Lichfield District Council
Seven Roman Gaming Counters - 1st-3rd Century AD - Excavated at Letocetum, near Lichfield
Location: Lichfield District Council
Accession number: 1983.40.20-26
Anyone for a game of Latrunculi? Or maybe a quick game of Duodecim Scripta?
No?
Well your Roman ancestors might have thought differently.
Latrunculi, similar to our modern draughts, and Duodecim Scripta a precursor to backgammon, were popular board games throughout the Roman period.
Archaeologists have found gaming boards scratched into surfaces across the Roman Empire, whilst gaming counters are often found at excavations.
These seven gaming counters, made from fragments of pot and glass, were discovered during excavations at the Roman settlement of Letocetum near Lichfield.
Three of these counters have been made from discarded pottery fragments, which have been shaped into circular tokens.
Three further counters have been fashioned from discarded balls of glass, generated during the glass manufacturing process. Whilst the final counter is a fragment of glass which has been rounded off into a token shape.
These gaming counters were uncovered at Letocetum by the Lichfield and South Staffordshire Archaeological and Historical Society in 1961 - 63. Four of these counters have been marked with the following excavation record numbers: "WL/PD/41", "WL/OE/21", "WL/R210/10", "WL/570/4."
Seven Roman Gaming Counters - 1st-3rd Century AD - Excavated at Letocetum, near Lichfield
Location: Lichfield District Council
Accession number: 1983.40.20-26
Anyone for a game of Latrunculi? Or maybe a quick game of Duodecim Scripta?
No?
Well your Roman ancestors might have thought differently.
Latrunculi, similar to our modern draughts, and Duodecim Scripta a precursor to backgammon, were popular board games throughout the Roman period.
Archaeologists have found gaming boards scratched into surfaces across the Roman Empire, whilst gaming counters are often found at excavations.
These seven gaming counters, made from fragments of pot and glass, were discovered during excavations at the Roman settlement of Letocetum near Lichfield.
Three of these counters have been made from discarded pottery fragments, which have been shaped into circular tokens.
Three further counters have been fashioned from discarded balls of glass, generated during the glass manufacturing process. Whilst the final counter is a fragment of glass which has been rounded off into a token shape.
These gaming counters were uncovered at Letocetum by the Lichfield and South Staffordshire Archaeological and Historical Society in 1961 - 63. Four of these counters have been marked with the following excavation record numbers: "WL/PD/41", "WL/OE/21", "WL/R210/10", "WL/570/4."