B. Caré, V. Dasen, U. Schädler (eds.), Back to the Game: Reframing Play and Games in Context, XXI Board Game Studies Annual Colloquium, April, 24-26, 2018, Benaki Museum – Italian School of Archaeology at Athens (Board Game Studies Journal 16/1), Associação Ludus, Lisbon 2021. ISBN 97-9-848258-169-8.
This volume has its genesis in the 21st Conference of the International Society for Board Game Studies (BGS) held in Athens in April 2018. A session was dedicated to ancient games as part of the ERC project Locus ludi. The Cultural Fabric of Play and Games in Classical Antiquity (# 741520).The identification of games, especially board games, and the study of their cultural role in ancient societies is a complex undertaking with many method-ological issues. This pluridisciplinary book edited by Barbara Carè, Véronique Dasen and Ulrich Schädler focuses on case studies where games can be reframed in their archaeological and cultural contexts. Three axes, distributed according to the type of evidence and chronologically ordered,explore archeological sites and monuments, visual arts and literary genres ranging from the Late Minoan period (15th c. BC) to the reception of ancient ludic culture in contemporary literature.
About the editors
Barbara Carè, PhD in Classical Archaeology, is a former fellow of the Italian School of Archaeology at Athens (2018; 2020-2021) and an active member of various fieldwork projects in the Mediterranean. Her research interests and publications focus on the ritual values of astragali in the Greek world and she has been granted several visiting research and post-doctoral fellowships to work on this specific topic (Greece, UK, Australia). Her academic interests also include Greek ceramic productions, funerary archaeology and archaeology of ritual.
Véronique Dasen is professor of Classical archeology at the University of Fribourg (CH). Her publications cover the cultural history of play and games, women and children, ancient medicine and magic. She is the PI of the research project Locus ludi. The Cultural Fabric of Play and Games in Classical Antiquity, supported by the European Research Council (ERC AdG # 741520, 2017-2023).
Ulrich Schädler, PhD in Greek and Roman Archaeology, is Professor at the University of Fribourg (CH) and co-founder of the International Society for Board Game Studies. Since 2002 he is director of the Swiss Museum of Games. He published numerous studies on the cultural history of games, ancient, medieval, and modern and is involved in exhibitions on the subject. He is senior researcher of the project Locus Ludi. The Cultural Fabric of Play and Games in Classical Antiquity, supported by the European Research Council (ERC AdG # 741520, 2017-2023).
