Germany, rare medieval games discovered including a chess horse

In Germany , a team of archaeologists from the University of Tübingen, the State Heritage Office and Baden-Württemberg and the German Archaeological Institute has discovered a small core of medieval games from nearly a thousand years ago, and including a chess pawn, a dice and an unidentified piece, made of horn and all well preserved. The results of the analyses to which these objects were subjected allow scholars to believe that there is a surprising continuity on the rules of the games of the time: moreover, the detailed analysis of the finds promises insights into the world of games of the medieval nobility and the origins of the European game of chess.

The game of chess came from the East to Europe more than a thousand years ago, and early European chess pieces are very rare: that is why the German discovery is singular. The chess piece discovered is a horse, bearing signs of wear and tear and even traces of paint. Well-preserved archaeological finds of chess pieces and other board games dating from before the 13th century are very rare in Central Europe. “In the Middle Ages, chess was one of the seven skills that a good knight had to master. In this regard, it is not surprising that the best-known finds mostly come from castle complexes,” explained scholar Jonathan Scheschkewitz of the State Heritage Office. “The century to which the pieces date is a real surprise to us, and the figure of the horse is a real highlight,” Lukas Werther of the German Archaeological Institute said instead.

The finds were discovered during excavations conducted at a castle complex in southern Germany (Baden-Württemberg, Reutlingen district). “They were lying under the rubble of a wall where they had been lost or hidden in the Middle Ages,” said Michael Kienzle of the University of Tübingen. And this meant that the surfaces of the finds remained exceptionally well preserved. “Under the microscope you can see the typical sheen due to wear and tear,” explained Flavia Venditti of the University of Tübingen.

The eyes and mane of the four-centimeter-high horse figure show an elaborate design typical of particularly valuable chess pieces from this period. Red paint residues found on the game pieces are currently undergoing chemical analysis. The researchers hope that detailed analysis of the finds will provide a wealth of insights into the game world of the medieval nobility and the roots of the European game of chess. The finds will be presented to all interested parties for the first time in 2024 in the major national exhibition THE hidden LÄND (Stuttgart, from September 13, 2024) and in the special exhibition Ausgegraben! Ritter und Burgen im Echaztal (“Excavated! Knights and castles in the Echaztal” (in Pfullingen, from June 15, 2024).

Germany, rare medieval games discovered including a chess horse

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