Stamp Seals Research Papers - Academia.edu (original) (raw)

2025, Genealogické a heraldické informace 13 (28)

2025

In the wilderness, Beth-arabah, Middin, Seca'cah, Nibshan, the City of Salt, and En-gedi: six cities with their villages." The statement made in the book of Joshua implying En-gedi is a city with villages, which Joshua assigns to the tribe of Judah (Joshua 15:20-62) suggests for me, this claim is an anachronism of not earlier than the 7 th century BC, based on archaeological findings.

2025

tesis doctoral, dirigida por los profesores Arturo Ruiz y Carmen Rueda, y defendida en 2019 en la Universidad de Jaén. Como indica el título, Moreno Padilla se propone, se propuso, el análisis estilístico, territorial e interpretativo de la decoración geométrica hallada sobre la cerámica del Alto Guadalquivir, partiendo de la premisa de que esta iconografía, como la vascular figurada, también presenta una semántica interna que puede ser descifrada. Entronca con una fructífera línea de investigación, la iconografía vascular ibérica, a la cual añade un repertorio iconográfico en gran medida ignorado: la decoración geométrica, perteneciente a una región hasta la fecha igualmente ignorada por el estudio de la iconografía vascular: el Alto Guadalquivir. El estudio de esta región es otro productivo ámbito de estudio al que contribuye este libro, y las reflexiones sociopolíticas que deriva la autora a partir del estudio estilístico se entretejen con las investigaciones realizadas, entre muchos otros, por sus dos co-directores.

2025, In: B. Sass - L. Battini (eds.), Mortals, Deities, and Divine Symbols. Rethinking Ancient Imagery from the Levant to Mesopotamia : Studies offered to Tallay Ornan, Bicester 87–110

The following paper on the interpretation of a white chalcedony stamp seal (BM WA 2002–05–15, 1) offers a new angle on a particular aspect of Assyrian court art. In addition to the practical and symbolic role of the BM stamp seal, the paper focuses on the scene, shedding light on the manufacturing processes used in the royal workshops and on the imagery of the Sargonid period. The significance of this seal image lies not only in its decorative features but also in the fact that it allows us to study the work of the artisans, the demands of their patrons, and the role played by the Assyrian scholars in the conception of its iconography. The essence of the scene may be interpreted in light of written records of the court as well as palace life (i.e., administrative practices and cultic beliefs).
Keywords: Assyrian glyptic, Assyrian queen, Esarhaddon, Išḫara, Ištar, Neo-Assyrian, sealing, Sennacherib, scorpion, stamp seal.

2025, CEDRUS

Ink is a long-established and important material that has been used to transfer words, pictures and drawings since antiquity. Inkwells, which are part of writing sets, were originally made of shellfish, and later of materials such as terracotta, glass, faience or
metal. A terracotta inkwell was recovered from a chamber tomb unearthed during a rescue excavation in the necropolis of the ancient city of Neapolis in 2010. The artifact is an impressive proof of the grave owner's literacy and possible importance in the society. The inkwell has a cavity in the center of the rim (melandokhe) and the sides are grooved. Remains of ink are also clearly visible on the artifact. It is important that this rare artifact was recovered from Neapolis. Based on analogical evaluations of the artifact with its glass, bronze, faience and terracotta counterparts and period characteristics, it is
concluded that it can be dated to the 1st-2nd century CE.

2025, Workshop- THE HISTORY OF MATERIAL TEXTS University of Pennsylvania

28th th , 2016, 5.15-PM Brigitte Miriam Bedos-Rezak NYU-History PP 1: introductory slide [PP2: Blank] When historians of the pre-modern West hail the advent of the printing press in Europe as a revolutionary innovation, they salute the introduction of a particular mode of textual production. They acclaim the printed textbooks , pamphlets, broadsheets, as a critical advance over the laborious, idiosyncratic process of manuscript inscription and limited reception, an advance that launched the book into a world of mass production and mass consumption. Recently, historians have attempted to bridge the divide between medieval manuscript culture and the early modern culture of print, as they argue for a literate Middle Ages, de-construct the prevalent unidirectional model of script to print (and, further on, to the Internet), and emphasize that even before print became the dominant medium, early modern Europe in fact lived in a multi-media age of script and print, not unlike our own era of printed and electronic books. However, such scholarship continues almost invariably to focus on texts and graphics. Printing is thus characterized as the production of texts and images in books, suggesting an identity between medium and technology and thereby construing print as a polar opposite of manuscript. Modernity itself is construed as emerging from this divide, with many of its components dependent, in one way or another, on the printed book, its enhanced capacity for preservation, standardization, and affordable dissemination. In the outrageous if entertaining words of Marshall McLuhan: "Print technology transformed the medieval zero into the Renaissance infinity.

