Lost and found: the object biographies of Roman gaming sets from the Western Provinces

Penn, T. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4472-9031 and Courts, S. (2022) Lost and found: the object biographies of Roman gaming sets from the Western Provinces. Pallas, 119. pp. 241-262. ISSN 2272-7639 doi: 10.4000/pallas.24929

Abstract/Summary

Sets of objects comprising a large number of counters and sometimes dice form an important part of the study of gaming in the Roman world. Previous work has used the number of counters as a means of identifying the types of games played or the number of players, but little research has focused on the life histories of such gaming sets. Their discovery in settlements demonstrates that accidental loss of gaming pieces was a common phenomenon, while funerary contexts indicate that intentional deposits of one or more counters in graves were also recurrent. This raises the question of whether incomplete sets were ‘removed’ or whether they ‘survived’ and continued to be used, perhaps with the use of substitute pieces. Today, replacement pieces can be purchased online and, thanks to industrial production techniques, are perfectly identical to the original pieces, but this was not the case in the Roman world, and the replacement pieces of the period – often made of different materials or with distinct shapes – could be visually distinguished from the original set. This article examines the material and emotional aspects of mixed sets of playing pieces found in Britain, Gaul and Italy to demonstrate that their continued presence is both a relatively common phenomenon and may have served to remember important moments of play.