Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Holly Pittman1 and D.T. Potts2 1 Dept. of the History of Art, 203 Jaffe Building, 3405 Woodland Walk, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia PA 19104, USA
e-mail: hpittman@sas.upenn.edu
2
e-mail: dpot3385@usyd.edu.au
Introduction On 10 June 2008, Mr Kim Burke, the head of a team from GRM International undertaking a soil survey for the Environmental Agency (Abu Dhabi), discovered a cylinder seal c.3 km east of Medinat Zayed in the Western Region of Abu Dhabi. The seal was found on the surface of an area (Fig. 1) that had been badly disturbed by temporary camps for herders and animal pens (Fig. 2). The locale is in a duneeld area on undulating plains on a deation crust that is soft but has pockets of lithied sand dunes nearby with approx. 3% slope. This area is well drained with wind erosion and barren except for 2% Cyperus conglomeratus and is used for keeping animals. The parent material is Aeolian deposition and the soils are ne sandy loams to a depth of 5 metres.... There are 10% mixed surface rocks.... The whole area has gatch [calcareous sand] and gravels that have been carted in for tracks and animal yards. (K. Burke, personal communication). No features of any sort, which might indicate pre-
modern habitation were observed, and neither were any sherds found on the surface.
Description The seal is 2.4 cm in height and 2.1 cm in diameter. Carved of a greenish, grey stone that has the appearance of limestone, the seal is pierced vertically for suspension (Figs 36). The Abu Dhabi nd represents a well-known Mesopotamian type, a drilled style, schematic cylinder seal of the sort found in large numbers at sites in greater Mesopotamia. It carries on its side gural imagery carved with a drill and a graver. The scene consists of two females with pigtails facing each other. Each of them is seated on a low platform, extending both arms, bent upward at the elbow, towards a spider-like gure. Behind the right-facing female (in the impression) is a headless quadruped oriented vertically with its legs bent inwards, accompanied on the left by a second spider-like gure.
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Fig. 1. Map showing the approximate location of the nd spot of the cylinder seal.
The type has several distinct attributes. Most examples are around 2.2 cm tall (range = 1.62.7 cm). The diameter-to-height ratio is consistently c.1:1 and thus seals of this type are squat and fat. In prole, the sides of these seals are most commonly straight, as is the case with the Abu Dhabi seal, or slightly concave (Buchanan 1966: no. 18b, pl. 2). Like the Abu Dhabi seal, cylinder seals of this sort found in southern Mesopotamia and Khuzestan are
drilled vertically for suspension. Some examples from western Syria either have a projection that is drilled for suspension, or a V-shaped hole drilled on the top (Braidwood & Braidwood 1960: gs 382 1 and 3). For the most part, seals of this type are made of pink, red, grey, green, or black limestone or
Fig. 2. The sandy spot where the seal was found, marked by a pair of boots.
Fig. 3. Exterior surface of the cylinder seal from Abu Dhabi, showing the drilled and engraved forms of pigtailed women.
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Fig. 4. Exterior surface of the cylinder seal from Abu Dhabi, showing the drilled and engraved form of a spider-like creature.
marble. More rarely they may be made of chlorite steatite, serpentine or even rock crystal.
Discussion There are dozens of close parallels from excavated contexts for this type of seal, as well as many
Fig. 5. Photograph of a modern impression of the seal from Abu Dhabi (H. Pittman).
Fig. 6. Drawing of the scene on the seal from Abu Dhabi (H. Pittman).
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Fig. 7. Photograph of a seal and modern impressions from Jamdat Nasr (after Buchanan 1966: pl. 2 14a-d).
Fig. 8. Drawing of a seal from Inanna Temple XVI at Nippur (after Porada et al. 1992: g. 8 1).
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Fig. 9. Photograph of a cylinder seal from Habuba Kabira South (after Hammade 1994: 32, no. 299).
Fig. 10. Photograph of a cylinder seal from Habuba Kabira South (after Hammade 1994: 32, no. 300).
