Morocco’s Volubilis Hammam Yields North Africa’s Oldest Known Board Game

Marrakech – A newly published study in the journal Libyan Studies presents the earliest known evidence of the board game tāb/sīg in North Africa. The discovery comes from the medieval hammam at Walīla, the Arabic name for Roman Volubilis, near Meknes.

The peer-reviewed article, authored by Tim Penn of the University of Reading, Corisande Fenwick of University College London, and Hassan Limane of Morocco’s National Institute of Archaeology and Heritage (INSAP), documents a previously unpublished game board carved into a step inside the site’s early medieval bathhouse.

The hammam was built in the late eighth or ninth century CE and abandoned by the tenth or eleventh century, providing what the authors describe as “a rare secure context for the board’s date.”

The board consists of three rows of at least 13 shallow, semi-spherical holes. It measures approximately 34 cm by 9.5 cm. The holes, each 1.2 to 1.6 cm in diameter, were carved into a reused stone block positioned at the top step of the cold plunge-pool. A fourth, more irregular row of eight surviving holes sits behind the main board, possibly related to scoring or to a separate, unfinished game.

The authors argue the board was most likely used for playing tāb, known as sīg in the Maghreb and Saharan Africa. This is a running-fight game in which two players move pieces across the board, competing to capture or eliminate an opponent’s pieces. Modern versions use four thrown sticks rather than dice to determine moves.

The study rules out mancala as a likely candidate. Mancala boards typically feature larger, deeper holes to hold multiple pieces, and three-row mancala boards always have an even number of holes per row. The Walīla board, with its odd number of 13 holes per row and shallow depressions, does not fit that profile.

The hammam itself is a 243-square-meter structure built from reused stone and brick. It forms part of a larger complex that archaeologists interpret as the residence of Idrīs I, founder of the Idrisid dynasty, and his son Idrīs II.

The complex’s courtyard plan, its heating system, and its architectural design all point to Levantine rather than North African influences. The authors note that the bathhouse’s closest known parallels for its heating system are twelfth-century Ayyubid baths in Damascus.

Prior to this find, no tāb/sīg-style game boards had been identified in North Africa. All previously known examples come from the Middle East, Arabia, or the Western Mediterranean fringe – sites in Jerusalem, the Golan Heights, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Jordan, Portugal, and western Türkiye.

The Walīla board now fills a significant geographic gap. The authors write that the board “suggests that tāb/sīg may have arrived in the Western Mediterranean in the early medieval period, perhaps via contact with individuals or groups familiar with the game further east in the Islamic world.”

The board’s placement at the entrance to the plunge-pool, visible to anyone in the changing room, was deliberate. The authors interpret it as “a purposeful addition, carved after the hammam’s construction and some time during its use.” Its prominent position indicates that gaming was an accepted part of the social experience of bathing at the site – not a casual or illicit activity.

The study calls for more systematic documentation of game boards and portable gaming material across Morocco and North Africa. The authors note that graffiti boards and informal carvings are routinely omitted from excavation reports, yet “offer valuable insights into social behaviour, leisure and use of space” in the early Islamic world.