File:Antler gaming piece (FindID 137904).jpg

English: A complete antler or bone gaming piece. An approximately circular gaming piece 30 -33.2mm in diameter and 6mm thick with a double-tapered central perforation 5mm in diameter at the faces of, and 3mm in the centre of the perforation. The face is decorated with two deeply incised concentric circular grooves; one around the central perforation, the second at the outside edge. Both are approx 1mm deep and triangular in profile. These concentric grooves delineate a circular band occupied by a series of ten (a decade?) equally spaced ring and dot decorative elements, all of which are approx 3mm in diameter and whose central dots are 0.5mm deep.

The piece has an overall irregularly circular profile which may suggest that a freehand cut was made from a flat section of marked out bone or antler and the circular profile a reduction made with files. Clear near vertical tooling marks visible all around the circumference seem to support this notion. The decoration of the face is equally irregular and must have been hand carved with chisels and boring tools The piece may well have been drawn out upon the blank by means of a compass, but it seems that no part of it was cut with one. The face of the piece has some wear that has produced a smooth surface, consequently tool marks are not nearly so easy to appreciate as they are around the edge. Closer examination may reveal more.

The fine grain of the substance runs across the face and reverse of the piece. On the reverse a dark band is visible across the approximate centre. At the edge an area is visible that shows a segment of concentric rings

It is thought that the perforation of circular game pieces was simply a means to a rather prosaic end - that of stringing a whole set together for secure storage. The central perforation of this example has the remains of a yellowish substance preserved deep in its interior. It is not clear what this substance might be but it has been suggested that it could be beeswax or other lubricant. Unfortunately, without analysis it is impossible to tell.

Later Medieval examples of circular bone game pieces are well known. Some have similar decorative designs upon their faces but are usually cut entirely with compass guided tools. A broadly similar game piece of slightly larger dimensions with compass engraved decoration was found in deposits in Waterford, Ireland ( city centre excavations of 1986-92) and dated to the 12th century AD. In Waterford this object would be of late Viking age.

The example discussed here is not compass engraved and its execution has more in common with styles of freehand carving evident in Early Medieval bone and antler work. Therefore a similar date is proposed for it.