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This game board is one of the oldest in the world. Made of wood inlaid with shell, lapis lazuli, red limestone and black shale, it was discovered in the city of Ur in 1927, 5,000 years after it was last played. The 14 game pieces displayed here, not discovered with the board, are made either of shale inlaid with shell dots or shell inlaid with lapis lazuli dots. Woolley found several of these boards in tombs at Ur. Perhaps they were placed there to give the dead a diversion to while away the endless time.