A rock found in Jordan may be the oldest chess piece!

A palm-sized sandstone object found in 1991 at an early Islamic trading post in what is now southern Jordan appears to be the oldest known chess piece.

This roughly 1,300-year-old rectangular piece of rock with two horn-shaped projections on top resembles several towers, also known as castles, that have been found at other Islamic sites in the region, but those other towers date back to a century or more later, according to archaeologists at the University of Victoria in Canada.

Board games simpler than chess date back approximately 4,000 years in Eurasia. Surviving written accounts indicate that chess originated in India at least 1,400 years ago; traders and diplomats probably drove the game west. The supposed chess piece, excavated from Humaima, located on what was once a major trade route, dates to between 680 and 749, when an Islamic family owned and managed the site.

Islamic texts from that time portray chess matches between Muslims, Christians, and between rich and poor players. Southwest Asian towers in the form of two-horse chariots date from the late 18th century, the two-pronged shape of early Islamic towers may have been intended to represent such chariots.