Ancient Near Eastern seals and sealing practices



Two main types of seals were used in the Ancient Near East, the stamp seal and the cylinder seal. Stamp seals first appeared in 'administrative' contexts in central and northern Mesopotamia in the seventh millennium and were used exclusively until the fifth millennium. Cylinder seals appeared first around 3600 BC in southern Mesopotamia and south-western Iran (Middle Uruk Period). They gradually replaced stamp seals, becoming the tool of a rising class of bureaucrats in the early stages of state formation. Even though stamp seals were still produced in the third and second millennia, cylinder seals predominated. In the first millennium, stamp seals made a strong comeback and eventually replaced cylinder seals entirely.

Place names and sites



 * Eshnunna (T. Asmar),
 * Shaduppum (T. Harmal),
 * Mari (Tell Hariri),
 * Sippar-Yahrurum (T. Abu Habbah),
 * Sippar-Amnanum (T. ed-Der),
 * Babylon (near al-Hillah),
 * Kish (T. Uhaimir),
 * Nippur (T. Nuffar),
 * Larsa (T. Senkereh),
 * Isin (Ishan Bahriyat),
 * Kisurra (T. Abu Hatab)
 * Ur (T. el-Muqayyar)
 * Urkesh (Tell Mozan)