering incense, prayers and food. After psyching themselves up - the game begins.”

An interesting example of utilitarian rock art (made for use), as well as evidence of yet another link of the American Southwest to the civilizations of Central America.

REFERENCES:

Culin, Stewart

1907    Games Of The N.orth American Indians, Twenty-fourth Annual Report of the Bureau of American Ethnology, 1902-1903, Smithsonian Institution, Washington D.C.

Voorhies, Barbara

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

Wikipedia

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.