Art of the First Cities: The Third Millennium B.C. from the Mediterranean to the Indus | Explore & Learn

Seals and Sealing: Gulf Region

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The favored seal of the Gulf, excluding the Oman Peninsula, where the practice of sealing was never widespread, was a round stamp seal with a raised, pierced back knob, or boss. The earliest group (ca. 2100 B.C.) is known as "Persian Gulf" seals. They are normally made of soft stone and are characterized by a high boss, always pierced horizontally for suspension. Normally the boss bears a single groove across the upper surface, but it sometimes has two. The sealing surface shows only animals or abstract natural motifs, never humans, and in general the workmanship is rather crude. These gave way in the very late third or early second millennium B.C. to "Dilmun" seals, which now frequently show human beings, as well as fantastic animal protomes, particularly of gazelles. Gulf seals have been found in Mesopotamia and the Indus Valley, and some "Dilmun" seals were influenced by the respective region's iconography. The seals were presumably used in the extensive trade and commercial connections between the different regions linked by the waters of the Gulf and Arabian Sea.


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Images, from top to bottom: Stamp seal with humans drinking, ca. 2000–1800 B.C.; Early Dilmun. Gulf region, Failaka, Tell Sa'id, F5, trench Q, ALL. National Council for Culture, Arts, and Letters, Kuwait National Museum. Stamp seal with musician, ca. 2000–1800 B.C.; Early Dilmun. Gulf region, Failaka, Tell Sa'ad, F3, trench B, u. National Council for Culture, Arts, and Letters, Kuwait National Museum 881 UK.

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