Editing Mancala (section)

== History ==
[[File:MuseoDeBurgos20130911133533SAM 3411.jpg|thumb|upright|A 10th century ivory board from [[Muslim Spain]]]]

According to some experts, the oldest discovered mancala boards are in [[Ayn Ghazal (archaeological site)|'Ain Ghazal, Jordan]] in the floor of a Neolithic dwelling as early as ~5,870 BC<ref>{{cite web |title=Mancala |url=https://www.savannahafricanartmuseum.org/2020-workshops/05-2#:~:text=There%20is%20archeological%20and%20historical,floor%20of%20a%20Neolithic%20dwelling. |website=Savannah African Art Museum |access-date=3 May 2023}}</ref> although this claim has been disputed by others.<ref name=":2">{{Cite journal |last=Depaulis |first=Thierry |date=2020-10-01 |title=Board Games Before Ur? |journal=Board Game Studies Journal |language=en |volume=14 |issue=1 |pages=127–144 |doi=10.2478/bgs-2020-0007 |issn=2183-3311|doi-access=free }}</ref> More recent and undisputed claims concern artifacts from the city of [[Gedera]] in an excavated Roman bathhouse where pottery boards and rock cuts that were unearthed dating back to between the 2nd and 3rd century AD.{{cn|date=April 2025}} Among other early evidence of the game are fragments of a pottery board and several rock cuts found in [[Kingdom of Aksum|Aksumite]] areas in [[Matara, Eritrea|Matara]] (in [[Eritrea]]) and [[Yeha]] (in Ethiopia), which are dated by archaeologists to between the 6th and 7th centuries AD.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Natsoulas |title=The Game of Mancala with Reference to Commonalities among the Peoples of Ethiopia and in Comparison to Other African Peoples: Rules and Strategies |journal=Northeast African Studies |date=1995 |volume=2 |issue=2 |pages=7–24 |doi=10.1353/nas.1995.0018 |jstor=41931202 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/41931202 |access-date=3 May 2023|url-access=subscription }}</ref> 

The oldest mention of the game is in the "[[Kitab al-Aghani]]" ("''Book of Songs''") of the 10th-century, attributed to [[Abu al-Faraj al-Isfahani]].<ref>{{cite web |language=French |author=Pierre Lombard |title=Archéologie du "mancala": un jeu traditionnel aux origines controversées |url=https://archeorient.hypotheses.org/7129 |date=February 17, 2017 |doi=10.58079/bcvu |access-date=October 1, 2024}}.</ref> The game may have been mentioned by [[Giyorgis of Segla]] in his 14th century [[Geʽez]] text ''Mysteries of Heaven and Earth'', where he refers to a game called qarqis, a term used in Geʽez to refer to both Gebet'a (mancala) and ''Sant'araz'' (modern ''sent'erazh'', [[Senterej|Ethiopian chess]]).{{Citation needed|reason=for the Qarqis part|date=February 2013}}<ref>{{cite book |first=Richard |last=Pankhurst |chapter=Gäbäṭa |editor-first=Siegbert von |editor-last=Uhlig |title=Encyclopaedia Aethiopica: D–Ha |location=Wiesbaden |publisher=Harrassowitz Verlag |year=2005 |page=598 |isbn=3-447-05238-4}}</ref> Evidence of the game has also been uncovered in Kenya.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Cummings |first=Mike |date=2024-02-01 |title=A local tip helps reveal an ancient 'arcade' in Kenya's highlands |url=https://news.yale.edu/2024/02/01/local-tip-helps-reveal-ancient-arcade-kenyas-highlands |access-date=2024-02-05 |website=YaleNews |language=en}}</ref>

The games have also existed in [[Eastern Europe]]. In [[Estonia]], it was once very popular (see "[[Das Bohnenspiel|Bohnenspiel]]"), and likewise in  Bosnia (where it is called Ban-Ban and still played today), Serbia, and Greece ("Mandoli", Cyclades). Two mancala tables from the early 18th century are to be found in [[Weikersheim Castle]] in southern Germany.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.afrostylemag.com/ASM16/mancala_effect.php|title=Afrostyle Magazine|website=afrostylemag.com|access-date=2018-01-17}}</ref> In western Europe, it never caught on but was documented by [[Oxford University]] orientalist Thomas Hyde.<ref>Thomas Hyde, ''De ludis orientalibus'' [Of Eastern Games, 2 vols.] (Oxford University Press, 1694). https://www.worldcat.org/title/de-ludis-orientalibus-libri-duo-quorum-prior-est-duabus-partibus-viz-1-historia-shahiludii-latine-deinde-2-historia-shahiludii-heb-lat-per-tres-judaeos-liber-posterior-continet-historiam-reliquorum-ludorum-orientis/oclc/174276156?referer=di&ht=edition Reference to Hyde's discussion of ''mancala'' and other games in Vesna Bikić and Jasna Vuković, "Board Games Reconsidered: Mancala in the Balkans", ''International Journal of the History of Sport'' 27/5 (Mar. 2010): 798–819. Download citation https://doi.org/10.1080/09523361003625857</ref>

In the United States a traditional mancala game called Warra was still played in [[Louisiana]] in the early 20th century, and a commercial version called [[Kalah]] became popular in the 1940s. In [[Cape Verde]], mancala is known as "ouril". It is played on the Islands and was brought to the United States by Cape Verdean immigrants. It is played to this day in Cape Verdean communities in New England.

Historians may have found evidence of mancala in [[The Slave Community|slave communities]] of the [[Americas]]. The game was brought to the Americas by enslaved Africans during the [[trans-Atlantic slave trade]]. The game was played by enslaved Africans to foster community and develop social skills. Archeologists may have found evidence of the game mancala played in [[Nashville, Tennessee]] at the [[The Hermitage (Nashville, Tennessee)|Hermitage Plantation]].<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Christiano |title=Gaming among Enslaved Africans in the Americas, and its Uses in Navigating Social Interactions |journal=Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects /College of William & Mary - Arts & Sciences |date=2010 |pages=8–12 |url=https://scholarworks.wm.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=5862&context=etd |access-date=3 May 2023}}</ref>

Recent studies of mancala rules have given insight into the distribution of mancala. This distribution has been linked to migration routes, which may go back several hundred years.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SmmUAgAAQBAJ&q=mancala+africa&pg=PA475|title=African Folklore: An Encyclopedia|first1=Philip M.|last1=Peek|first2=Kwesi|last2=Yankah|date=March 7, 2004|publisher=Routledge|via=Google Books|isbn=9781135948733}}</ref>