gaming-piece
- Museum number
- 2007,6002.413
- Description
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Gaming piece; modified sheep phalange with one flattened and polished surface; fine diagonal scratches on the flat surface, possibly from cutting; circular perforation towards one end of the flat surface.
- Production date
- 6thC-7thC
- Dimensions
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Diameter: 0.60 centimetres (perforation)
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Length: 3.50 centimetres
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Weight: 3 grammes
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Thickness: 1.20 centimetres
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Width: 1.70 centimetres
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Depth: 0.80 (of perforation)
- Curator's comments
- Phalanges and astragali with smoothed surfaces or, more rarely, copies in stone or metal, occur at sites throughout the Near East from the neolithic period onwards (e.g. Watson 1983: 577; Mallowan & Rose 1935: 43, 99-100, pl. Xa). Within Central Asia they have been reported from Bronze Age and later contexts at Gonur-depe and other sites (Hiebert 1994: 146-47). The smoothing was executed by simply “rubbing the qap [knuckle-bone] briskly up and down against the rough brick surface … [but] whether this smoothing is thought to improve the bone’s behaviour in the game, or is simply to enhance its appearance I do not know” (Watson 1979: 199). At Seleucia-on-the-Tigris and Tarsus, some knucklebones were found marked with Greek letters or, in one case, a full name (McDowell 1935: 255, 265; Goldman 1950: 399, fig. 273); in other cases, as at Koi-Krylgan-kala in Khorezm, astragali were marked with lightly incised crosses and stars to designate different values (Tolstov & Vainberg 1967: 157). Most of these astragali are likely to have been played in “knucklebone” games (Persian qab bazi), although astragali can also be used as dice to designate moves on a board or as a means of divination. There are many variations of play for “knucklebone” games whereby different values are assigned to the different sides of the bones. One variation recorded in western Iran is to throw the bones in the air and judge how they land, as an upright astragalus standing on one end can represent a king, lying on one edge stands for a vizier and lying on one side stands for a thief (Curtis 1984: 48; cf. also Bell & Cornelius 1988: 71-72). Another version recorded from Turkey involves a group of players taking turns from different distances to throw a heavier (sometimes leaded) knucklebone at a row of smaller upright knucklebones with the intention of overturning them (Brewster 1960: 16). O’Donovan (1882) refers to sheep astragali, sometimes stained red, being used for a game of odds and evens (cf. also Marvin 1881: 113-14), and a set of three red astragali were purchased by the author in a Sunday bazaar in the city of Mary in 1998. A children’s version of this game demonstrated by a workman at Merv involved trying to aim the piece with either one of the flat sides uppermost and level although a throw resulting in the piece landing upright and standing on the flattened surface was also acceptable. All of the worked bone gaming-pieces were recognised as such during the excavation, and three were found in the same context. It is likely that these items were far more common than some archaeological reports suggest, although one observation that workmen at Gordion reused excavated astragali raises the possibility that in some cases they may be stolen during excavation.
- Location
- Not on display
- Condition
- Fair
- Acquisition date
- 2007
- Acquisition notes
- Part of official division of finds from BM/UCL/Turkmen expedition to Merv, 1992-2000.
- Department
- Middle East
- Registration number
- 2007,6002.413
- Additional IDs
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Excavation/small finds number: 35 (excavation small find number)