Exhibition : 3, 2, 1 ... Play! Visit ▶BACK ▶

It's now possible to play like it used to be. Locus Ludi is a European multidisciplinary research group that studies and reconstructs ancient games that can be tested online. It is also possible today to listen to the sound of an Aurignacian flute thanks to experimental archaeology.

These extraordinary examples of archaeological reconstructions show that play, whether musical or ludic, is a particularly rich object of study. Interpretation of the remains allows us to guess at the rules, but only to imagine the many ways in which games were played in different eras.

This exhibition aims to introduce the diversity of game-related artifacts from Inrap excavations, and how they renew our understanding of ludic and musical cultures through time.  

Games are essential witnesses to the material culture of different eras. Disinterested and spontaneous, play is closely associated with childhood and everyday life, but is by no means trivial. It reproduces and reveals to the archaeologist the class and gender structures of the societies in which it is embedded, as well as providing a detour from anxiety-provoking daily life in times of conflict.

Children also play at imitating their elders, with miniaturized objects. This small hollow dish with a handle is a Gallo-Roman coat hook. Found in an adolescent girl's grave, it doesn't appear to be a functional or strictly funerary object. It measures 10 cm in length: not very practical for cooking! This little peg was probably produced as a game, like today's dinettes. Deposited in the grave of an adolescent girl, it was probably part of a toy set. In Gallo-Roman times, little girls' games were associated with the domestic sphere, reflecting the gendered roles of the time. Today's archaeologists are careful not to systematically associate an object with a gender. For example, the Viking warrior buried with his weapons turned out to be...a woman! A more complete set of dînette can also be admired at the Musée national du Moyen-Âge de Cluny.

View the object's data sheet 

In times of conflict, soldiers recreate their daily lives to entertain themselves and distract themselves from the terror of war. In the trenches, as in the rear, time can seem long, and entertainment is a way of warding off boredom: sports, games, music, shows. While many photographs have been preserved, material evidence is rarer, especially as archaeology of contemporary periods has only recently developed. A few objects testify to these moments of pause, evoking a daily routine that seems normal in a context that is not. This violin-can, made from everyday objects (a can as a sounding board), bears witness to the ingenuity shown by soldiers of the First World War to have an instrument and play music.

View object details.

These dominoes, used by the poilus, consist of a plate of bone and a plate of wood joined by a brass wire. The marking of the numbers on the bone contains irregularities that indicate manual work, while the cutting of the bone and wood was done by machine.
An important traditional manufacture was located at Méru in the Oise region. The discovery of pieces such as these bears witness to moments of entertainment and daily life in wartime.

For find out more: a dossier on troop entertainment

Musical instruments, sounds and songs are an integral part of worship practices and religious acts. In pagan cults, musicians could be attached to a sanctuary and to the celebration of a deity. In later cults, such as the Christian liturgy, song plays an important role. Music and song are used to communicate with the gods. It's not simply a matter of staging, but a sacred act. Archaeological evidence provides a wealth of information on these intangible practices.

In 2004, a batch of carnyxes, weapons and shields was discovered in a pit in the Gallo-Roman temple at Tintignac.

The carnyx is an Iron Age musical instrument that served as a war trumpet, held vertically and sounding out of the animal-head-shaped bell. While very few examples of carnyx had been discovered, the Tintignac site revealed seven! In addition to their military function, these carnyxes could also have been part of a ritual: they would have been warrior initiation ceremonies performed in the temple dedicated to Teutates, likened to Mars in Roman times.
These instruments could therefore have had a sacred function. The contribution of experimental archaeology has been fundamental to our knowledge of these objects: a carnyx was reconstituted in brass with the help of a coppersmith, in order to recover its original sound.

For more information 

Inrap documentary Les experts du passé, episode 14, "Le dernier souffle du carnyx"

John Kenny is the first contemporary musician to play the carnyx in concert, notably at the Lorient Interceltic Festival or at the Stade de France in 2003.

