Mysterious stone spheres discovered in Greece may have an extraordinary role

Greece is definitely not done offering us true archaeological treasures as it has done for so many centuries. As a reminder, Greek civilisation lasted for more than a millennium, from 1200 BC to 31 BC. Its impact on Western culture was considerable. And by digging into the past, we may well find traces of the present. The proof is in this new discovery.

The oldest game in the world?

Strange stone spheres have been found at ancient sites in the Aegean Sea in the Mediterranean. These could well be the oldest board game in the world, according to recent work based on Artificial Intelligence.

Smaller than golf balls, these spheres have been discovered on the islands of Cyprus, Santorini and Crete! These strange balls have been known since 20th-century excavations and were the subject of various historical controversies. Slingshot stones used for war? Game balls? Pawns or an accounting object? It seems that all these theories have now been settled.

The social importance of the board game

So why are we so sure that these stones were used in a board game? According to Christianne Fernée of the Department of Anthropology and Archaeology at the British University, the spheres were indeed used as a game:

because if they had been used as part of a weighing or counting system, we would have expected them to be grouped into several other groups.

However, despite the number of stones found, only two diameters were established. According to Konstantinos Trimmis:

the social importance of the spheres, as indicated by the way they were deposited in specific cavities, reinforces the idea that they were part of a game that was played for social interaction.

These stones would most likely have been played on stone slabs marked by small cuts. 'These types of slabs have been found in Crete, the Levant, Cyprus, the island of Naxos, and even Santorini', writes the research duo. It now remains to be seen what the rules of the game were.

This article was translated from Gentside FR.

Sources used:

-Sciences &Avenir: De mystérieuses sphères de pierre identifiées comme l’un des plus anciens jeux de société jamais créés

-Sciencedirect: The rolling stones of Bronze Age Aegean, applying machine learning to explore the use of lithic spheres from akratiri, thera

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