rank and file

Like the exquisite but diminutive game piece itself we nearly overlooked this incredible find (see also) that provides a tangible link between the activity of Lindisfarne and the Viking raids and subjugation that began at the dawn of the ninth century.
On learning that the finely crafted bauble is speculated to be playable character of an ancient Viking board game, akin to chess (ibidem as it turns out), called hnefatafl my memory was jogged and there’s quite a bit of resonance to an artefact that suggests how these imagined ruthless plunders brought along their pastimes and distractions to the equally imagined milieu of desperate poverty and privation.