New Research Suggests the World’s Oldest Game May Have Controversial Origins.
The 58 Holes Game is one of the oldest games in the world. Traditionally, this board game is believed to have first appeared in ancient Egypt during the second millennium BC.
The 58 Holes Game.
However, recent excavations have also uncovered evidence of this game’s presence in the South Caucasus during the same period, challenging our understanding of its origins.
Sometimes referred to as the “Hunting Dogs and Wild Dogs” game due to some sets being engraved with animal heads, the 58 Holes Game has been played for centuries, from the Middle Bronze Age to the Iron Age.
The game consists of a board, which is sometimes a purpose-made object but often just a flat surface with drilled holes. These holes serve as places to place game pieces.
In total, there are 58 holes on the board, arranged in two parallel rows of 10 holes in the center, surrounded by an arc of 38 holes.
To play, each player has five pieces that they move in turns along the holes from a starting point to their respective end point. Some holes have connections between them. These connections act as “shortcuts”, giving players the chance to advance quickly or inadvertently fall behind.
An elaborately decorated version of the 58 Holes Game from the second millennium found in Thebes. The pieces have intricately carved heads, some resembling hunting dogs and some wild dogs.
The number of positions a player can move in each turn is determined by rolling dice, throwing sticks, or similar means.
It’s important to note that the game has evolved over centuries, so it may have been played in various ways at different times or locations.
Currently, around 80 58 Holes boards have been collected and displayed in museums worldwide. The shapes of these boards often indicate the time and place they were created. Different boards have been found over a wide area, including Egypt, the Levant, Mesopotamia, Iran, and Anatolia.
The oldest board comes from a tomb in el-Assasif, a burial ground near Luxor on the West Bank at Thebes, Egypt. This game likely belonged to one of the officials of Pharaoh Mentuhotep II, who reigned from 2060 to 2009 BC.
Another board was discovered in Stratum II at Kültepe in central Anatolia, potentially dating from around 1885 to 1836 BC.
With the oldest boards found in Egypt, it is often assumed that this is where the game was invented. However, there is some debate regarding this point.
Other scholars argue that this game may have originated in Southwest Asia, where it appears to have been more popular and had a longer and more consistent period of use.
Now, new research conducted by archaeologists Walter Crist and Rahman Abdullayev presents stronger evidence supporting that argument.
According to the research, there is evidence from Azerbaijan indicating that people played this game from the late third millennium to the early second millennium BC, long before it appeared in Egypt.
Furthermore, it seems that players of this game also participated in regional interactive activities spread throughout Southwest Asia at that time.
The authors explain: “The diversity of the 58 Holes boards in Southwest Asia, as well as its early appearance there, makes a stronger case for origins further north than Egypt.”
The oldest 58 Holes board ever discovered.
The best-preserved board of the game comes from the Gobustan National Park, near the western shore of the Caspian Sea, southwest of Baku. The game consists of a pattern carved into a stone and was discovered accidentally in 2015.
Other versions of the game have been found at sites in Ağdaşdüzü, Yeni Türkan, and Dübəndi.
Researchers believe the game spread through trade routes rather than as an object or idea propagated through invasion or conquest.
Although their research suggests that the 58 Holes Game may have originated in Southwest Asia before it became popular in Egypt, the authors emphasize that more information is needed before any individual culture can be recognized as the inventor of the game.
Regardless of the 58 Holes Game’s origins, it is still regarded as a beloved game among many nations. It has rapidly been embraced by various groups, from the nobility in the Middle Kingdom of Egypt to herders in the Caucasus, and from ancient Assyrian merchants in Anatolia to construction workers in China.
The 58 Holes Game is particularly well-suited for building relationships among merchants as it is viewed as a means by which people assess the reliability or intelligence of their partners.