2025, Judea and Samaria Research Studies

Recent excavations conducted from 2017 to 2023 at Shiloh (Khirbet es-Seilūn) yielded thirteen Egyptian-style scarabs. Most of the scarabs are contemporary with the Middle Bronze Age IIB-Middle Bronze Age IIC (=MB III) in Canaan, three of which we examine here. They differ from the rest of the corpus: Only Scarab 1 dates to Egypt's New Kingdom; only Scarab 2 bears a hieroglyphic reference to Upper Egypt; and only Scarab 3 displays the "anra" (ʾnrʾ) composition. The article analyzes these three scarabs, the context of their discovery, their hieroglyphic inscriptions (interpreted based on Gardiner's sign list), and their typology. These factors offer insights into the scarabs' periods of production and use. The discussion includes known parallels from clean archaeological contexts. The remaining ten scarabs will be the subject of future publications.

2025, Pp. 37-67 in Jacob Jan de Ridder & Peter Stein (eds.), The Frau Professor Hilprecht Collection of Babylonian Antiquities: Essays Dedicated to Manfred Krebernik. TMH 14

nd durch private Angaben wusste ich, dass eine Zeitlang bei Handlern in Konstantinopel zahlreiche dieser Tc?f'e/n zu haben gewesen waren. Wo sie, wie so viele andere van Boghazkoi, van denen man mir erzah/t hat, geblieben sind, wird vielleicht immer unbekannt bleiben. H. V. Hilprecht hat eine ganze Anzah/ davon und in Kaisariye erworben -veroffentlicht ist dariiber noch nichts. (Winckler, 1906: 5) Preface VI Last but not least we feel deeply indebted to the participants in the colloquium for their patient anherence to the project, which was a pleasure for us as well asso we do hopefor them and particularly for Manfred Krebernik, to whom we all dedicate this volume.

2025

It is, therefore, possible that the Canaanite rebels commissioned an Egyptian craftsman to carve the Metsamor seal (a typically Mesopotamian artefact), as a precious gift for Kurigalzu I to entice him to support their rebellion against the Egyptians. Whether Kurigalzu received this gift or not, Kurigalzu refused the appeal of the Canaanites. This tentative suggestion could explain some aspects of the manufacture of the seal, but many questions remain unanswered, not least how it reached Armenia where it was eventually deposited in a grave more than two hundred years after it had been made.

2025, Iranian Journal of Archaeological Studies

During the Bronze Age, the Sistan civilisation experienced significant cultural and economic development, with
Shahr-i Sokhta emerging as a major production and commercial hub. This site played a crucial role in facilitating
economic and cultural exchanges within the region. Surrounding Shahr-i Sokhta were numerous industrial
and residential sites, with Tappeh Graziani being one of the largest. Over three excavation seasons, substantial
evidence of Bronze Age activity at Tappeh Graziani has been uncovered, particularly from Trenches Nos. 4 and 7,
which were excavated during the second and third seasons.This study aims to analyse the architectural features of
Tappeh Graziani based on the findings from these excavations. The excavation results indicate that the buildings
at Tappeh Graziani were constructed using mud bricks and a form of brick known as “chineh”. The architectural
layout features square rooms at the centre, surrounded by rectangular spaces—a pattern consistent with other
sites in the Sistan region. The evidence suggests a socially complex society during the Bronze Age, as indicated
by the presence of industrial products stored in warehouses under the supervision of designated individuals. This
conclusion is further supported by the discovery of seals and sealings at the site.

2025, Hebrew Bible and Ancient Israel

2025, Soennecken, K., Leiverkus, P., Zimni, J., and Schmidt, K. (eds.). Durch die Zeiten - Through the Ages. Festschrift für Dieter Vieweger - Essays in Honour of Dieter Vieweger. Gütersloh: 475-498.

Sollte diese Publikation Links auf Webseiten Dritter enthalten, so übernehmen wir für deren Inhalte keine Haftung, da wir uns diese nicht zu eigen machen, sondern lediglich auf deren Stand zum Zeitpunkt der Erstveröffentlichung verweisen.

2025, JEWELLERY AND MATERIAL CULTURE, Collected articles Issue 8, Saint Petersburg The State Hermitage Publishers

In the nineteenth – twentieth century, a belt was an integral
part of the Armenian national consume. Various precious
metals were used in belt manufacturing, and their decoration represented a variety of techniques: granulation,
engraving, gilding, niello and filigree. It were buckles that
indicated whether the belt belonged to a man or a woman.
They were quite diverse in terms of shape. For instance,
longitudinally cut cylinder-shaped pieces were attached to
men’s waist belts.
Such jewellery items are displayed in museums all over
the world. In the course of her research, the author has discovered a gilded silver belt in the State Hermitage Museum
collection, the North Caucasus being indicated as the place
of its creation on the museum’s website. The piece consists
of a saddle-shaped buckle and rectangular ornamental
plates. Each plate has a rosette in the centre, connected to
the corners of the composition by a foliate ornament, while the space around it is filled with grains. The joints of the
plates are decorated with an ornament of three bell-shaped
flowers in a vase. The lower edge of the belt is adorned
with filigree. Interestingly, a crown, with a stylised ribbon
beneath, is engraved on the buckle. On the crown’s hoop,
there are round and diamond-shaped decorative elements.
While studying Armenian museum collections, the author identified belts with a similar buckle ornamentation
featuring a crown and a ribbon. Such ‘crowned’ items were
presumably created for high-ranking individuals by special
order. On the basis of the technical and stylistic characteristics, it can be assumed that the belt from the Hermitage
collection was created by an Armenian craftsman from Tiflis
or Akhaltsikhe in the early twentieth century. Other versions
of crown belts might have been produced as well. Images of
various crowns could be often found on aristocratic coats of
arms, and silversmiths undoubtedly used them as prototypes.

