01-11-2021, 12:14 PM
Hi Alek!
The earliest game we know of, and know a certain amount of details about, is indeed mehen. Nevertheless it is certain that this was not the first game. Another game board (what we call "El-Mahasna Game" in our database) has a board and pieces, but is only knwon from one example. We do not know much about what games may have looked like earlier than this, or indeed in many parts of the world even during the time when we know these games existed in Egypt. Another candidate for an early game ("Chantuto Game" in our database) comes from Mexico and seems to be related to race games played in recent memory (Kawasukuts, for example).
I suspect we may never know. Part of the reason is that, before that time, people used what they could find around them to play games, and many people still do this today. They used seeds, stones, sticks, shells, even animal dropping, as pieces, and drew the board into the dirt. This leaves no possibility for them to be identified by archaeologists; the drawings disappear after the rain or wind destroys the drawing, and there's no way to tell that an unmodified naturally occurring object was used as a game piece. the Chantuto Game demonstrates this, where the board was found made on a floor in a shell mound in coastal Mexico. This is a highly unusual find though, and found on an artificial surface, which is difficult or impossible to find in naturally-occurring surfaces. I find it most probable that games were played much earlier than the evidence that we have, but we will probably never know what they were. And, of course, we do not know if Neanderthals played games.
Another interesting thing that is sort of implied by your question is that games may start out very simple and become very complex...it is curious that the earliest games we know (like senet and mehen) are more complex than things like Three Men's Morris or Tic-Tac-Toe, which are among the simplest of games we know. These simple games don't appear until the Roman Empire (First century CE or so). That's not to say they didn't exist at that point, but it's impossible for us to say for sure that they existed any earlier than that, possibly for the same reasons I already mentioned.
Please let me know if you have any further questions!
The earliest game we know of, and know a certain amount of details about, is indeed mehen. Nevertheless it is certain that this was not the first game. Another game board (what we call "El-Mahasna Game" in our database) has a board and pieces, but is only knwon from one example. We do not know much about what games may have looked like earlier than this, or indeed in many parts of the world even during the time when we know these games existed in Egypt. Another candidate for an early game ("Chantuto Game" in our database) comes from Mexico and seems to be related to race games played in recent memory (Kawasukuts, for example).
I suspect we may never know. Part of the reason is that, before that time, people used what they could find around them to play games, and many people still do this today. They used seeds, stones, sticks, shells, even animal dropping, as pieces, and drew the board into the dirt. This leaves no possibility for them to be identified by archaeologists; the drawings disappear after the rain or wind destroys the drawing, and there's no way to tell that an unmodified naturally occurring object was used as a game piece. the Chantuto Game demonstrates this, where the board was found made on a floor in a shell mound in coastal Mexico. This is a highly unusual find though, and found on an artificial surface, which is difficult or impossible to find in naturally-occurring surfaces. I find it most probable that games were played much earlier than the evidence that we have, but we will probably never know what they were. And, of course, we do not know if Neanderthals played games.
Another interesting thing that is sort of implied by your question is that games may start out very simple and become very complex...it is curious that the earliest games we know (like senet and mehen) are more complex than things like Three Men's Morris or Tic-Tac-Toe, which are among the simplest of games we know. These simple games don't appear until the Roman Empire (First century CE or so). That's not to say they didn't exist at that point, but it's impossible for us to say for sure that they existed any earlier than that, possibly for the same reasons I already mentioned.
Please let me know if you have any further questions!