EUROPE
BY JUSTIN CORFIELD
Th e archaeological record of prehistoric Europe tells us very
little about recreation and sport, and indeed these concepts as
they are familiar to us in the modern Western world may not
have existed. People probably found small amusements fre-
quently in the course of their everyday life, but they may have
involved telling stories, making music, or joking. Sports as
competition in games and recreation as involving sport seem
to have been relatively late developments in the human story;
u nt i l moder n t i me s t hey seem to have been u n k now n i n ma ny
parts of the world. At the Neolithic settlement at Skara Brae
in the Orkney Islands of Scotland, a number of small well-
carved stone balls have been found. Were they used in a game
possibly similar to marbles, or did they play some ceremonial
function? We can only guess.
Th roughout Europe during the Bronze Age and the Iron
Age many sports may have been connected with training boys
and men for battle. Although there is little direct evidence for
them, competitions in archery, javelin throwing, horse rid-
ing, and swordplay would have been natural accompaniments
to training in these activities. It also seems probable that the
Celts in Gaul and Britain engaged in chariot racing. Certainly
their agility in battle, which Julius Caesar commented upon,
meant that they had much practice, and it is reasonable to sur-
mise that the development of these skills might have had a rec-
reational aspect to it prior to their employment in combat.
A number of games and sports were limited to specifi c
peoples or areas. Many Celts, for example, took part in games
such as shinty, which seems to have been popular from the
start of the Iron Age. Players on two opposing teams usedsticks to hit a hard ball into a goal, much as in fi eld hockey.
A modern version of shinty is still played in Scotland, and
hurling, a related sport resembling lacrosse, is still popular
in Ireland. Th e ancient Celts seem to have believed that such
sports provided good training for men and boys who were
going to serve in battle.
In Scotland many men engaged in weight sports such as
tossing the caber, which was popular among the Picts and
remains a feature of present-day Highland games, as a test
of strength. Th e sport, highlighting accuracy and skill rather
than distance, consisted in throwing a long, tapered length
of wood such that it turned over in the air and landed point-
ing at the thrower. In the Balearic Islands boys were trained
intensively from a young age to use the sling.
As to indoor games and recreations, it seems likely that
dice were used—certainly many dice have survived in Ro-
man settlements, and it seems likely that enterprising trad-
ers would have sold dice to the Celts. Celts also played games
with knucklebones as well as a form of chess.
In the area of music Europeans had been playing instru-
ments such as fl utes, drums, lyres, and cymbals for many cen-
turies, and by around 1000 b.c.e. they were making bronze
trumpets, as indicated by numerous fi nds in northern Ger-
many, Denmark, Scandinavia, and especially Ireland. In ad-
dition to music there was spoken entertainment. Celtic bards,
in particular, had a reputation for being able to recite stories
of ancient times, former kings, and valorous deeds. During
Roman times poetry reading and oratory became more im-
portant in cities throughout the Roman Empire.
Eating and drinking at large communal feasts was a
popular recreation both in the Celtic world and aft er the Ro-
mans took control of Gaul and Britain, with some references
in Roman works to similar events taking place in Germany,
and archaeological evidence in Denmark also pointing to the
use of large halls for eating. Feasts of this kind oft en provided
a venue for dancing, music, and the telling of old stories.
Women and girls danced for their own pleasure and also for
the entertainment of others.
Large-scale spectator sports seem not to have existed in
most of Europe before the Romans brought their gladiatorial
shows, which became popular in larger cities throughout the
conquered lands. Ancient Europeans attended these events
as onlookers, and many who had been captured in war and
enslaved fought in them as gladiators, with particular dress
codes for those who were Germans, Celts, Th racians, and so
on. A glass cup found at Colchester, England, clearly shows
two gladiators fi ghting.
Other blood sports of the period included badger-baiting,
bull-baiting, cockfi ghts, and hunting. While much of the hunt-
ing was to provide food, there was also an element of sporting
prowess, with trophies such as horns or the heads of the ani-
mals being displayed aft er the hunt. Th ere are also descriptions
of bullfi ghting taking place in Spain, with men in Baetica, An-
dalusia, in about 220 b.c.e. attacking bulls with a lance or an ax
in an arena, aft er using a cloak or skins to confuse the bull.Bronze group of a bull and acrobat, Minoan, about 1700–1450 b.c.e.,
from Crete; bull jumping is frequently shown in Minoan art and was
thought to be a sport associated with ritual activity. (© Th e Trustees of
the British Museum)sports and recreation: Europe 10530895-1194_Soc&Culturev4(s-z).i1053 1053 10/10/07 2:30:54 PM