2025, Qadum

The excavations at Ras el-'Amud yielded a partially preserved Hebrew inscription engraved on the handle of a storage jar before firing. The surviving part of the inscription reads: ‫נחם‬ ⸱ ‫ם‬ ‫]̇ר̇‬ ‫("-[ל‬ belongs) [to ]rm (son of) Nḥm." All the letters of the inscription are paleographically consistent with the Hebrew script of the eighth-seventh centuries BCE. A short, semi-oblique stroke descending from upper-left to lower-right was used to divide the words. Personal names constructed on the root nḥm ("console", "comfort") are very common in the Hebrew onomasticon, as well as in other West Semitic languages. The suffix ‫̇רם‬ ("high", "exalted") is also very common in Hebrew and West Semitic personal names and is well attested in both biblical and epigraphic sources.

2025

The Origin of the Cherubim

2025, ПЕРВЫЕ ГЕРБЫ В ДЕКОРЕ ПЕТЕРБУРГА. КОЛЛЕКЦИЯ БЕРХГОЛЬЦА

First coats of arms in the décor of St Petersburg buildings. Bergholtz collection
Architectural monuments dating to the Petrine period, which were erased in the course of
later urban development, sadly, remain the most forgotten and underexplored part of the
historical architecture of the city centre. However, written sources and the few artefacts that have
survived until the present provide insights into heraldic decorations used in St Petersburg
architecture during the Petrine times.

2025, Journal of South Asian Studies

Clay sealings (cretulae) have traditionally been assumed to have been used in ancient administrative systems to secure the shipment of commodities and to account for their receipt. However, research in Western Asia has revealed that they were primarily used as a complex administrative tool in the management of storehouses and the goods they contained, ensuring the personal accountability of the individuals under whose seal or combination of seals particular items were stored. Although stamp seals are relatively common finds in the Indus Civilization, clay sealings are not as numerous as in contemporaneous sites throughout Western Asia. This rarity has led to speculation about the actual use of seals in the Indus Civilization. However, the study of an exceptional assemblage of clay sealings found at the Indus site of Lothal in Gujarat, India, has shed light on the function and use of these objects in the Indus Civilization. In particular, the stratigraphic analysis of the discovery context has made it possible to consider the existence of an administrative archive comparable to those excavated in Western Asia.

2025, South Asian Archaeology Conference Paris 2012

Sohr Damb/Nal is known for one of the most important ceramic traditions in central Baluchistan. The excavations conducted by the German-Pakistani Archaeological Mission to Kalat brought to light four periods of occupation dating from 3500 - 2000 BCE and a huge corpus of artefacts and information, facilitating comprehensive archaeometric analysis e.g. on the ceramic assemblage.
Chemical and petrographic analyses have been conducted with the target to investigate the provenance and circulation of ceramic artefacts and to reconstruct the operational chain, assessing the degree of craft specialization involved in manufacture. Samples from all periods were analyzed by means of re-firing analysis (Matrix Grouping by re-firing, MGR-analysis), X-Ray Fluorescence (WD-XRF) and petrographic thin sections.
After a brief presentation of the adopted archaeometric techniques, the results obtained from Sohr Damb/Nal will be discussed and compared with information obtained from the analyses of ceramic specimens from Shahr-i Sokhta (Sistan, Iran), Balakot and Damb Sadaat (Baluchistan, Pakistan).

2025

We know very little about the seal engravers, whose Sumerian name was bur-gul and in Akkadian purkullu or parkullu. They had apprentices. The seal engraver’s technique was possibly the most complicated among those applied in the ancient arts. The raw materials employed in the seals’ production were first modelled in a cylindrical shape, refining and smoothing them with sand. The drawing on the seal was engraved in “negative”, so that when it was pressed on fresh clay it appeared in relief or “positive”. The iconographic repertoire of the seals diversified and developed over time, changing according to region and style.

