Playthings in Early Modernity: Party Games, Word Games, Mind Games

Why do we play games—with and upon each other as well as ourselves? When are winners also losers, and vice-versa? How and to what end do we stretch the spaces of play? What happens when players go ‘out of bounds,’ or when games go ‘too far’? Moreover, what happens when we push the parameters of inquiry: when we play with traditional narratives of ludic culture, when we re-write the rules? An innovative volume of fifteen interdisciplinary essays at the nexus of material culture, performance studies, and game theory, Playthings in Early Modernity emphasizes the rules of the game(s) as well as the breaking of those rules. Thus, the titular ‘plaything’ is understood as both an object and a person, and play, in the early modern world, is treated not merely as a pastime, a leisurely pursuit, but as a pivotal part of daily life, a strategic psychosocial endeavor

Gaming in Mohenjo-daro – an Archaeology of Unities

The main question of this thesis concerns the possibility of illuminating the presence and impact of the irrational element that is play in an ancient societal structure. With this question as a lodestar, the investigation has come to concern the development of an alternative way of work that can manage to embrace the positively loaded, ‘fun’ dimension of play. The view of fragmented archaeological remains as autonomously working unities has been of central importance for this mode of procedure. The study is based on selected game-related finds from the site of Mohenjodaro. Located in Sindh in southern Pakistan, the site constitutes the remains of the largest urban settlement of the Bronze Age Indus Valley realm (ca. 2500-2000 BC). One of the typical features of this realm constitutes a focus on small-sized art. Among other artefacts, numerous small objects of a supposedly game-related purpose have been found in Mohenjo-daro, such as dice and gamesmen. The study tests its way along different paths. The mode of procedure builds on a modified form of grounded theory. In this form, emphasis has been put on the concept of abduction in the version of Bateson. Stress has also been laid on Simmel’s description of the process of understanding. With this reasoning, the researcher’s self is accentuated as an integrated component in the process. The consequence of the modifications is a model in the shape of a grid – a working grid – where the different rows, internally divided up into compartments representing stages of work, constitute different, autonomously working ways. The empirical investigation is based on a critical reading of older excavational documents. Rather than aiming at a systematic division between what is game-related and what is not game-related, the reading is undertaken with the aim of seeing whether this kind of material can be studied despite the problematic appearance of the sources. Through a practical application of the working grid, the bearing capacity of the materials is tested from different angles. In the following theoretical discussion, the grid is utilized in a more theoretical manner in order to reach different aspects of play. The most successful approach builds on the discernment of autonomously working unities in the studied materials. This is based on Simmel’s division between form and content, as well as on the emphasis by Bateson on autonomously working systems. The study argues that this way of work has the potential to yield alternative, more socially embedded insights into the settlement. It attains a twofold structure in that the aim of illuminating play both offers a test of the scientific linguistic usage, as well as forms into a methodological instrument with which to reach the individual of the past

Restoring ruins : Archaeological creationism

Creationism can be defined as “the belief that the universe and living organisms originate from specific acts of divine creation, as in the biblical account, rather than by natural processes such as evolution” (Oxford Dictionaries 2013). In light of the creation-evolution debate in the 19th century, in the early history of archaeology, explorers like A. H. Layard and G. Smith exemplify the efforts to unravel various evidences for the truth of the Bible, such as aspects of the Genesis account. Although this may not be the primary driving force for the present-day discipline of archaeology, ‘creational obstacles’ seem adhesive to its shifting urges of uncovering the past. Following the work of fictive archaeologists through time, this paper traces relations between excavation and creation, meandering through crumbling monuments of a rather converted, archaeological story of creation

The Forgotten : an Approach on Harappan Toy Artefacts

This thesis proposes an alternative perspective to the general neglect of toy materials from deeper analysis in archaeology. Based on a study of selected toy artefacts from the Classical Harappan settlement at Bagasra, Gujarat, it suggests a viable way of approaching the objects when considering them within a theoretical framework highlighting their social aspects. The study agrees with objections in e.g. parts of gender archaeology and research on children in archaeology to the extrapolating from the marginalized child of the West onto past social structures. Departing from revised toy definitions formulated in disciplines outside archaeology, it proceeds with the objects’ toy identifications while rejecting a ‘transforming’ of these into other interpretations. Thus entering a quite unexplored research field, grounded theory is used as working method. As the items indicate a regulated pattern, the opinion on toy artefacts as randomly scattered around becomes questioned. Using among others the capital concept by Bourdieu, the notion of micropower by Foucault and parts of the newly developed ideas of microarchaeology, the toy-role of the artefacts is emphasized as crucial, enabling the items to express diverse social uses in addition to their possible function as children’s (play)things. With this, the notion of the limiting connection of toys to playing children becomes unravelled, opening for a discussion on enlarged dimensions of the toys and a possible re-naming of them as the materialities of next generation. While suggesting the items to indicate various social strategies and structurating practices, the need for traditional boundaries and separated entities successively becomes eliminated. The traditionally stated toy obstacles with cultural loading and elusive distinctions can with this be proposed as constructions, possible to avoid. The toy concept simultaneously emerges as particularly useful in highlighting the notion of change and continuity within the social structure and children’s roles in this

