Vikings were buried with board games to beat boredom

Vikings were buried with board games to make sure they were entertained in the afterlife to prevent them returning to haunt the living, experts believe.

The king piece and its ‘owner’ from the Saalme II boat burial 
[Credit: Liina Maldre]

The Orkney islands were under Norwegian rule until the 15th century, acting as a foothold for Viking raids on mainland Britain.

The islands remain littered with archaeological evidence of the feared Norse warriors, including at least two burial sites where board games were found to have been buried alongside bodies.

Now a Scottish academic has revealed that they were included in a bid to commemorate the warrior skill of the deceased and to provide them with entertainment in the afterlife.

Mark Hall of Perth Museum has published new research on “Viking board game burials” across Northern Europe.

Two of the 36 known board game burials that he discusses are Orkney Viking burials on the islands of Rousay and Sanday.

A recreation of the burial on Sanday [Credit: Historic Scotland]

The ninth-century Rousay site contained one male, buried alongside 25 board game pieces made from bone and one die.

On Sanday a burial from around the same time contains one adult male, as well as a young boy and an elderly woman.

The group were laid to rest in a boat along with 22 whalebone playing pieces.

Mr Hall writes: “Thus equipping the deceased in burial would have seen them provided for in afterlife both as an act of remembrance and to make sure the dead were not lacking in anything, ensuring that they would move on and not – disturbingly – be drawn back to the living world.”

He explains that the strategy and skill of board games was closely linked to the deceased’s warrior status, hence their use in the burial ritual.

Among the games to be found in the Viking graves are a Norse board game called hnefatafl 
[Credit: Getty Images/Dorling Kindersley]

He continues: “Placing the gaming kit in the grave served to remember or commemorate that status and skill and to make it available for the deceased in the afterlife.”

The games also acted as “provisions” for the challenge of the journey into the afterlife.

He writes: “Just as in life, where success on the gaming board – which needed strategic thinking as well as fighting ability – could be seen to confirm and add to the status of an accomplished warrior, in death the inclusion of a board game signalled ability and success as a warrior and by implication preparedness for the challenge ahead.”

The playing pieces were used in various games – including one called hnefatafl, which was similar to chess.

The research is published in the European Journal of Archaeology.

Author: Joe Stenson | Source: The Scotsman [July 29, 2016]