Wednesday, November 5, 2014

NORTHAMPTON, ENGLAND—Two medieval chess pieces carved from antler have been unearthed at a construction site in England’s East Midlands. The larger of the two twelfth-century game pieces was probably a bishop. The other artifact is thought to be the top part of a king. They were found among pieces of bone and antler, and may have been discarded during the manufacturing process. “They provide us with clear evidence of antler and bone working in the town, making something which is effectively a leisure product. It took quite a lot of effort to hand carve and finish these kind of things, so it’s going to be something that you’re paying the craftsman for,” archaeologist Jim Brown of the Museum of London Archaeology told BBC News. To read about another discovery from the same era in Northampton, see "Scraps of Medieval Linen Unearthed."