Archaeogaming When Archaeology and Video Games Come Together

The connection between archaeology and video games might come as a surprise to some, especially to those who have never played a video game. However, games and "playing" as a field for serious scholarship and historical research have been explored since the 1930s, when Dutch cultural historian Johan Huizinga wrote that "play is older than culture." In Homo Ludens, Huizinga makes the case that from human play comes the creation of cultures, the forming of meaning, and the learning and transmitting of knowledge. His "playing man" engages in game-like practices and rituals, in politics, and in war and violence, showing that play and culture exist side by side as a "twin-union," but play came first (Huizinga 1938).