Analysis of Knucklebones Game as the oldest and the most continuous game in Iran based on archaeological and anthropological data

Sheep feet, where in human anatomy is called “patella” and informally “Gaapak”, contain a bone with a special shape and structure named “Gaap” which despite its different bumps and dents, it is like a rectangle cube. Playing with these bones is known as “Gaap game”. There are several documents about the origin of this game. This paper uses the descriptive analysis approach and first hand archaeological and anthropological documents to study and survey the evolution of Gaap game from the first settlements in villages up to now in the Middle East, focusing on Iran, and has got very valuable results. Researchers, in addition to explanation of the evolution, based on clear documents try to prove this hypothesis that the main philosophy of Gaap game, from the very beginning, to approximately 50 years ago was mere playing with some animal bones and was played mainly by children and young adults which is proven according to the results of detailed archeological and anthropological scrutiny and specially the life of authors in the main centers of this game. Finding show that the pattern, principles and rules of the game has got very slight changes, if any. because the rubbing of the sides of the Gaap, coloring and lead planning of the King Gaap (Saggah) is provable based on the archeological findings. Also, according to the anthropological findings it was ascertained that, even in big cities like Tehran, there was no bidding on this game until the modernization of the Pahlavi II period and it was among the most harmless children games which was able to fill their leisure time. In addition to that, this paper introduces the concepts and rules of Gaap game and illustrates its history by means of pictures.