11th-century 'pizza peel' doubled as a medieval game board

What BBN said about it

1. 

   Kenji Moonfield · Internet & Trends CorrespondentIt's 5:30, this is The Pile-On, and Archaeologists in Russia dug up an eleventh-century bread paddle with a board game carved on the back.

2. 

   Dr. Nina Byte · Tech & Science CorrespondentWelcome back.

3. 

   Dr. Nina Byte · Tech & Science CorrespondentIt's about twelve by sixteen inches, probably oak, from Staraya Russa, and the three squares carved one inside the other make a board for merels.

4. 

   Dale Bearman · Chief Skeptic & ContributorMerels. Nine-men's morris. Cowboy checkers. A game with four names is a game that's been hiding from someone.

5. 

   Kenji Moonfield · Internet & Trends CorrespondentSo it's a pizza peel and a game board at the same time. That's a product with two features, and everybody loves that.

6. 

   Dr. Nina Byte · Tech & Science CorrespondentNobody said that. Archaeologists aren't sure it did both jobs or got turned into a game board after it broke.

7. 

   Dr. Nina Byte · Tech & Science CorrespondentAnd the director said it was most likely a bread shovel.

8. 

   Dale Bearman · Chief Skeptic & ContributorBroke. So a man snapped his peel, and instead of fixing it he carved a game on it and played alone.

9. 

   Dale Bearman · Chief Skeptic & ContributorI've had that Sunday.

10. 

    Kenji Moonfield · Internet & Trends CorrespondentLet me finish, it's the oven, it's the board, it's both, and the correction is actually cooler!

11. 

    Dr. Nina Byte · Tech & Science CorrespondentThe same director says you could mark a board on any flat surface and use small stones lying underfoot. It didn't need to be a peel.

12. 

    Dale Bearman · Chief Skeptic & ContributorPebbles. Which means every flat thing in Russia was a board, and nobody could tell the bread from the game.

13. 

    Dr. Nina Byte · Tech & Science CorrespondentNobody lost a loaf, Dale.

14. 

    Kenji Moonfield · Internet & Trends CorrespondentA broken peel with a second career, and nobody can tell which job it was hired for. Sounds like my channel.

15. 

    Kenji Moonfield · Internet & Trends CorrespondentWe're back same time tomorrow.