Tea-Break Archaeology · The Archaeology Podcast Network

It's all fun and games - Ep 34

·58 min·4 clips

The Lewis Chessmen are a hoard: 78 pieces, 14 discs, and one ivory buckle.

1. Tea-Break Time Travel episode 34 centres on the Lewis Chessmen and Alice Blackwell's work with medieval objects. 2. Dr. Matilda Siebrecht hosts the episode, and Dr. Alice Blackwell is the Senior Curator of Medieval Archaeology and History at National Museums Scotland. 3. The episode asks what the Lewis Chessmen can reveal about material, game play, and Norse-Gaelic connections in medieval Scotland. 4. Blackwell says most pieces are carved from walrus ivory, while two of the 11 pieces at National Museum Scotland are made from sperm whale. 5. She explains that larger pieces come from the base of the tusk and smaller ones from the narrower upper part. 6. She says early descriptions mention some pieces as red, although British Museum analysis could not identify the pigment. 7. Blackwell states that the group is a hoard, not just a chess set, and includes 78 pieces, 14 circular gaming discs, and an ivory buckle. 8. She says the buckle was probably used to fasten a bag that held the pieces. 9. She notes that the objects were recognized early on as chess pieces because they largely match pieces used in chess today. 10. She also says the group may have included pieces for tables or other tafl games, not only chess. 11. Blackwell argues that the strongest case points to Norway, possibly Trondheim, as the place of manufacture. 12. She cites a similar queen fragment known from an illustration and comparable carvings in Norwegian wooden churches. 13. She rejects the idea that the objects simply passed through Lewis on the way somewhere else. 14. She places Lewis inside a Norse-Gaelic world that linked the Isle of Man, the Hebrides, and the western seaboard. 15. Blackwell says the pieces likely suited elite audiences because chess also worked as a social and strategic practice. 16. She mentions saga material about etiquette, including not wanting to refuse a challenge or beat a host too decisively. 17. The tone is conversational and reflective, with a repeated tea-break structure and a playful opening fictional scene about a storm and a game. 18. The format mixes host questions, personal biography, and detailed object interpretation with frequent digressions into tea and terminology. 19. Archaeology students, museum visitors, and medieval-history listeners would likely enjoy this. 20. Listeners wanting a fast, general overview of chess may skip it.

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