Discoids, Game Stones, or Chunkey's?

What the heck is a Discoid? One source has this to say. From the Carlos Museum: "Games were important to the social life of native peoples. "Chunkey" was one of the most popular and long-lived games that persisted from Mississippian times until well into the Colonial period. The game was played by two men, one of whom would toss the "chunkey" stone into a roll along a course. Both players would then cast poles in an effort to hit as close as possible to the point where the stone was likely to stop. Historic accounts record whole villages as spectators with players running alongside and urging on the rolling stone, and onlookers betting on the outcome. "Chunkey" stones were carefully shaped and polished into disk form with rounded, beveled, or flat rims; this variation was done presumably to make the stone roll an unpredictable course. "Chunkey" stones belonged to the entire village or to certain clans and the most skilled "chunkey" players were accorded great respect." Source: http://www.emory.edu/CARLOS/asian.html





Links to the rest of the Maass Collection.

Native American Discoids and other Game Stones: page 2.: From the casual to the ceromonial.
Native American Discoids: Page 1.: Some beautiful museum pieces that you just can't keep your hands off of!
Your index/guide to the Maass Collection: Your tour guide to the Gallery of Native Americana
The Maass Home Page: Start here to see all of my collections and a few guitars for sale!