Archeologists from the College of Bristol have proposed that strange stone circles found at different old settlements across the Aegean and Mediterranean could be playing pieces from one of the earliest known any-point tabletop games.
There has been a considerable amount of theory around these circles found at locales on Santorini, Crete, Cyprus, and other Greek Islands, with hypotheses around their utilization including being for slinging stones, throwing balls, counting of some kind or record-keeping framework, or as counters/pawns.
Past examinations by a similar group from the College of Bristol showed that there was a fluctuation in circle size inside unambiguous bunches and assortments of circles. Following in from this, the group needed to investigate potential designs inside these circle focuses, to assist with giving an insight into their likely use.
“The social significance of the spheres, as evidenced by their placement in certain cavities, lends credence to the concept that the spheres were part of a game played for social interaction. This sheds new light on social interaction in the Bronze Age Aegean.”
Dr. Trimmis
The most recent review was distributed for the current week in the Diary of Archeological Science: Reports by Drs. Christianne Fernée and Konstantinos Trimmis from the College of Bristol’s Branch of Humanities and Paleontology analyzed normal elements on 700 stones—which range from around 4,500 to 3,600 years of age—found at the Bronze Age town of Akrotiri on the island of Santorini.
The stones, which are more modest than golf balls, are in different tones and produced using various materials. The examination put the stones into two gatherings: bigger stones and more modest. Also, in Akrotiri and in different settlements across the Aegean, there are stone chunks with shallow cup marks where the circles might have sat or been set.
The kernos (cup-marked pieces) in the Place of the Seats square, as well as a translation of how the circles might be relatedPhotographer: Konstantinos Trimmis
Dr. Ferneé said, “The main finding of the review is that the speres fit into two significant groups (one of more modest size and one of bigger stones). This supports the speculation that they were utilized as counters for a tabletop game with the circles most perhaps having been gathered to fit these bunches instead of an included framework for which you would anticipate more groupings. “
In the event that these circles are, truth be told, pieces of a tabletop game, they will be perhaps the earliest models, alongside comparable models from the Levant and Egypt, like the Egyptian Mehen and Senet.
Stone chunks with cup marks (kernos) and their reflectance change imaging examination Credit: Konstantinos Trimmis.
Dr. Trimmis added, “The social significance of the circles, as shown by how they were kept in unambiguous pits, further backs the possibility of the circles being essential for a game that was played for social connection. This gives another insight into the social connections in the Bronze Age Aegean. “
The following phase of the examination is to apply a comparable system to the pieces to check whether there is grouping in the cup stamps and attempt to relate the circles and chunks together. The group also desires to utilize man-made reasoning methods to decide how the game was really played.
More information: Christianne L. Fernée et al, The rolling stones of Bronze Age Aegean: Applying machine learning to explore the use of lithic spheres from Akrotiri, Thera, Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports (2022). DOI: 10.1016/j.jasrep.2022.103615
