Among the many artifacts found in the Gokstad ship burial were also parts of the board game hnefatafl. Now it has been recreated by the Gokstad Building Society/Viking Culture in Sandefjord, and it has taken the town by storm.
By Einar Chr. Erlingsen
Training in hnefatafl was one of the very popular attractions during Sandefjord’s Culture Day in September, according to Gokstad Building Society’s leader, Anette Krohn Henriksen. It was equally popular among young people and adults. The game has roots dating back to Viking times and even earlier, with archaeological findings from as far back as the 4th century. Hnefatafl was played all over Northern Europe and is mentioned in the poem Voluspå (The Prophecy of the Seeress – verse 61):
“There shall once again be found,
Marvelous golden game pieces in the grass,
The ones they owned
In the days of old.”
Hnefatafl has much in common with chess but is also different. In the center is a king with 12 warriors surrounded on all sides by 24 attackers. These attackers must try to prevent the king from capturing one of the four fortresses (the four corner squares).
“It was really fun to see how many people were captivated by the game,” comments Anette. “It’s especially exciting that this helps to focus on our most important local cultural heritage. Gokstad is a world-class find that definitely deserves to be highlighted.”
Anette herself designed the new boards, based on the archaeological discovery. To carve out the game boards, she received great help from Geir Raastad, one of the enthusiastic volunteers at the Oseberg Viking Heritage’s workstation in Sandefjord. The reconstruction aligns well with OVA’s vision: to create high-quality replicas of ships and other artifacts from the Viking Age found in Vestfold.
“The interest in learning the game exceeded all our expectations,” says Anette, promising that there will definitely be new rounds of training and gameplay in the Viking Park in the future.
