Druid Grave Unearthed in UK

[Dover]

The description of the board game discovered in the grave (for divination?) fascinated me, so I've listed some sites about ancient board games as well. Anybody know anything about board games relative to the Druids or their use as divination tools?


Druid Grave Unearthed in U.K.?.............


Digging for History Feb. 11, 2008 -- Historical records tell of a mystical, priestly and learned class of elite individuals called Druids among Celtic societies in Britain, but there has been no archaeological evidence of their existence. Until, perhaps, now.

A series of graves found in a gravel quarry at Stanway near Colchester, Essex, have been dated to 40-60 A.D. At least one of the burials, it appears, may have been that of a Druid, according to a report published in British Archaeology.

Mike Pitts is the journal's editor and an archaeologist. He studied classical Greek and Roman texts that mention the Druids in early France and Britain. The most detailed description, Pitts found, dates to 55 B.C. and comes from Roman military and political leader Julius Caesar.

"Druids, he says, were prestigious ritual specialists who performed human sacrifices, acted as judges in disputes, were excused action in battle and taught the transmigration of souls -- when you die, your soul is passed on to another living being," Pitts told Discovery News.

Other historians link the Druids to soothsaying and healing practices.

Within the wooden, chambered burial site, researchers have excavated a wine warmer, cremated human remains, a cloak pinned with brooches, a jet bead, divining rods (for fortune-telling), a series of surgical instruments, a strainer bowl last used to brew Artemisia-containing tea, a board game carefully laid out with pieces in play, as well as other objects...cont'd

http://dsc.discovery.com/news/2008/02/11/druid-grave.html





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Fidchell

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fidchell

Fidchell, or Celtic chess, is a game played in ancient Ireland at least 2,000 and perhaps 2,500 years ago. It is very similar to the Welsh game of gwyddbwyll. Both names translate as “wooden wisdom” or something similar.

Fidchell is mentioned quite often in ancient Celtic legends and lore, but the exact form of the game is open to speculation, due to the lack of detail on the rules, playing pieces, and even the board, to some extent. This much is clear, it was played on a board, with opposing sets of pieces, and unlike modern chess, involved a king in the center, with his defensive pieces protecting him from attacks by his opponent.

The legends describe fidchell as a game played by royalty, and even the gods, as it was supposed to have been invented by Lugh, the Irish god of light,<1> and was played very skillfully by his son, the hero Cuchullainn. A series of fidchell games also forms an important episode in Tochmarc Étaíne.




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Board-Games And Divination In Global Cultural History.............

http://www.shikanda.net/ancient_models/gen3/mankala/mankala1.htm


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Board games have been played in most cultures and societies throughout history; some even pre-date literacy skill development in the earliest civilizations. A number of important historical sites, artifacts and documents exist which shed light on early board games. Some of these include:

**Senet has been found in Predynastic and First Dynasty burials of Egypt, c. 3500 BC and 3100 BC respectively.<1> Senet is the oldest board game known to have existed, having been pictured in a fresco found in Merknera's tomb (3300-2700 BC).<2>
** Mehen is another ancient board game from Predynastic Egypt.
** Go is an ancient strategic board game originating in China
** Patolli is a board game originating in mesoamerica and played by the ancient mayans.
** The Royal Tombs of Ur contained, among others, the Royal Game of Ur. They were excavated by Leonard Woolley, but his books document little on the games found. Most of the games he excavated are now housed in the British Museum in London.
** Buddha games list is the earliest known list of games.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Board_game

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http://www.nabataea.net/games3.html

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[ayeshahaqqiqa]

1. from the items found in the grave

it appears that they have found a Druid burial, that's for sure.

[Dover]

2. Goddess Iconography in Ancient Board Games

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Today when people play backgammon or Xiang qi they are probably not thinking about the esoteric and religious aspects of the games. But to ancient peoples, playing the earliest forms of these games included more than the thrill of pitting skill and luck against an opponent; it also incorporated a recognition of and familiarity with the underlying esoteric and religious components and ethos as expressed in the iconography of the games. This paper is an introductory discussion of three ancient symbols that are part and parcel of the earliest board games: the grid/square, the rosette and the serpent. It will explore both how this iconography was incorporated into those early games and how it expressed recognition of and reverence for the Goddess.


Ancients' World View as Expressed in Art.

Modern man generally views art as an expression of esthetic values disconnected from any collective social or spiritual meaning. But ancient peoples did not view art as we do today. To them, art was first and foremost an expression of religious belief and dogma through the use of a comprehensive system of symbols and icons.1

The ancients' use of decorative elements was representational, highly symbolic and embued with religious significance from the earliest times; this approach permeated artistic expression from the magnificent Egyptian tomb paintings 2 to the delicate inlay work of shell and mother of pearl on the gameboards excavated from the Royal Tombs of Ur .

