Chunkey is an ancient game of skill and endurance with roots that extend back more than 1000 years. The origins of the game are unknown, but the disk-shaped stones used for playing – known as “chunkey stones” have been found on archaeological sites dating from at least AD 1000 throughout the Eastern United States, along the Mississippi River from Minnesota down to Louisiana, and on the Great Plains. Historic sources document that the game continued to be played into the 19th century.

These chunkey stones were chosen for display because they all were found at one village site near Red Wing, Minnesota. A single chunkey stone is a rare find. This quantity at a single site is extraordinary. Games such as chunkey are played for many reasons – recreation as well as economic and political reasons. We understand the cluster of pre-contact villages near Red Wing to be an area where people convened from throughout the region during the spring, summer, and early fall seasons from about 1100 to 1300 AD. The large number of chunkey stones that have been found at the Adams site and other Red Wing sites indicates that game playing was probably a common and important social activity to the culturally diverse communities at these villages.
– Ed Fleming, Curator of Archaeology