A shrine dedicated to the god Mithra (a deity of Zoroastrianism, integrated into the Roman pantheon from the 1st century AD) has been discovered at Mariana in Corsica, site of a Roman colony founded around 100 BC. These two copper-alloy bells were discovered in the shrine. They were probably used to provide musical accompaniment to Mithra worship rituals. Mithraic ceremonies were punctuated by song and sound, as evidenced by similar bells discovered in Mandelieu-La Napoule (Alpes-Maritimes) and the graffito "Repeat in song!" found in a mithraeum in Rome.

Dice games were very popular in ancient Greece and Rome. It's hard to pinpoint all their uses: games of chance, but perhaps also religious or divinatory practices. Dice, invented in the Bronze Age in the Near East, spread to Gaul in the 5th century B.C. They could be made of bone, bronze, ivory, glass or terracotta.
This die, preserved in Toulouse, has certain faces in double, the "fours", "fives" and "sixes". It must have been used for a particular game of chance. In Roman Gaul, miniature or pierced dice may have been worn as pendants, in the manner of a lucky charm or talisman. This shows the symbolic - almost magical - value of these objects.

Astragalus or ossicles are small, four-sided bones. They are sometimes imitated in other materials, as is the case with this metal ossicle. As with dice, the faces of astragals could be inscribed and were used for games of chance, but also for divinatory or oracular practices. These practices are known to us from texts: the ossicles are thrown and the way they fall back down indicates the god's will.

You play!"Enter Apollo's temple and throw the ossicles

View the object sheet 

Games of chance, gambling and divination have often been criticized. In the Middle Ages, some saw them as objects of the Devil. In France, the practice of gambling was even banned by an ordinance issued by King Charles V in 1369. Games did not disappear, however, and many dice, cards and pawns from the Middle Ages were found in excavations. New games were even introduced later, such as dominoes, which appeared in modern times!

View object description 

Play is a practice that can involve competition. Some objects tell us about sports games, and therefore about bodily practices that showcase the athletic body. Others show theatrical and musical performances, which are also the scene of great rivalries. From ball games in Mesoamerica to soccer competitions organized for the poilus, these objects are indicators of the various forms of musical and sporting competition.

Le jeu de paume, invented in the Middle Ages, is the ancestor of tennis. The game was popular with all sections of society, and Paris boasted over two hundred jeu de paume halls in 1600. In recent years, a number of jeu de paume have been unearthed in France, including in Marseille, Versailles and Blois. The jeu de paume at Villers-Cotterêt is particularly well preserved. Its ornate terracotta paving, the "carreau", is still clearly visible. This is where the expression "rester sur le carreau" ("to remain on the tile") comes from!

For more information: Archeology at the château 

In ancient Greece and Rome, actors competed in theatrical competitions. Theatrical performance was highly standardized, whether in terms of costumes, interpretation or respect for propriety. Actors wear masks that clearly indicate their role. These easily identifiable masks can be comic or tragic. Made of perishable materials, they have rarely survived and are best known for their performances. The one carved in Marseille on a roof ornament shows a tragic figure, mouth open.

Puppet theater is a popular art form dating back to Antiquity. In the 17th and 18th centuries, it was very popular in France, and was performed at major fairs. Puppet shows were usually comic and parodic, combining action and song. The articulated puppet hands found during excavations at the Grand Louvre date from this period. The Guignol puppet, created in 1808 in Lyon, shows the success of this street art in the 19th century, and right up to the present day!

Playing to entertain and be entertained, to keep busy or even to compete, involves a variety of objects and practices. Play can be found in every aspect of society and at every stage of life. Archaeology has revealed this diversity of functions and contexts of object use, from children's toys to musical instruments.

The work linked to the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris is the occasion for a large number of archaeological excavations, some of which are being carried out by Inrap. The Olympic village (Saint-Denis), the media village (Le Bourget) and even the Grand Palais have seen excavation campaigns in recent months, the results of which are awaited. In this way, the games give rise to excavations, a favorite game of archaeologists, which may themselves reveal the remains of earlier games...