One of the oldest carved stone vases discovered in Sumer, the Warka vase, circa 3500 BCE, demonstrates the practice of applying sacred expression to even the most mundane of objects. The vase is nearly four feet tall. On the upper tier is the figure of a nude man who may possibly represent the sacrificial king. He approaches the robed queen Inanna. Inanna wears a horned headdress. The Queen of Heaven stands in front of two looped "asherah" poles, phallic symbols sacred to the goddess. On the lower tier a group of nude priests bring baskets of gifts, including fruits, to pay homage to the goddess.3 In their earliest expressions in writing and art work, ancient peoples demonstrated a belief in the axiom "as above, so below".

In Egypt, this mindset is perhaps best embodied in what they call their writing - "medu netcher", "the words of the gods": The Egyptians believed that writing was given to them by Thoth, the keeper of records among the gods. But Thoth didn't just give humans writing, he gave them the language of the gods. To write hieroglyphs was to speak "god-language." In other words, the Egyptians believed that the gods "spoke" in pictures and in things. This is a powerfully important insight into the Egyptian world view. If the "words of the gods" are pictures and things, that means that the entire world is a speech by the gods, full of meaning and symbol; this means that the universe itself can be "read."

Since Thoth taught humans the "words of the gods," he taught them also how to read and understand the universe itself. Above everything else, understand that for the Egyptian everything in the world and universe was writing that resembled all the human writing they inscribed on their tombs and monuments. For this reason, while Egyptian writing is a form of art, all Egyptian art is a form of writing-it has meaning, symbolism, and precision.4The game of Mehen is an excellent example of the ancient Egyptians' cultural expression and manifestation of this mind-set. Timothy Kendall noted

"It is not possible to know (with the evidence we have) if this deity was inspired by the game itself, or whether the game was inspired by an already existing mythology. . . . Mehen's role was essential, for if Re were not protected from these enemies, he might not rise in the morning, which would result in the cessation of all life. In Egyptian belief, 'life' applied not only to the living but also to the dead, who were believed to travel with the sun and to rise, reborn, with him at dawn." 5 ...cont'd

http://www.goddesschess.com/chessays/janigk.html

[cliss]

3. Thanks for the awesome info, Dover.

Beautiful layout of the post, very interesting.

[Dover]

6. Awww.....thanks so much Cliss.

:hug:

[MorningGlow]

4. Very cool

I didn't scroll down the rest of your post till after I read the full article, and the very minute I came across the description of the board game, I knew it was fidchell. Anybody who's read any Celtic literature can peg it. WAY cool.

This part torqued me off, though:

"Philip Crummy, director of the Colchester Archaeological Trust, told Discovery News that the person in the burial could very well have been a Druid 'given the healing and divination attributes -- assuming that Druids could be trained in these skills.'"

I'm sorry, but I found that kind of belittling. WTF--Celts weren't morons--they were a highly cultured and quite brilliant people.

And then this: "He is, however, not yet convinced the person was Celtic, since the medical kit was 'fairly Romanized' and the individual may have acted 'like a Roman surgeon/doctor would have done.'"

WTF part 2--Britain was under Roman rule for hundreds of years. During that time, Britons considered themselves Romans. Why wouldn't they also learn how to perform surgery the Roman way?

But then again, all of this is probably just tweaking a particular chip on my shoulder--I was just mentioning to a friend last night that I get irked when people trace "civilization" and all its trappings back to Greek and Roman cultures ONLY, ignoring all the other cultures who were highly advanced when Romulus and Remus were still suckling at the wolf mama's teat, if you know what I mean. (Hell, I suspect that this "Roman" form of surgery was taught to Romans by some other, older, more advanced culture. Egyptians or Chinese, anyone?)

Hee.

[Dover]

5. Scientists are loathe to be associated with what might be considered

either mystical, or magical myths. I'm usually amused at their discomfort.

And you know about fidchell? I had never heard of it until someone who responded to this post that I also placed in the Science forum suggested it. It seems that no one has ever actually seen a real fidchell game and had only reconstructed it through lore. So this grave might be the first actual fidchell game (or it's ancestor) which is pretty darned exciting. AND it sounds like it was buried with the pieces in a particular order. Even if it is Fidchell, still no one knows exactly how it is played or how it was used for divination. It's assumed that the central piece (the "king") was supposed to try to make it's way to the edges or corners of the board. I was curious if the object might be to get to the center instead.

And I love the statue from Ghana of the male and female at the board and am intrigued by the male's apparent gesture for silence. Having just done the post on silence (and the film on the monks) that features an old Italian fresco of a priest also making that same gesture, I am in wonder at the part silence has had in spiritual practice throughout the ages and in different cultures.

[MorningGlow]

7. Scientists are afraid of a lot of things!

:rofl:

Especially being the first to buy into a new theory. Cowards! :evilgrin:

I still say I'm especially put off by their implying that Druids weren't smart enough to learn surgery. HUMPH!!!

Anyway, yes, I learned about fidchell in my college literature courses, most likely my seminar on Arthurian lit. Don't ask me what we were reading that mentioned it, though! It was too long ago. Maybe the Mabinogion, because I remember the Welsh spelling of fidchell was an alphabet soup of consonants...something like fwdcll...no, it was worse than that!

