The Vikings also loved board games: a rare piece from 1200 years ago was found on a British island

    The Vikings also loved board games: a rare piece from 1200 years ago was found on a British island

    The Vikings loved board games. During an excavation a rare piece was found a rare piece dating back to their time was found

    Don't store avocado like this: it's dangerous

    Rough, violent and very barbaric? THE Vikings actually they also loved board games. During an excavation in a British monastery on the island of Lindisfarne, off the north east coast of England, a rare piece dating back to their time was found.





    The incredible discovery actually took place in September 2019 but its importance has only recently been discovered. The excavation, conducted by DigVentures and Durham University, also gave birth to part of the iconic monastery.

    In 793 AD the famous ancient people made a real assault on the monastery and it is from that date that historians set the beginning of the Viking domination in Great Britain. The game piece dates back to between 700 and 900 AD and it is therefore not certain that it was produced by the Vikings, but probably used by them.

    Made of bright blue glass and embellished with a ring of five white coils, it was a masterpiece to archaeologists and probably came from a set used to play a uniquely British version of the Roman Ludus Latrunculorum, a war game in vogue in Britain. Denmark, Iceland, Ireland, Norway and Sweden before the arrival of chess in the XNUMXth-XNUMXth centuries.

    "Many people will be familiar with the versions of the game and I'm sure many people will wonder if this piece of the game was dropped by a Viking during the attack on Lindisfarne," he explains. Lisa Westcott Wilkins, CEO of DigVentures - but we actually believe it belongs to a version of the game used by the elite of Northern Britain before the Vikings set foot here ”.

    A real jewel not only for the value itself, therefore, but also because today it allows us to reconstruct another piece of the life of the monasteries and even of the barbarians themselves, who most likely did not disdain these playful activities.

    “This is a truly wonderful discovery, which gives us a very special insight into life in the monastery at that time - he reports in this regard David Petts, from Durham University, who co-directs the excavation with DigVentures - It is similar to a number of other examples found in settlements and trading sites around the North Sea, and it shows us not only that there were people on Lindisfarne who had free time. , but also how well connected they were.



    Now in its fourth season, the excavation has also revealed part of a cemetery and laboratory both dating back to 700-1000 AD when activity on the island was at its peak.

    Probably impossible, however, that the monks started to play with their invaders. Yet pity, because the game evidently belonged to both cultures.


    Read also:


    • Viking diet: how it works, what to eat, weekly schedule and contraindications
    • The melting of the ice unearths pre-Viking artifacts

    Cover: © DigVentures/Durham University

    Fonti: Digventures

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