Seals and Sealing in Uruk
Mesopotamia
British Museum: Pale green volcanic tuff; Proto-Elamite 3000-2700 BCE
Kirstin Krusell
October 08, 2009
Introduction to the Ancient Near East
The Uruk Period
• Chalcolithic to Early Bronze Age
– ca. 4000-3100 BCE
• Named for the Sumerian city of Uruk, also
known as Warka or the Biblical Erech
– Located on eastern coast of southern Euphrates
• Defined by gradual emergence of urban life
and cuneiform writing
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The Context of Cuneiform
• Urbanization and population increase
– Need for more sophisticated administrative systems
• Earliest known written documents
discovered in Uruk
– Pictographs gradually transformed into cuneiform
• Seals found even earlier than tablets
– Devised for more efficient and reliable transactions
– Seals cover same geographic scope as cuneiform
– Seals dated by cuneiform inscriptions
Cylinder Seals
• Variety of materials
– stone and mineral: lapis lazuli (imported from Afghanistan), calcite (marble),
carnelian, amethyst, steatite (soapstone), hematite
– glass, faience, baked clay, wood, bone, shell, ivory, metal
• Often pierced lengthwise with caps at either
end or topped with animal-shaped knob.
– worn on pin/string, or mounted on swivel
• Design carved in intaglio
– incised on cylinder so that impression yields image in relief
Ancient and Contemporary Uses
• Protect private property
– seal jars, doors
– evidence of tampering is obvious
• Notarize/authorize legal transactions
– contracts, loans, treaties, etc.
– developed from hollow clay balls/tokens
• Seals come to be associated with the
protection of the owner
–
used in rituals against illness, jealousy
• Vast source of pictorial information
–
–
political, cultural, economic, societal aspects
genealogical information
Sealings: Seal-Impressed Artifacts
Hollow Clay Ball and Tokens
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Cylinder seal impressed hollow clay ball containing tokens & Drawing HN1100 (Pittman 1996b
6000 year old site of Hacinebi in the Euphrates river valley of southeast Turkey
Jar Stoppers
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Uruk cylinder-seal impressed jar stopper. "Ears" motif. HN9410 -Op. 14 locus 80 & Drawing. (Pittman 1999:fig.3)
The Priest-King
Social
Hierarchy
British Museum: White and cream calcite; Uruk, 3200-3100 BCE
Cattle Herd in a Wheat Field
Animal Files
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Department of Oriental Antiquities Limestone, Mesopotamia, Uruk Period (4100- 3000 BCE).
Monstrous Lions and Lion-Headed Eagles
Mythical Beasts
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Department of Oriental Antiquities; Jasper cylinder seal and impression; Mesopotamia,
Uruk Period (4100 BCﾐ3000 BC).
Geometric Designs
3000-2334 BCE
British Museum: Fired steatite cylinder seal; Uruk, Early Dynastic period,
about 3000-2800 BC
Bull-men and Heroes
A Combat Scene
British Museum: White calcite cylinder seal; Probably from southern Iraq Early
Dynastic period, ca 2700 BC
Banquet Scenes
• Found in a grave at a royal cemetery in Ur
• Evidence of a gendered use of cylinder seals?
British Museum: Green sparry calcite seal; Ur, Early Dynastic Period, ca 2600 BCE
Sources
• British Museum Website
–
http://www.britishmuseum.org/
• Collon, Dominique. First Impression: Cylinder
Seals in the Ancient Near East. London:
British Museum Press, 1987.
• Hacinebi Archaeological Excavations
– http://faculty-web.at.northwestern.edu/anthropology/stein/
• Roaf, Michael. Cultural Atlas of Mesopotamia
and the Ancient Near East. Oxfordshire:
Andromeda Oxford Ltd, 1990.
• Wikimedia Commons
–
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Main_Page