Exhibition created by the student curators of the Institut National du Patrimoine as part of the Journées Européennes de l'Archéologie 2023. 

Clotilde BEOUTIS
Isabelle BROWN
Flora MUNTREZ
Clémentine PERNOT 
Justine VIGNERES

Permanent exhibition venues for the objects presented:

Besançon [25] - Musée des Beaux Arts et d'Archéologie
Lucciana [20] - Mariana Archaeological Site Museum, Prince Rainier III of Monaco
Marseille [13] -Musée d'Histoire de Marseille
Nancy [54] - Musée des Beaux-Arts
Paris [75] - Musée du Louvre
Poitiers [86] - Musée sainte-Croix
Rennes [35] - Musée de Bretagne
Toulouse [31] - Musée Saint-Raymond

Thanks to the museums that have authorized the use of object visuals outside the Inrap museum gallery

Musée de la Grande Guerre de Meaux [77]
Musée du président Chirac de Sarran [19]
Musée de l'Ephèbe du Cap d'Agde [34]

Thanks to Laurent Pelletier, Inrap

Website:

European research project ERC Locus Ludi: https://locusludi.ch/

Exhibitions and their catalogs: 

- Jeux de princes, jeux de vilains, exhibition catalog, Bibliothèque Nationale de France, 2009.

- Échecs et trictrac. Fabrication et usages des jeux de table au Moyen Âge, exhibition catalog, Musée du Château de Mayenne, 2012.

- Art du jeu, jeu dans l'art, exhibition catalog, Musée Nationale du Moyen Âge - Cluny, 2013.

- Ludique, jouer dans l'antiquité, exhibition catalog, Musée Lugdunum, 2019.

- Dans la peau d'un soldat (1883-1938). Archéologie du quotidien de la caserne Chanzy, exhibition catalog, Musée de la Bière de Stenay, 2023.

Articles and books:

BLANC-BIJON Véronique, "L'emblema d'Apollon et de Marsyas (Cap d'Agde) : étude iconographique et technique - analyses des matériaux", in Bronzes grecs et romains, recherches récentes. Hommage à Claude Rolley, Paris, Publications de l'Institut national d'histoire de l'art, 2012.

V. Dasen and U. Schädler, "Jeu et divination. Un nouveau témoignage de l'époque romaine", Archeologia, 553, 2017, p. 60-65.
DASEN Véronique, "Le rochet d'Archytas : un jouet pour grandir", Annales de Bretagne et des Pays de l'Ouest. Anjou. Maine. Poitou-Charente. Touraine, no. 124, November 16, 2017, p. 89-107.

DE PERETTI Ophélie "Le mithréum de Mariana", in BARTHET L., BEKAS M., CAPUS P. et al. (dir.), Le mystère Mithra. Plongée au cœur d'un culte romain, cat. expo, musée Saint-Raymond, Toulouse, 2022, p. 461-465.

FONTAINE Dominique, Françoise LABAUNE-JEAN and Gaétan Le CLOIREC, "Renaissance musicale", Archéologie médiévale, no. 49, December 20, 2019, p. 171-176.

MANIQUET Christophe, "Les carnyx d'un dépôt cultuel du sanctuaire gaulois de Tintignac à Naves (Corrèze)", in Proceedings of the 6th Symposium of the International Study Group on Music Archaeology (ISGMA), 2006, Berlin, p. 57-76.

E. Nikulina, U. Schmölcke, "Les osselets, ancêtres du jeu de dé", Pour la science, n°365, March 2008.

[enligne]https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Elena-Nikulina-3/publication/281147735_Les_Osselets_ancetres_du_jeu_de_des/links/55ed451008ae65b6389f45ea/Les-Osselets-ancetres-du-jeu-de-des.pdf ]

PRODÉO Frédéric, Fabrice MAREMBERT and Patrick MASSAN, "Pineuilh, La Mothe (Gironde) : une résidence aristocratique à la charnière de l'An Mill", Archéologie du Midi Médiéval, vol. 4, no 1, 2006, p. 419-424.