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The game of 58 Holes – also known as ‘Hounds and Jackals’ – is one of the oldest games in the world. It was long thought to have originated in Egypt, with the oldest example dating to the Eleventh Dynasty (c.2055-1985 BC). However, new evidence published by W Crist and R Abdullayev in the European Journal of Archaeology suggests the game may have originated in south-western Asia, in what is now Azerbaijan. Six patterns of shallow depressions have been found on rock outcrops on the Abşeron Peninsula and in the Gobustan National Reserve, each having the game’s distinctive geometry, and dating to the late 3rd to early 2nd millennium BC. The game became popular and was quickly adopted by a wide variety of people, spreading to Egypt and elsewhere along trade routes, with some changes in the rules of gameplay on the way.
Text: Sarah Griffiths
