21. Incised gameboard on roof tile Figure C, Figure 32

DP -2S-25. Three joining fragments, broken all around, of Lakonian-type pan tile with streaky black glaze on concave side, as no. 24 below. Max. pres. L. 0.142 m, max. pres. W. 0.075 m. Square gameboard, almost half preserved, incised after firing on the unglazed convex side, oriented at a 45º angle to original sides of tile, roughly parallel to the top and right-

hand broken edges of the fragment. Gameboard is formed by three concentric squares with sides bisected by perpendicular lines. L. of side of outer square 0.10 m, L. of intermediate square 0.08 m, est. L. of inner square 0.06 m. On glazed side of tile are two lines meeting at right angle, incised after firing; these are oriented parallel to the original sides of the tile, as indicated by the direction of the streaks of glaze and the curve of the tile as it approaches the lateral edge.

The game represented is Nine Men's Morris, a two-player game, also known as Mühle, or the Mill, and as Morelles, or La Merelle. On the play of the game and its wide popularity in antiquity, see Bell 1960, 93-95; cf. also Baran 1974, 21-23. The closest example known to me of this game in time and space to those of the Dema tower occurs at Gordion, incised on the underside of a reused block built into the foundation of the paved court for the Persian gate of the sixth century B.C. , published by Young 1955, 12, and figure 25 in plate 6.