Africa and the prehistoric origin of board games and chess
Does the 3500 BC myth of Djehuti or Thoth from predynastic times in Egypt give evidence that board games and chess had ancient roots in Africa? Investigate the roots of chess and come to your own conclusions.
Please use the email at the web-page bottom with your suggestions or advice as your comments are important and it’s easier save them that way. Thank you.
Definition – African (used generically as are the terms White and Asian): “Putting color aside, (omitting color) Africans are a people with some combination of (usually, not always) wooly to wiry hair, a full nose and mouth, and a head shape typically longer than it is round. Through miscegenation, a people who in some pre-contact generation were African in later generations have features which are blended with White or Mongolian peoples and, in such cases, those features become muted or vanish all together.”
Posted by Lord of the Nile (Member # 10305) on :
Marc
Your perspective is always fresh and uplifting. Keep up the good work.
The Lord
Posted by Yom (Member # 11256) on :
Ignoring the usual blabbering, why didn't you include information from Ethiopia, the origin of the Mancala (Gebet'a) game group?
Posted by Marc Washington (Member # 10979) on :
Thank you, LN. Thank you.
Yom. The reason I didn't include it is because I don't have images of ancient board games from Ethiopia. I'd love to have any and if you can upload them, I'd be grateful. I have two pictures of the Sudan so I could replace one of them with an Ethiopian image you could send.
Kind regards to you both,
Marc
Posted by Djehuti (Member # 6698) on :
^ LOL This is perhaps the most accurate thing Marc has posted so far, likely because it actually pertains to Africans (instead of Europeans and Asians)!
Yom is right, why don't you look more into that Ethiopian board game, or why not actually post info about the ancient Egyptian game of Hounds and Jackals.
The information about dental traits is correct because the Egyptians were indeed Africans but the rest is as usual B.S. Your definition of 'African' is still of course silly.
Posted by Marc Washington (Member # 10979) on :
Yom. Thanks for the heads' up about the mancala / gebeta game group in Ethiopia. I did some research and found a picture of mancala / gebeta holes at the base of an Aksumite stele found in Axum, Ethiopia (pic. 3). I'm not going to get classier picture than that. Any time you find images you think I might be interested in, I'd appreciate you writing me off-line and letting me know - if you don't mind.
All the best,
Marc
Posted by Red,White, and Blue + Christian (Member # 10893) on :
Marc,
I should have done the Mancala topic. The computerized desktop version is online. The Africans transported this came to the West Indies and the USA during slavery. The West African versions of this came are the simplest. Although, it is found in Asia as well. It started in Ethiopia long long ago.
Barbados Warri is the island’s oldest surviving game. It is a member of a great family of pit-and-pebble strategy games that originated in the Sudan over 3600 years ago when accountants and engineers of the ancient Kush Civilization of the Upper Nile (today’s Sudan) used counters on a tablet with depressions to carry out mathematical calculations. As such, Warri could possibly be called a descendant of the first "computer game". Two variants of the game came across the Atlantic in the 17th Century with the introduction of African peoples in the Caribbean to work as slaves in the colony’s tobacco and sugar plantations. The two games were kept alive over the years entirely by word-of-mouth or what is known as the oral tradition, but games with such formidable technical integrity as Warri are for obvious reasons handed down from generation to generation of players very accurately, and so we are able to use these two to conclude that Barbados’ anthropological heritage and is rooted strongly in Asante and Yoruba. A Yoruban version of the game, Ayo Ayo, became known as "Round-and-Round Warri" in Barbados, while the more popular Asante version, Oware, has become established here as Barbados Warri.
Posted by Red,White, and Blue + Christian (Member # 10893) on :
Ain't no Secret
Posted by Yom (Member # 11256) on :
quote:Originally posted by Marc Washington: Yom. Thanks for the heads' up about the mancala / gebeta game group in Ethiopia. I did some research and found a picture of mancala / gebeta holes at the base of an Aksumite stele found in Axum, Ethiopia (pic. 3). I'm not going to get classier picture than that. Any time you find images you think I might be interested in, I'd appreciate you writing me off-line and letting me know - if you don't mind.
All the best,
Marc
Yes, I uploaded that picture to Wikipedia. I'm not 100% sure of the correct identification, though, but it seems to be so (the only odd thing is the third row of holes). The first known examples are 7th century from Met'era (Matara) in Eritrea and Yeha in Ethiopia, though, and I don't have access to those:
Edit: Just noticed its addition to your image. The license is on its image page. The only requirement being that any further use is non-commercial (I have to talk to the person who took the photo to actually change that part for it to be used on Wikipedia, actually).
The 200 BC date is wrong, though. The relevant information is in the Wikipedia page. The first examples we know are from the 7th century in Met'era and Yeha.
Posted by Red,White, and Blue + Christian (Member # 10893) on :
Ain't No Secret
Posted by Red,White, and Blue + Christian (Member # 10893) on :
Ain't No Secret, Everybody Knows
Posted by Red,White, and Blue + Christian (Member # 10893) on :
Posted by Marc Washington (Member # 10979) on :
Damn. Lord have mercy. These are some out of sight pics. I am downloading this whole page. I am away from my computer in a few hours until next Wednesday night so if you post and I don't get back to you, it's not because of disrespect. Again, though, these are some magnificent pictures. I will make the above page Part One, and make those above Part Two. It seems like there are enough unique things around to do a Part Three as well. Really amazing pictures. And Yom. Thanks, particularly, for putting up that one with the stele.
Marc
Posted by Djehuti (Member # 6698) on :
^ Interesting. I am aware of the game Mancala, but my only question is how widespread is it in the African continent?? Also, exactly where did it originate??
By the way here is some tomb artifacts of the ancient Kemetian game 'Hounds and Jackals':
You can download the game Hounds and Jackals for windows here, that includes instructions on how to play.
Another board game claimed to be even older than hounds and jackals was senet. Senet is believed to the ancestor of the modern backgammon game.
Queen Nefertari playing senet
Senet game
Here is webpage showing instructions and strategies in playing.
Posted by Obelisk_18 (Member # 11966) on :
Ya know what I heard? I heard one central Arican kingdom, the Kongo, had cards as a form of board games! Amazing isnt it?
Posted by Willing Thinker {What Box} (Member # 10819) on :
Nice thread!
I know the kids in my ap Calc class couldn't get enough of some of these games. (we finished up early)
The prof. gave us a list, I'll get the names of the two games in a minute.
Posted by Myra Wysinger (Member # 10126) on :
This gaming table comes from the necropolis of El-Mahasna and is the oldest known example of the game called 'senet'. It consists of a board and twelve pyramidal-shaped pieces, all made of unfired clay. The table and its four feet have been separately modelled, dried, and then assembled using fresh clay. The surface is divided into three rows of six squares, and the grid is indicated by means of small holes. The object is most probably a funerary model and not intended to be actually used by the living.
Dating: Naqada I (4000-3500 BC) Archaeological Site: El-Mahasna Category: Game Material: Clay Location: Koninklije Musea Voor Kunst En Geschiedenis, Brussel
[Yom wrote] The 200 BC date is wrong, though. The relevant information is in the Wikipedia page. The first examples we know are from the 7th century in Met'era and Yeha.
[Marc writes] Thanks for the correction. I changed it on the page.
Posted by Djehuti (Member # 6698) on :
^ LOL You're better off changing the whole page altogether!
![[Big Grin]](biggrin.gif)
