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Chapter Twelve - Seals and Sealing Technology in the Dilmun Culture: The Post-Harappan Life of the Indus Valley Sealing Tradition

from Part II - South Asia and the Gulf Region

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 April 2018

Marta Ameri
Affiliation:
Colby College, Maine
Sarah Kielt Costello
Affiliation:
University of Houston-Clear Lake
Gregg Jamison
Affiliation:
University of Wisconsin, Waukesha
Sarah Jarmer Scott
Affiliation:
Wagner College, New York
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Summary

The seals and sealing of the Dilmun Culture represent one of the most understudied glyptic traditions of the old world. Based on the extant data from the Early Dilmun period (ca. 2250–1650 BCE) the present contribution provides an introduction to the all-pervasive “Gulf” and “Dilmun Type” stamp seals and evaluates the range of their chronological and geographical distribution. Above all, Bronze Age Dilmun is seen as a key context for understanding the sealing traditions of the Old World because it represents a melting pot in which hybrid forms of glyptic art developed under the influence of her major trade partners in the Indus Valley, Babylonia, and beyond. In the present study, rectangular Dilmun seals and cylinder seals carved in the Dilmun style are investigated as cardinal examples in Dilmun art of such creative translations. The study additionally introduces evidence that applies to the symbolic and practical function of the seals as bureaucratic devices in an ideological and administrative system. The latter includes impression on sealings and cuneiform tablets but also addresses a small group of so-called tokens stamped with Dilmun-related seals, and sealing symbolism expressed on pottery vessels.

Type
Chapter
Information
Seals and Sealing in the Ancient World
Case Studies from the Near East, Egypt, the Aegean, and South Asia
, pp. 204 - 226
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2018

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