The Viking World: A History in ObjectsMain MenuGallery viewA galleryTag Cloudtag cloud pageThemesA path of thematic categoriesAuthor IndexExplore the collection by authorWorks CitedReferencesAdam Bigelow3afa9c7ecebf516bba6609664b1b12f79c54bf77Caitlin Donahue61b7e986e7c71d400e5c803912ed83c0cf65252fCaroline Harvey1783f21a5882b5b4d3d0b6c174d058052a5ff7eaEdward Hershewee701ef220480b51ca728fc9c719bc094cf813655Martin Hoffmana1fd203afd9a84ee8db567e188cf6ed1d269386eTyler Hruby23493f763b312110686cfafc62578fd0ab5f3833Brittany N. Johnsonc1c1763339f8fa953e3c907c6bb8a3bad0c28b2cCarlos Lua Pineda0a28cc23b0aa00b4f24a9e205aeb57fbdb07ff01Moira McConnell710633400590ea38533ea3412c01fc5056288180Clara McCurdy9aec76477d0b55f9c685c47330d6786ec98182e1Elise McIlhaneyef48481634ff342c8b43c9d56f678b2d3562fb69Cameron Meikle669a5682bfbfd603130a26e25628f24eb07e6295Alexander Christopher Newkirk019c2f5b38c043507251d1789e2fdf47e61c3b7fBenja Reilly816c23aa0d444213fb2d1ef33555a15617e08228Oliver Statenc625ae8c3926f5e1a4268bc91d6a6f4cdb1e7fb6Liam Sullivanaa3a1dccb90c7fe4646b61c4af594abbb0c5574aRead Wilder31bf4715220144a665996f2e6cae80a1a8611eadAliza Yazdanicd49f227d88c72331226ddf574bf56c37308cd10Austin Masonf6137011c68eb792c6e14634815583b15e707dea
1media/VikingGamingPiece.jpg2017-05-21T18:58:58-07:00Gaming Piece7Object Pageplain2017-09-20T19:22:51-07:00Thisitem is a gaming piece recovered in 2013 around Cambridgeshire, England. It is dated from the ninth century to the eleventh century AD. It is a fairly simple design fashioned from lead and being little more than a cone figurine. The craftsmanship of this object is very crude which probably means that it was made by a common person, such as a farmer or trader, not a skilled craftsman as otherwise the design would probably be more intricate.
The game this piece was used for is uncertain, but it is most likely part of some sort of board game, possibly chess or something like it, such as the Viking game Hnefatafl. Despite not knowing what this piece went to it does provide a tremendous amount of insight into the culture of common day Viking people. Since it shows that they had time for leisure actives, unlike many members of agrarian societies in Europe at the time, who had to spend almost all available free time in the fields.[1] It is noted that the Vikings had several forums of entertainment in the form of games such as dice, chess, and backgammon this shows that there was quite a bit of down time and gaming within the society. Most of this type of gaming probably took place in the winter because the army was stationary for such a long period of time, this also explains why so many gaming pieces have been found in England. As opposed to the upper class members of society or Viking raiders, both of which would have had much more free time than farmers
The story behind this piece can be seen from the location the piece was found and when it was made. Since it is dated to around the 9th century it is most likely from the Vikings, which began invading and inhabiting England during that time frame. This idea is further supported by the fact that it was discovered in Cambridgeshire, which is in the middle of the eventual viking territory in England, known as Danelaw, which was created after a great Viking campaign into England made peace with King Alfred of Wessex.[2] So, the piece was probably brought by an original member of the army, which conquered this territory, or perhaps was made after they began settling the area.
It is easy to imagine a scene where Vikings, tired after a long day of marching or wintering at a English hold would gather around the fire playing games like chess to pass the time. While the finer details of this piece are not known, it does at least tell that games like chess and other leisure actives were present within Scandinavian and Anglo-Saxon cultures. Regardless of its origin this piece does much in disproving the myths that Vikings were nothing more than mere savage warriors but were in truth a civilized people.