2025, Journal of Iran National Museum 3 (1)

Tape Jameh Shuran Sofla (JSS) is known in Iranian archaeology as a significant Iron Age site in western Central Zagros. The site was excavated by L. Levine in 1978 as part of the “Mahidasht Project” of the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM), but its report has never been fully published. While working on a corpus of clay sealings from the Chogha Maran archive of the Mahidasht Project in the National Museum of Iran (NMI), we came across two objects with the findspot number 468: a silver coin, and a clay sealing with a stamp seal impression depicting two quadrupeds. The number refers to the site of Jameh Shuran in the Mahidasht Project survey system. This paper studies the style, iconography and function of the clay sealing. The JSS sealing – which was identified as a door sealing - is dated to the LC 3-4 and is attributed to the mid-Fourth Millennium BC developments of the Central Zagros before the establishment of the Godin VI: I administrative institution. The glyptic connection between the Central Zagros, Susiana, northern Mesopotamia, and the west Central Iranian Plateau reflected in the imagery of the JSS seal impression, supports the intensification of interactions and the movement of people, goods, and ideas in the region during the LC, especially along the Khorasan High Road.

2025, REsearch on the Indus Civilization in the Wake of Hundred Years of Excavation at Harappa

While scholars have devoted much time and effort to defining and categorizing the characters of the Indus script, the iconography of Indus seals has generally been approached in a more ad hoc manner. Scholars and amateurs have devoted significant time to the analysis of individual images or scenes without considering the visual system of the Indus Civilization as a whole. In this paper, I propose a typology for categorizing the figural imagery found on the seals, sealings, and molded tablets from Indus sites. The definition of a typology serves as a first step towards better understanding how the people of the Indus Civilization used visual language to convey ideas and understand the world around them.

2025, Atiqot 116

An Iron Age Hebrew iconic stamp seal was uncovered near the southwestern corner of the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. The seal, made of black stone, depicts a winged genie and a personal name, Yehoʽezer son of Hoshaʽyahu. This is the first depiction of the winged genie iconography in the region found in an archaeological excavation. Influenced by Neo-Assyrian art, the seal was created in Jerusalem by a local artist for Hoshaʽyahu, a member of the Judean elite, during the Assyrian Century. Later on, the seal was inherited by his son Yehoʽezer. In addition to being used as a stamp, the item was a potent apotropaic and prophylactic amulet.

2025, Iran, Journal of the British Institute of Persian Studies

The purpose of this article is to introduce the large prehistoric site of Hajjiabad-Varamin, its changes in time and the first discoveries made there, in the specific literature on the early Bronze Age of the southeastern Iranian Plateau. The first part of the article describes the site, its present damaged conditions, the periodisation we adopted and the complex topographic shifts and changes of functions through time. The second part focuses on the settlement of the 3rd millennium BC and discusses a major craft activity area found east of the main elevation of the site, in which were manufactured vessels in various stones (white alabaster, grey limestones with white fossil inclusions, and probably chlorite). Collections include large drill-heads in volcanic rocks used on the interior of the stone pots, and standardised beads of a green and red-banded calcite broken while being drilled. While the stone vessels find abundant comparisons and were certainly in demand for long-distance trade, the beads type is not known in other contexts and were presumably made for a local demand. We also present the unusual find of a hoard of copper objects which helps framing the 3rd millennium BC centre in terms of cultural links and chronology.

2025, Anatolian Research/Anadolu Araştırmaları

Cylinder seals began to be used in Anatolia shortly after their emergence in Mesopotamia and Iran during the second half of the 4 th millennium BCE. These seals, offering a wide narrative space, were used across Western Asia until the 5 th century BCE. Seal impressions, which in their simplest function ensured property protection, appeared within similar timeframes. This study provides a comprehensive evaluation of cylinder seals and impressions from the 3rd millennium BCE in Anatolia, focusing on their significance during the Anatolian Early Bronze Age. Published cylinder seals and impressions are cataloged, categorized by region and period, and analyzed. The findings revealed that cylinder seals and impressions were prevalent at the Southeast Anatolian and Cilician-Amuq sites, areas that interacted with the Mesopotamian cultural sphere during early Early Bronze Age. In the later Early Bronze Age, these artifacts spread to Central and Western Anatolia, facilitated by trade routes known as the Anatolian Trade Network or Caravan Roads. The limited number of cylinder seals and the near absence of their impressions on clay bullae in Western Anatolia indicate that cylinder seals did not support the indigenous stamp seal tradition of the region. Moreover, they were not adopted as bureaucratic tools similar to their use in Mesopotamia. Instead, it is posited that as cylinder seals moved farther from their region of origin, they transitioned into prestige items or simple protective amulets rather than organizational instruments.

2025, WNC2024 E-Abstracts Book

This poster produced by the results of this master thesis: Conical clay objects from Ekşi Höyük in Neolithic period

2025, Heritage: Journal of Multidisciplinary Studies in Archaeology

This paper examines the stylistic and technological aspects of the seals from Farmana in Haryana, India. The examination of two seals from Farmana in this paper, along with the previous results of the other two seals from the same site, reveals that the Indus steatite seals underwent significant changes in their style and carving technique. The seals from Structural Phase 5 at the settlement of Farmana are distinguished from the other two from the lower Structural Phase 4 in having a more realistic depiction of animals, a more rigid representation of signs, and well-developed carving techniques. All the evidence suggests that the Indus seals experienced diachronic changes in style and technology during the Indus Urban period. It is expected that further studies on the seals reconstruct the diachronic change of seals in detail and contribute to our understanding of the production system of seals in particular and the social organisation of the Indus urban society in general.

