Nine men’s morris - Curiosity on the floor

An absolutely fascinating feature was discovered in the Avar Period settlement part beside the Eastern Ditch, bringing close, for a moment, the humans who once lived there: eight incised nine men’s morris boards carved into the floor of Feature 2769, a semi-sunken building. In size and structure, the house was akin to any common Avar building, with a 2.6 × 2.7 m ground plan and a pair of postholes for the posts holding the purlin along the southern and northern walls.
The game boards came in various sizes, the biggest being 30 × 30 cm and the smallest 18 × 18 cm. Only one was complete, while the others were partial due to overlapping, which indicates that the board was renewed from time to time. The size and design of the house do not suggest that it was a community building, but the board of this game, invented in antique times, makes it unique and allows us to take a glimpse into the daily life of the one-time residents of the past village