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Seals and Sealing: Mesopotamia
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Cylinder seals were invented around 3500 B.C. in southern Mesopotamia or southwestern Iran, and were used as an administrative tool, as jewelry and as magical amulets. They largely, though not completely, replaced stamp seals, which had been used in parts of Mesopotamia from around 7000 B.C. The use of cylinder seals was linked to the invention of cuneiform writing on clay, and when this spread to other areas of the Near East, the use of cylinder seals spread, too. They are small cylinders, generally made of stone and pierced through from end to end so that they could be worn on a string or pin. The surface of the cylinder was carved in intaglio (cut into the stone) with a design so that when rolled on clay the cylinder would leave a continuous impression of the design, reversed and in relief. The shape and size of cylinder seals, the type of material used, and the designs carved into the surface varied according to period and area. Many ancient clay seal impressions (sealings) have survived on tablets and small pieces of clay applied to doors and containers, including jars, baskets, sacks, leather bags, and wooden boxes. However, these are often incomplete. The designs on the many thousands of surviving cylinder seals are best studied from modern impressions or rollings of the seals on clay or some other soft material. It is these modern impressions that are here shown alongside the ancient cylinder seals.
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