2024, СООБЩЕНИЯ ГОСУДАРСТВЕННОГО ЭРМИТАЖА LXXXII

First publication of the Neo-Sumerian cylinder seal of Ur-Bau son of Ur-Igalim with the images of two nude heroes 'lahmu'.

2024, Challenging Dichotomies and Biases in the Study of the Ancient Southern Levant (Die Welt des Orients, Supplementary Issue), ed. Bruno Biermann, Silas Klein Cardoso, Fabio Porzia and Christoph Uehlinger

This article introduces a Welt des Orients supplement issue that addresses established dichotomies in studying the ancient southern Levant (modern Israel, Palestine, and Jordan) during the 2nd and 1st millennium BCE. Specialists from different fields accepted the challenge to question established paradigms and dissolve boundaries, especially in the shape of dichotomies, in our understanding of the region’s ancient history. Fundamental dichotomies and corresponding biases addressed include image|text, self|other, male|female, and biblical|non-biblical. Together, the contributions address neglected issues in scholarship and emphasize material and visual datasets as well as texts beyond the Hebrew Bible. The articles thus contribute to a certain decentering of the Bible in studying ancient southern Levantine societies and cultures. In turn, they argue for a multidimensional study of the southern Levant as a whole and its constituent fabric with its local and regional differences.

2024, Welt des Orients

The Late Iron Age temple of Ruǧm al-Kursī in the Western Ammonitis / Jordan combines structural elements of the Syrian Longroom-temple and the Migdal-temple.

2024

Comparing artifacts or products of civilizations to each other shows that how diverse historical nations made different decisions when confronted with the same challenges. This paper aims to investigate designers' solutions for tackling similar problems in neighboring civilizations, Helmand (Shahr-i-Sokhta) and Indus valley (Mohenjo-Daro), in a Same Period of Time. Research methods have been developed through the study in two steps. initially, after studying all the discovered seals from two civilizations, based on research hypothesis, comparing factors were defined based on three main product design dimensions (functional, aesthetic, symbolic), and 4 seals of each civilization were selected. Afterward, the similarity of Shahr-i-Sokhta and Mohenjo-Daro's seals was evaluated via a sample group, including 34 Iranian industrial designers, as participants with a DbA (Design-by-Analogy) questionnaire. The results show that in the considered period in both civilizations, the design focused on the form, aesthetic, and the symbolic aspects more than the engineering considerations.

2024, Die Welt des Orients

2024

With five sections ordered under thirteen categories (excluding Preface) which include three appendices, this will undoubtedly become a well-used resource for professionals and volunteers faced with working with unknown seals or wishing to learn more generally about seals in their collections. For the reader, there is no aspect of seal making and seal use that is not explored in this book. Copious illustrations guide the reader through uses of seals, especially regarding attachment to documents. Elements of selected seals are highlighted. Motifs on seals are illustrated in glorious detail. At fifty-seven pages, this is a comprehensive publication. It is well laid out, easy to use, is full of excellent colour illustrations that complement the text which is comprehensive in its own right. The work extends beyond seals attached to legal documents and includes fob seals and seal presses as well as paper wafer seals. Even seal bags and seal skippets (metal case) are included. A time line for seal usage in Britain is also included-from the eleventh to the twentieth-first centuries-down to the reign of King Charles III. A glossary and suggested reading list further enhance the consultation of this volume. Many will be interested in the listing of repositories-Britain, Ireland and further afield-which complete this resource. The authors are to be congratulated on a superb publication. The Title Page states that this is a first edition! One can hope for many more editions-especially as the authors request to be notified of repositories with significant holdings of seals which may have been omitted in error from this edition. This is a labour-of-love which has resulted from a very positive process of academic and professional collaboration, originating in a shared love of everything to do with seals. I hope it is one which will have a positive impact across many sectors and that the Guidelines will become well thumbed by professionals and volunteers (and the general public) everywhere. Congratulations to all involved!

2024

Steatite scarabs were the most common type of seal‑amulets in Egypt and the southern Levant during the 2nd millennium BCE. Past scholarship attempted to create criteria for the identification of Egyptian vs. Canaanite scarabs, emphasizing mostly their typological and iconographic features, while other aspects of their production have largely been disregarded. This article examines the production of steatite scarabs from the southern Levant, using the chaîne opératoire theoretical and methodological framework, in which each phase of the production sequence is analyzed separately. The presented results of this analysis include a detailed account of the techniques and tools employed in their creation, a general estimation of the location of their centers of production, and potential connections between steatite scarab production and other ancient industries. While the social contexts of production are highlighted, it is noted that further research is needed to elaborate upon the relationship between Levantine and Egyptian artisans.

