Stamp seal

A stamp seal and its impression. The impression rotated clockwise 90 degrees probably yields a version of the Tree of Life-(see Urartian art photos).

The stamp seal is a carved object, usually stone, first made in the 4th millennium BC, and probably earlier. They were used to impress their picture or inscription into soft, prepared clay.

Unfortunately, the device of the seal has seldom survived through time; it is usually only their impressions. A major exception are the cylinder seals made of stone, of which examples of their ancient impressions have survived as well, the majority being of clay tablets sealed as an authentication.

Indus stamp-seal

Indus seal, (with modern impression); from ca. mid- to late-3rd millennium BC.(?)

Different from the Minoan stamp-seals, the Indus stamp-seals probably have a different function from the stamp seals of the Minoan civilization, as they typically have script characters, with still undeciphered associations.

See also

References

http://digi.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/diglit/yule1981/ Online

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