Donald Matthews has identied a variety of the pigtailed-lady seal called the Aleppo group that he convincingly argues was made in the Amuq region. This type is characterised by a distinct mechanism of suspension through either a perforated handle or a V-shaped hole on the top of the seal. He has also argued, less convincingly, that the type of suspension was meant to indicate the status of the owner within the Late Uruk administrative hierarchy (1997: 59). The distinctive styles of carving on seals from western Syria and the Amuq Valley demonstrate that that these seals were not used together with seals made in southern Mesopotamia but rather were variations of a seal type that was locally produced and used (Pittman 2007: 297). Amiet (1980) has noted that, in contrast to the drilled Late Uruk glyptic of Mesopotamia, domestic scenes and animals can appear together on the seals of this type in Syria. This may reect differences between the administrative systems of Mesopotamia and Syria within which these seals were used. In Sumer, Amiet suggested, animal herding was organised separately from the wool industry (hence the segregation of animals and domestic scenes there), while in Syria herding and the textile industry were organized together (hence the co-occurrence of animals and domestic scenes). The iconographic range of this seal type is quite narrow, consisting overwhelmingly of pigtailed ladies, characterised by the distinctive, long pigtail
that descends from the back of the head. The identication of this gure as a female is based on comparisons with small sculptures from Susa of the same period, which show females with prominent breasts and long pigtails (Asher-Greve 1985). Judging by the infrequency of gures without the pigtail, males were rarely shown on this type of seal. The pigtailed ladies are most often shown seated on a low platform supported by vertical slats, working with vessels or perhaps horizontal looms. They also appear wearing aring robes and walking in processions carrying standards. Sometimes they are associated, as on the Abu Dhabi seal, with a spider-like form to which they raise their bent arms. Whether this is a gesture of adoration or labour is unclear. Rarely, only the spider is represented, probably as shorthand for the entire scene. On some seals of this type the imagery is divided into panels by vertical dividers, while others show multiple gures in one or two registers, sometimes reversed te be che composition (Buchanan 1966: nos. 14, in a te 15). While the meaning of these images is uncertain, Asher-Greve (1985) made a compelling case for the idea that these images are references to the important role of females in the religious and productive sectors of the economy during the proto-literate period in greater Mesopotamia. There is a consensus among scholars that the juxtaposition of spiders and females is a visual pun on one of the spiders chief
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Cylinder seals in Arabia The Abu Dhabi seal published here is not merely the earliest cylinder seal yet found in the U.A.E. It is the oldest seal of any type ever found in the Arabian Peninsula. From the mid-fourth to the mid-rst millennium BC, cylinder seals were used widely in the Near East, from Anatolia, Cyprus, the southern Levant and Egypt in the west to the Iranian Plateau in the east and Failaka and Bahrain in the south. Even though these latter two islands the historic region of Dilmun in the cuneiform sources are more commonly associated with circular stamp seals (Persian Gulf and Dilmun style), it is nonetheless true that over eighty cylinder seals have been found on them as well. Beyond the cylinder seal-using area just described we enter zones in which only very small numbers of cylinder seals have been found. Such is the case beyond the Iranian Plateau in Margiana (eastern Turkmenistan), or to the south in eastern Saudi Arabia, the Oman peninsula and the Indus Valley. As the cylinder seals found elsewhere in the Arabian Peninsula will be dealt with in a separate publication (Potts n.d.), our remarks in the present instance will be conned to cylinder seals and seal use in southeastern Arabia. In addition to the Abu Dhabi seal, fteen cylinder seals are known from the U.A.E and Oman. Proceeding from the coast of the Northern Emirates towards the east, these are as follows: 1. Al Sufouh (Dubai, U.A.E.) (Figs 1112) a dark grey, soft-stone seal (ht. 2.14 cm, dia. 1.18 cm) from tomb III, layer 13 (Benton 1996: g. 197). The seal shows a stick-like human gure, the left arm of which forms a continuous line linking it to the leg of a quadruped (reminiscent of a frog or turtle seen from above). A stylised tree is visible as well as another ller motif. The seal iconography suggests that this cylinder seal was locally produced. A close parallel for it exists at Ras al-Jinz, however, and the similarities are so great that the two seals probably came from a similar area. Chronologically the assemblage from Al Sufouh dates to the earlier Umm an-Nar period, c.24002300 BC.
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Fig. 11. Cylinder seal from Al Sufouh and a modern impression of it.
