ABSTRACT

Discussions on daily life in Early Bronze Age society in the southern Levant often focus on subsistence or ritual phenomena, while aspects relating to entertainment and leisure are rarely discussed. This paper presents evidence for gaming behaviour, in the form of game boards and game pieces, that were recovered in the excavations of the Early Bronze Age (early to mid-3rd millennium bce) residential neighbourhood at Tell eṣ-Ṣâfi/Gath, Israel. All the objects discussed are considered to be part of games (playing pieces, casting pieces, and boards) based on their resemblance to game boards and pieces published from various Early Bronze sites in the southern Levant (e.g., Arad, Megiddo, and Bab edh-Dhra), serve as the backdrop for: 1) a perspective on the social and cultural relationships reflected in these games; 2) an examination of the origins of the 'Senet/30 Houses' game; and 3) the appropriation of foreign cultural facets in Early Bronze Age Canaan.

摘要

对黎凡特南部青铜时代早期社会日常生活的讨论往往集中在生存或仪式现象上，而很少讨论与娱乐和休闲有关的方面。本文以游戏板和游戏件的形式提供了游戏行为的证据，这些证据是在青铜时代早期（公元前 3 世纪早期至中期）的发掘中发现的) 以色列 Tell eṣ-Ṣâfi/Gath 的居民区。所有讨论的对象都被认为是游戏的一部分（棋子、铸件和棋盘），因为它们与游戏棋盘和从南部黎凡特的各种早期青铜器遗址（例如，阿拉德、米吉多和 Bab edh）发布的棋子相似-Dhra）作为背景：1）对这些游戏中反映的社会和文化关系的看法；2) 对“ Senet /30 Houses”游戏起源的检验；3）青铜时代早期迦南对外国文化方面的挪用。