Metal detectorist unearths 1,150-year-old Viking board game

Get the free Morning Headlines email for news from our reporters across the world Sign up to our free Morning Headlines email Sign up to our free Morning Headlines email SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. “It was later on after showing many of our finds to the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge that the experts realised that this was the Viking winter camp of 872/3 when several thousand men of the Viking army overwintered,” Mr Bott said. “What’s really intriguing is when you think of the army of thousands of men, Viking warriors, all sitting around playing this board game. “It is a very strategic game, it’s like chess in the sense that you have to think about all the various lines of play — about what’s happening behind you, in front of you and to the side,” Mr Mills said. Mr Bott’s findings “show you how important metal detecting is and the significance of the things that they found", said Mr Mills, adding of the game pieces: “No one really appreciated them, but they actually are a very important part of our history.”