Archaeological Materiality of Chess Playing in the Middle Ages. A Few (Possible) Examples from the Current Territory of Romania
Archaeological Materiality of Chess Playing in the Middle Ages. A Few (Possible) Examples from the Current Territory of Romania

Summary/Abstract: Admittedly, from its emergence in Europe until present, the game of chess’s history was complex and interesting as it underwent a series of changes in both the formal features of its pieces and the game rules. This study discusses an older find, known in the Romanian archaeological literature since 1984, whose functionality we propose to reinterpret here. It is also known that in the Romanian academic literature, the issue of medieval date games (implicitly of chess) was almost entirely overlooked, therefore one may argue this is uncharted territory. The archaeological excavations conducted on various occasions have yielded varied artefact classes, among which a few pieces (obviously, we strictly refer here to already published items!) exhibit formal characteristics indicative of chess playing. The artefacts discussed here originate from both archaeological excavations and stray finds. Some could not be chronologically interpreted. Stylistic/formal comparisons with exemplars discovered in various European locations and cultural environments underlay the proposition of framing the finds here in the chessmen class. Since their identification was rather difficult, some of the artefacts addressed in this article remain uncertain chess pieces. Nevertheless, this approach may be the start of examining archaeological evidence related to chess practice on the current territory of Romania in medieval times.

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