2024, Maarav 28 (1-2): 89-95

The present rejoinder discusses the article published recently in this journal by Gross, Wrathall, Koch, and Lipschits and its conclusions. Their article reviews the lmlk stamped handles found in a limited area of the large-scale salvage excavations conducted during the years 2018-2020 to the east of Tel Beth-Shemesh. According to these partial data they reconstruct the chronology and history of the site. In this rejoinder we present a different set of chronological data as obtained from all the excavation areas which requires another historical reconstruction.

2024, Les aegyptiaca de Carthage et apparentés de la Méditerranée du Ier millénaire av. J.-C.: approche glypto-iconographique, Tunis.

Research on Egyptian and Egyptian-related objects from Carthage compared to other aegyptiaca found mainly in contexts of the Phoenician and Punic universe of the Mediterranean of the 1st millennium BC. This study allows us to know the Egyptian influence on the glyptic of seals, stamp seals and the iconography of various objects from Carthage. It contributes to highlighting the role of Carthage in the reception of aegyptiaca and the production of egyptianizing objects of imitation and their diffusion mainly across the central and western Mediterranean of the 1st millennium BC.

2024, REPORTS OF THE STATE HERMITAGE MUSEUM LXXXI

2024, ΑΡΧΑΙΟΛΟΓΙΚΟΝ ΔΕΛΤΙΟΝ ΤΟΜΟΣ 73-75 (2018-2020) ΜΕΡΟΣ Α´ - ΜΕΛΕΤΕΣ

MESOPOTAMIAN CYLINDER SEALS: FIVE EXAMPLES OF THE 3RD AND 2ND MILLENNIUM B.C. FROM A GREEK PRIVATE COLLECTION. PICTORIAL AND STYLISTIC ANALYSIS
The aim of this study is the scientific documentation of the five Mesopotamians cylinder seals of an old private collection, the Kaftantzoglou Collection, established in the middle of the 19th century. The seal stones had previously been labeled with the general term “Assyrian”and had not been dated. Their stylistic analysis and the detailed presentation of their iconographic subject and that of the protagonists of the scenes were made in an effort to better understand the seals, but also to supplement the Greek bibliography regarding the publication of ancient objects of Mesopotamia origin.
The Akkadian period is represented in the Kaftantzoglou Collection by seals nos. 1 and 2. The seal no. 1 is a typical example of an official seal that would have been used in the Akkadian state administration and belongs to the late phase of the Akkadian period (Naram-Sin reign: 2254-2218 BC or Shar-kali-sharri: 2217-2193 BC). It depicts in bas-relief the two pairs of mythical heroes (bull-man and lahmu) in the typical contest scene, with a lion and a water buffalo respectively, which flank the central inscription. This is the personal seal of Utu-saga, son of Ur-Tur. The seal no. 2 is a typical example of a private seal belonging to the elite of the Akkadian society and expresses the mature Akkadian style (2334-2154 BC). It was carved in a more simplified design and depicts a mythological scene: the presentation scene of three inferior male vegetation deities before a superior, enthroned, male vegetation god. The four gods cannot be identified, due to the absence of distinguishing symbols. The Old Babylonian period is represented by the next two seals nos. 3 and 4, which belong to anonymous owners. Due to their particular stylistic characteristics, they were subcategorized. Thus, the seal no. 3, although it is characterized by the classic mature Old Babylonian style (1900-1700 BC), exhibits some“provincial” elements in the carving that subcategorize it in the regional style of Northern Mesopotamia (Assyria), while the seal no. 4, with its inferior design and use of drilled holes, belongs to the “proto-mittanic style” of the late phase of the Old Babylonian period (1700-1600 BC). The iconographic subject of seal no. 3 is the presentation scene of the sun-god Shamash before the petitioner goddess Lamma and the two mythical heroes, the bull-man, holding a lion-headed scepter, and the lahmu, fighting with an animal. Seal no. 4 depicts a scene of worship of the enthroned god in his sanctuary, surrounded by the naked hero-lahmu and the lionheaded demon-ugallu, while as a secondary iconographic subject the god Adad is depicted on a bull. The identification of the seal god no. 4 with Marduk or Shamash was suggested. Finally, the dependency of Elamite seal engraving on the Old Babylonian seal engraving is comprehended through the presentation of seal no. 5, which would likewise belong to an anonymous owner. It was dated to the late phase of Old Elamite/Late Sukkalmah) - Middle Elamite I/Kidinuid Dynasty (1650-1400 BC) and was subcategorized in the “shaped Elamite style”. It depicts a presentation scene of two worshipers and the naked goddess, who approach the enthroned god-king. The study concludes with the catalogue of the inscriptions of the five seal stones of the Kaftantzoglou Collection.
The cuneiform inscription of the inscribed Akkadian seal no. 1 was translated by Dr. Stephanie Dalley (Retired teacher of Assyriology with the Faculty of Oriental Studies at Oxford, Senior Research Fellow in Assyriology at Somerville College) and Pr. Jacob L. Dahl (Professor of Assyriology, Faculty of Assian and Middle Eastern studies, University of Oxford), to whom I am sincerely thankful.