What’s Left of Games are Boards Alone : on Form, Incidence, and Variability of Engraved Game Boards at Vijayanagara (c. AD 1350-1565)

Ancient remains of game boards have been relatively little researched in archaeology. A common view holds that such finds represent somewhat periphery, less informative artefacts. Another established tendency is to approach them out of classificatory, game-typological aims. This paper argues that both perspectives have isolating effects on the finds, thereby making the field archaeologically difficult to access. Based on a study of engraved game boards documented at the site of the ancient city of Vijayanagara (c. AD 1350-1565), this paper offers a more empirically grounded path by, rather than identifying the boards as games, focusing on them as primarily archaeological objects with distinctly archaeological attributes. This has made visible some distinguishing traits, which may not have been as easily detected with a game classificatory approach

Negligible Details? On a Study of Terracotta Miniature Carts from a Harappan site in Gujarat

This paper deals with results obtained from an analysed assemblage of Harappan toy- or model carts. It aims to put forward the particular value of studying a limited number of objects while concentrating on details. It further prefers to approach the items not primarily as representations of full-sized carts, but as that what they are; that is, miniature carts

Restoring ruins : Archaeological creationism

Creationism can be defined as “the belief that the universe and living organisms originate from specific acts of divine creation, as in the biblical account, rather than by natural processes such as evolution” (Oxford Dictionaries 2013). In light of the creation-evolution debate in the 19th century, in the early history of archaeology, explorers like A. H. Layard and G. Smith exemplify the efforts to unravel various evidences for the truth of the Bible, such as aspects of the Genesis account. Although this may not be the primary driving force for the present-day discipline of archaeology, ‘creational obstacles’ seem adhesive to its shifting urges of uncovering the past. Following the work of fictive archaeologists through time, this paper traces relations between excavation and creation, meandering through crumbling monuments of a rather converted, archaeological story of creation

What’s Left of Games are Boards Alone : on Form, Incidence, and Variability of Engraved Game Boards at Vijayanagara (c. AD 1350-1565)

Ancient remains of game boards have been relatively little researched in archaeology. A common view holds that such finds represent somewhat periphery, less informative artefacts. Another established tendency is to approach them out of classificatory, game-typological aims. This paper argues that both perspectives have isolating effects on the finds, thereby making the field archaeologically difficult to access. Based on a study of engraved game boards documented at the site of the ancient city of Vijayanagara (c. AD 1350-1565), this paper offers a more empirically grounded path by, rather than identifying the boards as games, focusing on them as primarily archaeological objects with distinctly archaeological attributes. This has made visible some distinguishing traits, which may not have been as easily detected with a game classificatory approach

Restoring ruins : Archaeological creationism

Creationism can be defined as “the belief that the universe and living organisms originate from specific acts of divine creation, as in the biblical account, rather than by natural processes such as evolution” (Oxford Dictionaries 2013). In light of the creation-evolution debate in the 19th century, in the early history of archaeology, explorers like A. H. Layard and G. Smith exemplify the efforts to unravel various evidences for the truth of the Bible, such as aspects of the Genesis account. Although this may not be the primary driving force for the present-day discipline of archaeology, ‘creational obstacles’ seem adhesive to its shifting urges of uncovering the past. Following the work of fictive archaeologists through time, this paper traces relations between excavation and creation, meandering through crumbling monuments of a rather converted, archaeological story of creation

What’s Left of Games are Boards Alone : on Form, Incidence, and Variability of Engraved Game Boards at Vijayanagara (c. AD 1350-1565)

Ancient remains of game boards have been relatively little researched in archaeology. A common view holds that such finds represent somewhat periphery, less informative artefacts. Another established tendency is to approach them out of classificatory, game-typological aims. This paper argues that both perspectives have isolating effects on the finds, thereby making the field archaeologically difficult to access. Based on a study of engraved game boards documented at the site of the ancient city of Vijayanagara (c. AD 1350-1565), this paper offers a more empirically grounded path by, rather than identifying the boards as games, focusing on them as primarily archaeological objects with distinctly archaeological attributes. This has made visible some distinguishing traits, which may not have been as easily detected with a game classificatory approach