2. Mowaihat tomb B (Ajman, UAE) (Fig. 13) a soft-stone (?) seal (ht. 2.2 cm, dia. 1.7 cm) from a rectangular, subsidiary chamber located alongside the main, circular one (al-Tikriti 1989: pl. 46a). As Haerinck noted, The seal is very worn and was originally decorated with a series of incised dots and lines, showing no obvious pattern. Later on some deep incised lines were added, but these also do not show an identiable decoration (19901991: 1617). 3. Tell Abraq (Umm al-Qaiwain Sharjah, UAE) (Figs 1415) this badly worn, white calcite or limestone seal (TA 75, ht. 4.2 cm, dia. 1.5 cm) shows a horned, seated female deity (?) in front of an offering table; a tree; and a standing gure, probably also female, with arms bent, supporting something
in her left hand. The seal iconography, though difcult to make out, suggests a Mesopotamian or Elamite origin, but little more can be said. Although found in a mid-second-millennium BC (Wadi Suq period) context, the seal may be older (Potts 1990a: 91, gs 109110). 4. Tell Abraq (Umm al-Qaiwain Sharjah, U.A.E.) (Figs 1617) a faience seal (TA 12, ht. 4.1 cm, dia. 1.2 cm) showing a vertical chevron (stylised tree?) anked by vegetal or solar (?) motifs. The top
Fig. 13. Drawing of the cylinder seal from Mowaihat tomb B (after alTikriti 1989: pl. 46a).
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Fig. 14. Drawing of a badly worn cylinder seal (TA 75) from Tell Abraq (H.B. Potts).
and bottom of the scene are framed by a train-tracklike band and the carving is very crude (Potts 1990a: 122123, gs 150151). Iconographic parallels at Choga Zanbil and Susa, as well as the material of which the seal is made, strongly suggest it is a Middle Elamite product from south-western Iran of the fourteenth thirteenth century BC. 5. Hili North Tomb B (Al Ain, Abu Dhabi, U.A.E.) an unpublished seal was discovered in 1984 during excavations by the late Majid Mohsen Haddou, supervised by Dr W.Y. al-Tikriti. Now in the Al Ain Museum, the seal is cut in a crude, linear style, and shows two, long antlered horned quadrupeds (Arabian oryx?) anking a stylised anthropomorph (?). 6. Qidfa (Fujairah, U.A.E.) a soft-stone cylinder seal (QDF.1.86.M.104) was excavated in tomb 1
at Qidfa in 1986 by Dr W.Y. al-Tikriti. Now in the Fujairah Museum, it was published in 2007 (Ziolkowski 2007: g. 67). The side of the seal shown in the published photograph shows an anthropomorph with raised arms, claw-like hands and feet, and a curved sword at waist height (2007: 237238, n. 170) which is virtually identical (though not in carving style) to the gure shown on a soft-stone amulet (TA 440, 3 x 2.2 x 0.6 cm) from Tell Abraq (Potts 1991: 9596, gs 136137) of Iron Age date (cf. no. 7 from Kalba below). The same gure has been found in at least twenty-six petroglyphs in Fujairah, Dubai, Sharjah and Ras al-Khaimah (Ziolkowski 1998: gs 62 and 101; 2007: 222, motif 7, with full refs and gs 52, 65 and 66). 7. Qidfa (Fujairah, U.A.E.) a faience (?) seal, unpublished, was excavated in tomb 1 at Qidfa in 1986 by Dr W.Y. al-Tikriti. It is now in the Fujairah Museum (M.C. Ziolkowski, personal communication). 8. Qidfa (Fujairah, U.A.E.) a faience (?) seal, unpublished, was excavated in tomb 1 at Qidfa in 1986 by Dr W.Y. al-Tikriti. It is now in the Fujairah Museum (M.C. Ziolkowski, personal communication) 9. Kalba (K4) (Kalba, Sharjah, U.A.E.) an unpublished, pale green crystalline stone seal on display in the Sharjah Archaeological Museum was excavated at the multi-period site of K4 by C.S. Phillips. The decoration on the seal (K-45, ht. 3.7 cm, dia. 0.8 cm) consists of a stick-gure anthropomorph with upraised arms, bent at the elbows, and splayed, three-toed feet. A curved object at its waist is
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Fig. 16. Drawing of a Middle Elamite cylinder seal (TA 12) from Tell Abraq (H.B. Potts).
