Mesopotamian Luck

First findings of backgammon dates back five thousand years ago to Sumer civilization in Mesopotamia. In 1920s Sir Leonard, the British archaeologist, excavated Ur of the Chaldees, the Biblical home of Abraham. In the royal cemetery he found five game layouts which bear some slight resemblance to our backgammon boards. They were made of wood, intricately decorated with a mosaic of shell, bone, lapis lazuli, red paste, and red limestone set in bitumen, and adorned with animals and rosettes.

Right after Woolley’s discovery, in another part of ancient Mesopotamia, archaeologists found a very similar gaming board. This one was less lavishly decorated, but something more was under the board; in neat piles, were found two sets of playing pieces and dice. One set of men consisted of simple black squares, each inlaid with five lapis dots; the others were shell squares engraved with vignettes. Each player apparently had seven men and six dice. 



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