Archaeologists find 4,000-year-old board game in Oman

A rare, ancient board game has been dug up by archaeologists in Oman.

The piece dates back 4,000 years and was discovered close to Ayn Bani Saidah village by Oman's heritage ministry and the University of Warsaw's Polish Centre of Mediterranean Archaeology, the Oman Observer reported on Saturday.

It comes as part of a joint effort to learn more about how society progressed during the Bronze and Iron Ages in the country's mountainous north.

"Such finds are rare, but examples are known from an area stretching from India, through Mesopotamia [and] even to the Eastern Mediterranean," noted Polish contingent chief Piotr Bieliński.

"The most famous example of a game-board based on a similar principle is the one from the graves from Ur."

Ur was a key Sumerian city-state located in modern-day Iraq.

The board game, built from stone, has spaces for cups and markings on it.

The researchers have been working in Oman's Qumayrah Valley and have discovered evidence of copper working occurred.

Bieliński said: "The abundance of traces of settlement from different periods proves that this valley was an important place in prehistory, and perhaps also in the history of Oman."