Saturday, 21 October 2017

The Afrasiab Chessmen 7th Century (Located 1977)

These are the earliest known Chess pieces.  They were found at Afrasiab, near Samarkand, Uzbekistan by archaeologist and historian Prof. Jurij F. Burjakov in 1977

The set is made of ivory and consists of 7 pieces. They are conserved at the State Museum of Samarkand. It is dated from 6th to 8th century. About 700 AD and before 712 AD (because a coin so dated belongs to the same layer) is the most reliable (cf G. Semenov 2007).