They were better known for the terror they instilled in the coastal populations as they pillaged their way around Britain.

But it seems the Vikings may have also had a soft spot for something a little more mundane too - board games.

Archaeologists have discovered two burials of Norse warriors in the Orkney Islands, which were interred alongside bone game pieces and dice.

Researchers believe that board games were buried along with the bodies of Viking warriors to commemorate their skill in the games and to provide them with entertainment in the afterlife. One such burial saw a game buried alongside a man, a woman and child on Sanday in Orkney Islands (reconstruction pictured)

VIKING 'PARLIAMENT' IN SCOTLAND Nowadays, the word 'thing' is given to any object not important enough to have a name, but the meaning of the word for the Vikings could not be more different. In the 8th century, a thing was an important meeting, essentially a kind of Norse parliament, where people would gather to settle disputes, decide laws and make other decisions. Now archaeologists believe they have discovered one of the sites where these meetings happened, on the island of Bute in Scotland. Cnoc An Rath has been listed as an important archaeological monument since the 1950s, but the significance of the area has been unclear for decades. Some had suggested it could have been a prehistoric or medieval farm site. But new findings, presented at the Scottish Place-Name Society annual conference this week, revealed it is likely to have been an important assembly places. Advertisement

Now researchers believe these were placed alongside the bodies of the dead to commemorate their skill in the games during life and to provide them with entertainment in the afterlife.

Mark Hall, a curator at Perth Museum and Art Gallery, has published a new study on Viking board game burials across Northern Europe.

He says there have been 36 burials where board games of some description have been found in the graves around Northern Europe.

Among those he highlights are two on the Orkney Isles of Rousay and Sanday, which remained under Norweigian rule until the 15th century when they passed to the Scottish crown.

Under Viking rule the Orkney Islands provided a foothold for raids across mainland Britain.

Writing in the European Journal of Archaeology, Mr Hall said: '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.'

One of the burials on Rousay, dating from the ninth century AD, contained one male who had been buried alongside 25 board game pieces from bone and one die.

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

Many of the board game pieces found in the graves were made from bone and were used in games such as hnefatafl (figurines from a hnefatafl board created by artist Werner Forman pictured)

The Vikings were famed as warriors and for sailing long distances (reconstruction of Viking vessel pictured) as they raided distant countries, but the new research suggests they had a soft spot for board games too

The discovery of the games provides new insight into the culture and belief of the Vikings (scene from the TV series Vikings pictured)

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

Mr Hall said: '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.'

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.'

Among the games to be found in the Viking graves are a Norse board game called hnefatafl (reconstruction pictured above)

According to Hall the playing pieces were used in various games – including a Norse game called hnefatafl, which was played on a lattice board with two 'armies' that face each other, much like in chess.

The game similar to chess - with a king piece in the centre, surrounded by defenders, which must make it to the edge of the board before the other team destroys him.

The dice - he says - were probably linked to an early ancestor of the game of backgammon, known as tabulal alea.