2024, in: W. Messerschmidt (ed.), Dülük Baba Tepesi I: Das frühe Heiligtum, Dolichener und Kommagenische Forschungen 14, Bonn: Habelt

6.4.2. Kleinfunde aus Erdlagen und von der ursprünglichen Bergoberfläche 6.4.3. Kleinfunde aus eisenzeitlichen und hellenistischen Kulturschichten und Mauerbefunden 6.4.4. Kleinfunde aus den Zerfallshorizonten der Temenosmauer II 6.4.5. Kleinfunde aus ausgewählten späteren Befunden und modernen Störungen 7. Die Befunde im Südosten des mittleren Zentralplateaus 7.1. Die eisenzeitlichen Schichten Wolfgang Messerschmidt

2024, Ceramica ştampilată de la Porolissum. Die gestempelten Keramik von Porolissum. POROLISSUM. UN COMPLEX ARHEOLOGIC DACO-ROMAN LA MARGINEA DE NORD A IMPERIULUI ROMAN, VOL. V

Im Rahmen des Römischen Reiches steht Porolissum bei weitem als die Fundstelle mit den meisten Entdeckungen von Gefäßen mit gestempelter Verzierung heraus; es ist in dieser Hinsicht das größte Produktionszentrum der Provinz Dakien und vielleicht des Römischen Reiches. Die sehr große Menge von Gefäßen mit gestempelter Verzierung aus Porolissum (über 2.000 Stück) erforderte die Fortsetzung ihrer Untersuchung, mit dem Zweck, aufschlußreiche Angaben zur Produktion gestempelter Gefäße, zur Vervollständigung der Typologie der Gefäßformen und des Repertoriums der Verzierungselemente, zur Zweckbestimmung der untersuchten Gefäße, zum Handel damit, zur Festlegung der Rolle der Werkstätten von Porolissum in der Verbreitung dieses keramischen
Typs sowohl in der römischen Welt als auch im Barbaricum, zum Verbreitungsareal der gestempelten Gefäße aus diesem Zentrum zu bieten. Andererseits mußte eine gemeinsame Bearbeitungsmethodologie der gestempelten Keramik festgelegt werden.
All dies ist erforderlich, um eine Datenbasis aufzustellen, die von Fachleuten künftig benutzt werden soll.

2024, The Phoenician Family Tomb n.1 at the Northern Cemetery of Achziv (10th-6th Centuries BCE): Sam Turner Expedition: Final Report of the Excavations

2024, Welt des Orients

In the 1930s and 1950s, M. Noth published several methodological articles praising the achievements of the archaeology of Palestine as an independent discipline and at the same time questioning the possibility of basing history primarily or exclusively upon archaeological data. Without textual sources, he maintained, those data remain "mute" concerning contingent history (Ereignisgeschichte), the identity of human agents, etc. Relying on philological analyses of biblical texts, Noth questioned inter alia the conquest of the land by the Israelite tribes and the historicity of a Patriarchal Age, both of which were endorsed by W. F. Albright and his followers. In response, Noth and his teacher A. Alt were charged with scholarly "nihilism. " In the meantime, the excavators' tools have become much more refined. Nevertheless, Noth's insights about the systemic limits of archaeological data as well as his correlation of material and textual (or iconographic) evidence remain valid in regard to current efforts to reconstruct Israelite history primarily using archaeological evidence. This assessment is substantiated in the article with examples of well-known cases like Gath or Kuntillet ' Ajrud as well as of recent ‚historical' narratives about the much-disputed 10 th century BC.

2024, Palestine Exploration Fund Annual XIX

Final Report of Excavations on the Hill of the Ophel by R.A.S. Macalister and J. Garrow Duncan 1923–1925 contains the publication of the finds from this excavation a century ago that have been curated and stored in the archives of the... more

2024, ., PROCESSIONS: Studies of Bronze Age Ritual and Ceremony presented to Robert B. Koehl

this paper presents two stunning sealings found on joining sherds (AT 22069) from a LBI context at Alalakh. Depicting a palimpsest of a victory procession and its ritual aftermath, the seals were impressed on a pot base and body. Both are scenes of worship; the first and finest impression is of a cylinder seal depicting a winged deity in resplendent regalia who wields a weapon, most likely one frame of a presentation scene celebrating victory