comparable to that seen on no. 6 from Qidfa and the amulet from Tell Abraq referred to above. A second anthropomorph (?) with downward angling arms (or zoomorphs?); a stylised tree; six dots; and a standard or offering table (?) can also be seen. 10. Kalba (K4) (Kalba, Sharjah, U.A.E.) an unpublished, soft-stone seal (K4-43, ht 2.3 cm, dia. 0.85 cm) was also found at K-4 by C.S. Phillips. A large, cruciform rosette is preserved, as well as two pairs of limbs (?). 11. Rafaq 2 (Ras al-Khaimah, UAE) an unpublished stone seal (RAK 97 334, ht 2.3 cm, dia. 1.4 cm) excavated by C. Phillips in 1989 and displayed in the Ras al-Khaimah National Museum (room 47, showcase 3) in the early 1990s. The seal
dates to the Iron Age (D. Kennet, personal communication). The seal is badly worn and it is not possible to identify the scene on it. 12. Rafaq 2 (Ras al-Khaimah, U.A.E.) an unpublished stone seal (RAK 97 335, ht 1.8 cm, dia. .9 cm) excavated by C. Phillips in 1989 and displayed in the Ras al-Khaimah National Museum (room 47, showcase 2) in the early 1990s (D. Kennet, personal communication). The seal has incised, linear decoration in the form of two diamond shapes, one above the other; a wavy, vertical line (snake?); and a possible anthropomorph holding a spear or standard (?). 13. Baat (Oman) a chlorite seal was found in Grave 154, excavated by the German Mining Museum (Bochum) in 2008 (G. Weisgerber, personal communication). The seal shows two les of longhorned caprids, moving in opposite directions, one above the other in horizontal rows. Judging by their long tails, these are almost certainly Arabian oryx and as such the likelihood that this is a local product is extremely high. 14. Baat (Oman) a second, fragmentary, frit or faience seal shows the lower half of a long-skirted male whose lower legs and feet are visible, in front of an offering table. It was also found in Grave 154 in association with second-millennium BC metal objects (G. Weisgerber, personal communication). 15. Ras al-Jinz (Oman) (Fig. 18) a badly worn seal of unidentied stone (no dimensions published) was found in Building II, period II, at Ras al-Jinz, a
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Fig. 18. Drawing and photograph of a cylinder seal and modern impression from Ras al-Jinz (after Cleuziou & Tosi 2007: g. 265).
context dated by the excavators to c.25002250 BC (Cleuziou & Tosi 2007: 218, caption to g. 222). The seal depicts an abstract anthropomorphic gure with arms shown dangling vertically from broad shoulders and wavy lines reminiscent of snakes, as well as a symbol that may represent some sort of vegetation. The anthropomorphic and zoomorphic gures, in linear style, recall the gures on the seal from Al Sufouh, with which this nd is broadly contemporary. To these nds may be added a cylinder seal-impressed sherd from Umm an-Nar island (Figs 1920). The impression shows an animal
(lion?) with a somewhat distorted head attacking a short-horned and short-tailed caprid, possibly a gazelle, accompanied by a ower or large rosette. The closest parallels for the impression come from Syria (Ebla, Tell Chuera, Hama), suggesting that the vessel of which this is a fragment was an imported storage jar (Amiet 1975). It could have come from Syria, down the Euphrates, via one of the southern Mesopotamian cities, or alternatively, but perhaps less probably, it could have come overland through the Syrian and Arabian deserts. Chronologically speaking, the Syrian parallels suggest a date around 25002250 BC and this is consistent with the early
Fig. 19. Photograph of a cylinder seal-impressed sherd from the settlement on Umm an-Nar Island (after Frifelt 1995: g. 255).
Fig. 20. Drawing of a cylinder seal-impressed sherd from the settlement on Umm an-Nar Island (after Frifelt 1995: g. 255).
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Acknowledgements
The cylinder seal from Abu Dhabi was discovered by Kim Burke (at the time GRM International, currently Agwest International) who then informed Peter Hellyer (National Media Council, Abu
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