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Document Details : Title: New Seal Impressions on the Tablets of Tell al-Faḫḫar Author(s): MAWLOOD ALI, Fayhaa Journal: Journal Asiatique Volume: 313 Issue: 1 Date: 2025 Pages: 23-32 DOI: 10.2143/JA.313.1.3294662 Abstract : One of the earliest appearances of seals on cuneiform texts, whether stamp or cylinder seals, dates back to the Jamdat Nasr period, as they were found in the Royal Cemetery of Ur. They became widely common in the Ur III period, which is the period of explosion in the use of seals on texts, and subsequent periods. Some various scenes were executed on it according to the features of each period, because every period had its own characteristics, in addition to the fact that some of these seal impressions contained some lines of cuneiform writings giving the name of the owner of the seal and his profession and sometimes the name of the king or the god, or some dedicatory phrases to them. In the Middle Assyrian period, it was common for cylinder seals to be used for several cuneiform texts (such as economic, administrative and legal documentation, including sales and purchase contracts, loans…). So, the texts of this period (especially the texts of Nuzi period) were distinguished by the presence of one seal impression, or of two seal impressions, and sometimes more than that; all of them appeared on the obverse and reverse, or sometimes on the left edges of the texts. In addition, the scenes of these seal impressions were varied and included representations of deities and their symbols, of worship, of opposite with faces or opposite with back for animals with the sacred tree, or of the struggle of animals. The importance of this study lies in the fact that the cylinder seals were impressed on a group of cuneiform texts that were discovered at the site of Tell Al-Faḫḫar (Kuruhanni), which was studied here for the first time in the form of a comparative artistic study and we did not find such detailed studies for the same group, except for some few references. The study of seals is one of the important studies that can be used to determine the artistic elements that appeared in each period, and through which it is possible to accurately determine their dating and a comparative study can be used to identify the Mesopotamian, Hurrian, Mitanni or Assyrian elements which appeared in these seal impressions. |
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