1Games constitute a privileged observatory of societies of the past. Through their material devices, their representations and their practices, they offer direct access to the social, cultural and symbolic dimensions that structure human communities. If the study of games in Antiquity has experienced marked growth over the last decade, our understanding of these practices often remains fragmentary and is still too frequently based on uncertain reconstructions.
- 1 Graffiti in the shadow of the Acropolis. Gaming, people and urban landscape (2025-2028) – programme (…)
2Funded by the Swiss National Fund, the project Graffiti in the shadow of the Acropolis. Gaming, people and urban landscapeworn by Sylvian Fachard and Yannick Rochat and led by Barbara Carè (University of Lausanne)1focuses on a long-neglected category of sources: non-textual graffiti. It covers all non-textual graffiti recorded, or previously unpublished, throughout the ancient region of Attica, thus offering one of the most comprehensive datasets currently available. Incised on floors, steps, stylus or other architectural elements, these geometric patterns are frequently interpreted as game boards. However, they are ambiguous objects, often deprived of an associated material context, and very often constituting the only preserved trace of ancient playful practices.
3At the crossroads of archaeology, game studies and digital humanities, the project offers an innovative approach that goes beyond the simple reconstitution of the rules. Graffiti are approached as true archaeological artifacts, analyzed in their architectural, spatial and social context. The attention paid to the materiality, the gaming experience and the production conditions of these brands allows us to profoundly renew their interpretation. Far from being anecdotal, these engravings demonstrate forms of appropriation of public spaces and the “second life” of monuments, revealing daily uses that have long remained invisible. This is particularly the case with the graffiti engraved on the buildings of the Acropolis of Athens, including the Parthenon, once considered sacred and inaccessible to secular practices.
4A central challenge of the project lies in the establishment of shared documentation standards and a controlled vocabulary, essential to improve the analysis, comparability and interoperability of data. The research is based on a large GIS geodatabase, powered by systematic field documentation: detailed metric surveys, surface analyses, photography at different scales and under various lighting conditions, vector graphic recordings, as well as advanced photogrammetry and 3D scanning techniques. These methods, still rarely applied to the study of playful graffiti, make it possible to observe with great precision the engraving methods, the state of conservation and the spatial inscription of the motifs.
- 2 The project is carried out in collaboration with COST Action “GameTable. Computational Techniques for Tabl (…)
5The project also integrates computational tools from digital archaeology. In dialogue with international initiatives2certain particularly ambiguous configurations are evaluated using probabilistic methods and tools based on artificial intelligence. These approaches help to distinguish real game boards from other types of marks likely to have symbolic, ritual or graphic functions, and to better understand the evolution of playful forms and practices over time and space.
6By combining traditional archaeological methods and cutting-edge digital technologies, Graffiti in the shadow of the Acropolis opens new perspectives for the study of ancient games. The project highlights the role of games as a social practice deeply inscribed in urban space, capable of transforming places, uses and relationships within the ancient city, and contributes to renewing our understanding of the urban landscape as an environment experienced, practiced and continually remodeled.
