Posted on 07/15/2018 1:14:58 PM PDT by SunkenCiv
A medieval gaming board has been found by archaeologists working to find a lost Pictish-era monastery in Aberdeenshire.
Archaeologist Ali Cameron said the board found near Old Deer was a "very rare" find with it used to play the Norse strategy game of Hnefatafl.
A date for the board has yet to be established but a similar piece found in Birsay, Orkney, in 1989 was dated to the Late Iron Age/Pictish period from the 5th to 9th Century AD.
Ms Cameron said: "It is a very rare object and only a few have been found in Scotland, mainly on monastic or at least religious sites.
"These gaming boards are not something everyone would have had access to."
A Solomon's Knot, a symbol used to express the union of man with the divine or eternity and immortality, can also be seen on the board.
It may have been a later addition to the piece, Dr Cameron said with the board also possibly altered to a circular shape and used as a pot lid.
The search for the lost Pictish-era monastery in the Old Deer area has been ongoing for several years.
Earlier finds in Aberdeenshire brought archaeologists closer to pinpointing the whereabouts of the Christian site which was home to the Book of Deer, a book of gospels which contains the first written examples of Scottish Gaelic.
(Excerpt) Read more at scotsman.com ...
Rock, Paper, Scissors.............
Rock smash head, Ug wins...................
Just try to spell that by candlelight...
Above is a link to play against the computer or a friend. Pretty cool that a 1500 year old board game can be played on a computer!
Thanks!
LOL
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