longlost
How the rules of long-lost board games take us inside ancient minds
In ancient Egypt, royals and subjects alike played a board game called Senet Granger Historical Picture Archive/Alamy Stock Photo A FEW years ago, while excavating the 5000-year-old burial mound of Basur Hoyuk in south-east Turkey, archaeologists unearthed a collection of 49 tiny stone figures: pigs, dogs, pyramids and pillars, all elaborately carved and painted. They…