2024, Acta Musei Porolissensis

Die eingehende Untersuchung des oben beschriebenen Materials erlaubte
einige technische und historische Feststellungen:
1. Die westlich von der romischen Grenze entdeckten GefaBe, die hier
untersucht werden, gliedem sich perfekt in die Formen der TSP- GefaBe,
die in Porolissum vorkommen, und in die hier vorkommenden Typen
ein, mit einer Ăhnlichkeit, die bis zur volligen Gleichheit reicht, aber
auch mit Varianten, die sich vom "Prototyp" leicht unterscheiden.
2. All diese Gefa/3e gehoren zum Tafelgeschirr.
3. Die Zierelemente (Taf. Lill-LXV) weisen ein Repertoire auf, <las jenen
von Porolissum ahnlich ist und dieselben Gruppen umfa/3t: gerade
Linien (Taf. Lill-LV), krumrne Linien (Taf. LV-LVI), Kreise (Taf.
LVII-LIX), Wellenlinien (Taf. LXI-LXII), pflanzliche Muster (Taf.
LXIII), Verzierungen, die von den TS-LuxusgefaBen iibemommen
wurden (Taf. LXIV).
4. Die Paste, aus der die GefaBe geformt wurden, ist sehr fein. Es folgt - in
einer năchsten Phase -, da/3 physische oder chemische Analysen der
Paste neue Angaben aber die Herkunft des Tons bringen.
5. Es herrscht die hellgraue Farbe vor (89,93%); die iibrigen GefaBe aus
rotlicher, ziegelfarbener Paste oder solcher in Varianten dieser Farben
nehmen einen geringen Platz ein (10,03%)
Alle Gefal3e wurden mit iiberzug bedeckt. Es wurde hier der Begriff
Uberzug vorgezogen, da dieser keinen metallischen Glanz verleiht, zum
Unterschied vom Firnis.
7. Die westlich von der W estgrenze der Provinz Dacia Porolissensis
gefundenen Gefâl3e wurden von den Entdeckern - ohne sichere
Datierungselemente - in die Zeit am Ende des 3. und zu Beginn des
4.Jh. datiert. Wir sind der Apsicht, daJ3 - wenn man annimmt, daJ3 die
Herstellung von TSP- Gefâl3en in Porolisswn wn die Mitte des 2. Jh.
begann - auch die Ausfuhr zur selben Zeit eingeleitet wurde- alsa
konnte das Vorkommen der Gefâl3e westlich von der Grenze mindestens
seit dem Anfang des 3. Jh. datiert werden, wenn nicht friiher.
8. Die TSP- Gefâl3e wurden sowohl in Porolisswn als auch im Barbaricwn
hergestellt, parallel dazu funktionierte aber auch stetig die Ausfuhr von
Porolissum aus.
9. Die Werkstiitten, die in Porolisswn TSP- Gefâl3e herstellten, beeinflul3ten
nicht alleine die einige Kilometer weiter westlich gegriindeten
Werkstatten (Zalău-Valea Mâţii, Zalău-Panic), sondern auch solche, die
Hunderte von Kilometern von der Grenze entfemt funktionierten, in
Bergsurâny (Kotygorosko 1997), Blazice und Igolomia (Lamiova 1997).
10. Die Werkstatten in Porolisswn hatten eine vorherrschende Rolle inne,
sowohl beziiglich der Ausfuhr als auch in der Entwicklung einer
Produktion von Luxusgefâl3en bei den Barbaren westlich vom Limes.

2024, Neo-Lithics 22:27-32

Introduction. Horned Animals in Glyptic Art from the Ancient Near East Horned animals were very commonly depicted in glyptic art of the Ancient Near East from the 7 th to the 3 rd millennia BCE. These animals include both domesticated and wild species and were often accompanied by additional elements e.g., other animals, human figures and various emblems that were often called "space fillers". The current paper discusses a stone stamp seal that was found during a salvage excavation at Khirbet Harsis (Sha'ar Ha-Gāy) in the Judean Shephelah of Israel. The seal depicts a crouching ibex and associated lentoid and triangular emblems. We believe they represent the symbolic realms of the Late Neolithic-Early Chalcolithic with their cultural and social aspects. Horned wild animals, such as gazelles, antelopes, and ibexes, are the stamp seals' main features at sites

2024

Çalışmamızda Seyitömer Höyük'te ele geçmiş disk mühür konu edilmektedir. Seyitömer Höyük yerleşmesi, Kütahya şehir merkezinin kuzeybatısında bulunmaktadır. Seyitömer Höyük, 2012 kazı çalışmaları sırasında IVC tabakasında, N9 plan karesinin ortasında, B odasının tabanında bronz mühür ele geçmiştir. Mührün ele geçtiği yapı, M.Ö. 20-19. yüzyıla tarihlenmektedir. Daire şekilli disk mührün her iki yüzeyi düzleştirilmiştir. Mührün bir yüzeyinde Hiyeroglif olarak VITA şeklinde okunabilecek piktografik bir sembol bulunmaktadır. Seyitömer Mührü, Anadolu'da Erken Hitit Dönemi'ne tarihlenen benzer piktografik sembollü mühürlerin Orta Tunç Çağı'nın erken evresine kadar uzanan bir tarihçesinin olduğunu düşündürmektedir.