Cylinder seals

Short pieces of stone, and sometimes other materials, that were engraved with pictures or words that formed recessed impressions in their surfaces. When pressed into moist clay, these cylinder seals produced raised images. These images denoted the official identity, ownership, or authority of an individual or institution, in the manner of a modern signature or stamp. Before cylinder seals came into use, curved stone stamps were produced in Syria as early as the 7000s B. C. The cylindrical versions, which appeared in Sumeria in the midfourth millennium B. C., had the advantages of covering more area and allowing for more detail and information when rolled into wet clay. In the centuries that followed, hundreds of thousands of these objects were produced all over Mesopotamia. Images made by such seals have been found not only on tablets bearing palace inventories and decrees but also on legal documents, marriage contracts, doors, jars, and elsewhere.

Cylinder seals were created by seal makers, or seal cutters, who used copper, bronze, or flint chisels and gravers (pointed tools), cutting blades, and small hand-driven drills. Although most seals were made of stone, some utilized copper, bronze, gold, ivory, bone, or shell. Varieties of stone included limestone, crystal, lapis lazuli, talc, and agate. The scenes carved into the seals depicted activities such as weaving, baking, feasting, dancing, combat, and mythical incidents involving gods and human heroes. They often had artistic value and aesthetic appeal since many of the seal makers were accomplished artists. In fact, it took a considerable amount of technical virtuosity to carve shapes and etch details within sunken impressions—the reverse of normal sculpture work. The fact that the seals’ surfaces were curved rather than flat made the production of correctly proportioned scenes and figures all the more difficult and amazing.

Cylinder seals also possess a certain amount of archaeological value. First, some of the scenes and inscriptions on them provide information about Mesopotamian mythology and everyday life. Second, some surviving seals bear names of rulers or dates or follow styles distinct to a specific place and time, allowing scholars to roughly date the sites where they are found.

See Also: crafts and craftspeople; sculpture; writing materials