A Gaming-Board from Tall Ḫalaf

Extract

Any one who has visited the Tall Ḫalaf Museum knows that the excavation s carried out by Max, Freiherr von Oppenheim, have produced a rich variety of material which would all repay detailed study. It is to the generosity of Baron von Oppenheim that I am indebted for permission to publish the object which is here discussed.

It is of white marble, height 14·5 cm., greatest width 7·7 cm., thickness 4 cm. (Plate VI, 1). One half is almost square in shape, the other half is a narrower prolongation with a rounded end. Where the transition from the square to the elongated part occurs there is a double moulding which is not alike on both sides (ib. 2). The square end is hollow to a depth of 5 cm., and two round holes are bored diagonally from the side with the more pronounced moulding as far as the roof of the cavity. Another hole is pierced diagonally from the top of the. rounded end to the upper part of the back. The back and sides are smoothed, and on them designs are scratched in summary fashion. On one side the forepart of a wild bull can be seen, on the other a stag; between them, on the upper part of the back surface, are two men in a light, two-wheeled chariot. It seems to be a hunting scene, and from the outline of the men's hair and beards the drawing might be dated in the Early Assyrian period. The chariot wheel seems to have eight spokes, and Professor Unger has pointed out that it is not until the time of Aššurnasirpal II that there are representations of Ghariots with eight-spoked wheels. But these rough sketches may have been added when the object had been long in use (Fig. 1). The front face is adorned with twenty sunken rectangles.