Where Have All the Ur III Seals Gone?
Where Have All the Ur III Seals Gone?
Author(s): Jacob L. DahlSubject(s): Archaeology, Cultural history, Museology & Heritage Studies, Archiving, Cataloguing, Classification, Preservation, Social history, Ancient World
Published by: Transnational Press London
Keywords: Cylinder seals; Ur III period; Old Babylonian Period; Re-cut objects; Heirloom objects;
Summary/Abstract: In this paper I analyse the late 3rd millennium and early 2nd millennium seals in two mid-size collections and reach the conclusion that exceedingly few of them date to the Ur III period (c. 2100 – 2000 BC). I include some observations on other collections. I then ask the basic question: where have all the Ur III seals gone? After briefly exploring other options, I suggest with online visual evidence, that the vast majority of the Ur III seals were re-cut in the Old Babylonian period. At the end of the paper, I suggest that the absence or presence of seals from specific periods can be used to model larger historical trends.
Journal: Avar: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Life and Society in the Ancient Near East
- Issue Year: 3/2024
- Issue No: 2
- Page Range: 195-252
- Page Count: 62
- Language: English
