Many individuals are familiar with the game of chess or have had the opportunity to play it. The history of the ancient Indian strategy board game, once called Chaturanga, is not as commonly known. Originating in Northern India, the game spread across the world, differing in names. The name we know today is derived from the French term “eches,” which was later translated to “chess” in America. 

About 1500 years ago during the Gupta Empire, the game of Chaturanga came into existence. To simulate the Indian military strategy of that time, the people of Northern India used pieces to depict the four divisions of the military: the infantry, cavalry, elephantry, and chariotry. When discussing the premise of this game, people say, “This game has two of the most essential features inspired from the battle formations of the Indian epic of Mahabharata, that different pieces have different powers and victory depended on the survival of one piece- the king of the modern chess”(Kale, 2021). During the Middle Era, a king surrendering signified the loss of his kingdom, mirroring the way the game is lost when the king is captured.

The meaning of the pieces in the game of Chaturanga was bigger than just four figures. Each figure represented a valuable member of the kingdom, as shown in Figure 1. The point of using these pieces specifically was to show that everyone in the kingdom was important, despite their size or title. The king needs the queen, rooks, bishops, knights and pawns to survive in the game like he needs them to survive in life. 

The game of chess we know today has undergone transformations since the time of the Gupta Empire. The Chaturanga board began as a non-checkered blackboard differing from the chessboard we see today covered in black and white squares, as shown in Figure 2. The rules governing piece movement in chess differ from those in Chaturanga, with one notable distinction being the absence of checkmates and stalemates in Chaturanga.

Chess undoubtedly shares similarities with Chaturanga while also featuring distinct characteristics. What was once a strategic tool for simulating battle formations, has transformed into a casual game that can be played online. Mirroring military formations preserved the historical and strategic aspects of warfare in the religion. The rules and ways people play games like chess have been adapted to fit the norms of society to provide entertainment for the players, erasing the original intent of the game. By adapting the game for entertainment, it is being commercialized for profit, like competitive chess tournaments, only furthering the loss of the culture the game of Chaturanga once had. People today miss out on the opportunity to see how their ancestors were living during this time. 

The evolution of chess from its historical predecessor, Chaturanga, has brought both continuity and change in the game’s purpose and significance, from a strategic military simulation to a modern form of entertainment.

Further research links

Rules to Chaturanga

https://www.ludoteka.com/clasika/chaturanga-en.html

Origins of other popular board games

https://www.seamedu.com/blog/the-history-and-evolution-of-popular-board-games#:~:text=The%20history%20and%20evolution%20of%20board%20games%20is%20quite%20fascinating,started%20creating%20more%20evolved%20games.

Works Cited 

Colin Stapczynski, “Chess Board Dimensions,” Chess.com, October 4, 2021, https://www.chess.com/article/view/chess-board-dimensions 

Sharwari Kale, “From Chaturanga to Chess- The History of the Origin of Chess,” Homegrown, June 8, 2021, https://homegrown.co.in/from-chaturanga-to-chess-the-history-of-the-origin-of-chess 

Dendrology, or the study of growth tree rings, is widely used to create chronological records to date artifacts. These rings tell us a life story about the tree, like season-long weather patterns or climate change. Developed by American astronomer A.E. Douglass in the early 1900s, dendrology has evolved to have two uses. It is used “as a successful means of calibrating or correcting radiocarbon uses and as an independent method of absolute dating in its own right” (Renfrew and Paul, 1996). 

At first glance, the process may seem straightforward. Counting the rings on the stump of a tree gives the annual growth, like barcodes containing information about the entirety of the tree’s past. These rings, varying in width and character, give valuable insights to dendrologists about sunlight exposure, temperature fluctuations, and the availability of nourishment throughout a tree’s lifetime. Dendrologists can use this information to create a bigger picture of the regional climate. Often referred to as cross-dating, scientists are able to build a chronology from living trees, dead trees, and ancient wood that can date back hundreds or thousands of years.

Dendrologists studied the buildings of the Aztec Ruins to delve deeper into the way of life of the Pueblos who once lived there. They examined the outermost ring of the tree beams used to build structures like roofs. These outermost rings, representing the year the tree was cut, synchronize with the era when the wood was used for construction. By connecting the timeline of the cuts, dendrologists are able to gather more information about when the area was inhabited. Since beams were continually breaking when the Pueblos were living at the Aztec Ruins, people were constantly replacing the beams. As beams continuously broke and were replaced, dendrologists identified the final beam replacement to be 1269, marking the anticipated time the Pueblo people abandoned the Ruins. 

The ring patterns give more information than solely when the Aztec Ruins were inhabited. Dendrologists are able to learn the seasons the ancestral Pueblo people harvested their wood. They found that “Harvesting actually took place during the early spring of 1119 AD, before most trees had begun to produce a layer that would correspond to the year 1119 AD (National Park Service).” The early spring harvest was strategically timed to avoid the flow of sap, ensuring the strength and durability of the support beams as trees with sap are less stable.

The width of the tree itself provides historical climate data. The tree stumps show that the ancestral Pueblo people have weathered many droughts, and the dendrologists were able to identify the time periods these droughts occurred. By understanding the timing of extreme weather patterns, dendrologists can map out when the Pueblo people migrated to other places to seek out a more abundant water source. 

Often looked past, trees have the ability to be storytellers that give us a glimpse into the past. Because of dendrology, people are able to make more sense of the world, unlocking various narratives that we often see in textbooks today. 

Further Research Links 

Dendrology and the Aztecs

http://npshistory.com/brochures/azru/dendrochronology.pdf  

Tree rings and Earth’s past climate

https://climate.nasa.gov/news/2540/tree-rings-provide-snapshots-of-earths-past-climate/

Works Cited

Geerdt Magiels. “What tree rings and core samples tell us about our world. the low countries.” The Low Countries. 2020, November 19. https://www.the-low-countries.com/article/what-tree-rings-and-core-samples-tell-us-about-our-world#:~:text=The%20oldest%20known%20living%20tree,you%20can%20easily%20read%20them 

Koppes, Steve, and Louise Lerner. “Carbon-14 Dating, Explained.” University of Chicago News. n.d. https://news.uchicago.edu/explainer/what-is-carbon-14-dating.  

National Park Service. “Dendrochronology”. NPS History. 2022, September 17. http://npshistory.com/brochures/azru/dendrochronology.pdf 

Renfrew, Colin, 1937- and Paul G. Bahn. 1996. Archaeology: Theories, Methods, and Practice. London, Thames and Hudson.