A Double-Sided Board from Tell Afis

Authors

  • Anne-Elizabeth Dunn-Vaturi

Keywords:

gaming material, Tell Halaf

Abstract

Problems of identification with gaming material often occur even when the object is complete. The game of 20 squares is no exception. A marble board from Tell Halaf discovered in the early 20th century ‘has been explained as an incense-burner, as a throne-altar upon which a bronze statuette might have been seated, or as the handle of a ceremonial fan’ before being identified as a gaming-board in the late 1930s (Van Buren 1937: 11-12, fig. 1, pl. VI). The challenge of identifying gaming material is even greater with fragmentary evidence. A greenstone plate from Tell Afis described as a cosmetic palette with sunken compartments on both sides (Mazzoni 2005: 57) should probably also be reinterpreted as a playing device (Figure 1).

References

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Published

27/10/2017

How to Cite

Dunn-Vaturi, A.-E. (2017). A Double-Sided Board from Tell Afis. Ash-Sharq: Bulletin of the Ancient Near East – Archaeological, Historical and Societal Studies, 1(1), 9–18. Retrieved from https://archaeopresspublishing.com/ojs/index.php/ash-sharq/article/view/746

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