From what I recall, you're right, nobody had ever found a fidchell game before, and the rules of the game haven't survived so this IS an exciting discovery! In Welsh mythology, I believe, it was a game played by the gods (manifesting the fate of people's lives?) Scholars tried to reconstruct at least its appearance by the references made in literature, and they guessed that the playing pieces were pegs that moved around by being placed in holes on the board. That's all I remember.

[Silver Gaia]

14. I have to agree with Morning Glow: "Very cool" thread and "Very cool" find

I also share your WTFs about the language in this article, MorningGlow. I taught a 3 hr. lecture (as a T.A.) about Celtic myth in a World Mythology class last semester. I included a lot of archaeological and literary evidence in that lecture toward exactly your point, that the idea of the Celts as some sort of "savage barbarians" is absolute BS. The students and the professor I worked with thanked me for the information I shared with them.

I mean, honestly, a lot of what the entire Western world has believed about the Celts up until fairly recently was based primarily on the writings of Romans, especially Caesar, who was composing nothing less than war propaganda during his campaign to add the Celtic lands to his empire-building conquests for the "glory of Rome." What better way to gain support for your war than to demonize the so-called enemy and paint them as so utterly despicable that the people of your own culture cannot possibly relate to them in any way? They become somehow "less than human," so that makes it "OK."

The Celts were highly sophisticated, and as reflected in the laws codified by Irish monks very early in the fifth century (generally regarded as representative of the traditional legal codes previously handed down by oral tradition for centuries), they even had laws against rape. Imagine that. Neither the celebrated Greek nor Roman cultures were that socially advanced in regard to the status of women. This is somewhat of a "chip on my shoulder," too, so I thought I'd just lend you some more support, MorningGlow. ;)

This is an awesome archaeological find and I hope that it will add to our knowledge base of this once-great civilization that was ultimately almost entirely obliterated under Roman rule.

[LWolf]

8. What an intriguing find!

I CANNOT spend the day, as it tempts me to, exploring Celtic mythology.

I lost my car key, in my bedroom/office, 2 days ago. I've torn the place apart to no avail. Since I have to go to work tomorrow, and have no way to get there without the key, I don't have the leisure I'd like to explore.

I WILL find the key. Then I can indulge my curiosity.

:hi:

[Dover]

9. Ask your guides LWolf.

And best of luck with finding the key.

I'm the worst with keys...or maybe I should say I'm the worst with remembering what clever place I put them. I have hidden things (mainly when I leave town or something), like keys, and then only a week or two later have completely forgotten WHERE I put it. So I've basically hidden it from myself...lol! Good trick! Then after I've torn the place apart and become completely frustrated I will ask my guides to help me remember. And often, within a short while, the clever place I've hidden it will come into my mind. This works with lost things too.

[LWolf]

10. Ask your guides....

Of course! I will spend some focused time doing just that. While I sent out a frantic, general plea, I can do better.

I lose everything that isn't nailed down. A few weeks ago, the black plastic "head" of the key broke, and it wouldn't fit on my key chain. I kept telling myself to go get more keys made, and planning to do it as soon as I was done with...well, you know. :blush:

I will take a moment to sit down and talk with my guides before I go any further. Thanks for reminding me of the obvious. ;)

[LWolf]

12. Mission accomplished.

I asked. I had lunch. Then I went through every pocket and place I knew the key might have ended up. Again. For the 10th time.

This time, when I was checking the closet floor (under where I hung the pants whose pocket held the key,) I didn't just look on the floor. I checked shoes, etc., and noticed that a straw hat had fallen on the shoes from the shelf above. I picked up the hat, and there was the key....right underneath.

Whew!

I've got to get copies of this key made. This week.

:hi:

[Dover]

13. Hurray!!!!

My hat's off to you AND your guides!

Yes, copies asap.

[Dover]

11. Secret Games of the Gods

Book about board-games and divination. Customer review:

http://www.amazon.com/Secret-Games-Gods-Ancient-Systems/dp/087728752X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1203286432&sr=1-1

Secret Games of the Gods : Ancient Ritual Systems in Board Gamesby Nigel Pennick

Two types of people will be most interested in this book. People who are interested in the history of European divination will be very pleased with the first two thirds of Secret Games of the Gods which goes into great detail about different systems for predicting the future. The last third of the book in an overview of games played by different cultures around the world and their connection to spiritual practices of these cultures. This is the area of interest that brought me to this book. In the area of the history of game playing, Secret Games of the Gods is an excellent resource, comparing similar games from different cultures and from differing periods of time. Some of the games mentioned have (to my knowledge) not been described in any other text on this subject. Mr. Pennick gives detailed accounts of the history and mythology behind the different games outlined in his book. He also discusses the rules for the games and gives illustrations of the boards and pieces used. I have used his descriptions to reconstruct several of the games in the book and found them to be stimulating and entertaining. From reading the book is clear that Mr. Pennick passionately believes in the spiritual, metaphysical and extra-perceptional aspect of game playing and how this relates to our connections to "powers higher then our selves." Sometime this passion can be off putting to those of us who are less inclined to that sort of thing. But this does not distract from the completeness of his work which should be included in any library on game playing.



Nigel Pennick's website

http://web.archive.org/web/20030228203643/www.geocities.com/nigelpennick/outdex.html