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In 9000 B.C., stone bowls existed. They were found during excavations in the Neolithic city of Catal Hoyuk in Turkey. Nothing, however, proves that these bowls were used for games. The tense situation, which existed during this period in Asia Minor, makes one suspect that these 'bowls' were used for warlike activities, rather than for playing.

However, an Egyptian sarcophagus, dating from 5000 B.C. and entombing an adolescent along with stone bowls, leads experts to believe that these stone bowls were used for sport.

If we jump ahead a few thousand years, we find Greeks considered the game of bowls as an excellent exercise. It seems that at this period, throwing bowls was a simple manifestation of force. The object was to throw the bowl as far as possible.

These exercises were encouraged by Hippocrate, and later by Galien and Oribase, who were well known in Greece for their medical achievements. They recommended this exercise as good: for developing the body, judgment, and dexterity. This offers definite proof that this game existed during this period.

Later, with the Romans, the game was transformed. The player had to get as near as possible to a chosen fixed point, and later, the "fixed point" became a small spherical object called a jack and, the game of bowls, as we know it, was born.

We could imagine that the game was introduced into Gaul by Roman legions and travelers; more precisely, in Provence when Massilia (Marseille) was founded in 600 B.C., and subsequently in Lugdunum (Lyon). Tradition has survived. Lyon and Marseille are the two towns where bowls have always been popular, as well as, in the "Gaule Cisalpine," or Northern Italy. Little by little, this game spread, and in the Middle Ages, it became so popular that it was played in public squares and in the streets. With there being no written information available, we lose track of the game until the 14th century, when it is mentioned in certain chronicles.

Figure 19: Postcard from Annonay (France) - Bocce game

Figure 20: Postcard from Vincennes (France) - Bocce game

The way of playing the game developed with customs and local traditions, there was the "Longue" (or "Lyonnaise"), which later became "Sport Boules", the "jeu Provencale", "la Rafle" and at the beginning of the 20th Century, the "Petanque".

Holidays and migrations helped to implant these games in many countries, (except for the "Petanque" which has remained in Provence but is now slowly progressing throughout France). The expansion of these physical activities throughout the world, mainly from France and Italy, has made many countries form federations which have been grouped according to their particularities, to form the Federation Internationale de Boules (F.I.B. - 1946), the Federation Internationale de Petanque et jeu provencal (F.I.P.J.P. - 1958), and the Confederazione Boccistica Internazionale (C.B.I. - 1982).

The "Confederation Mondiale Sport Boules" (C.M.S.B.) was created on the 21^st of December 1985 in Monaco, where the Head Office is located, after discussion with the three international federations. Prince Albert of Monaco is the honorary President. After discussion with the three international federations, C.M.S.B. has reorganized itself and became World Petanque and Bowls Federation - WPBF (FMBP).