Stamp seal

File:Scarabée - cachet - 1700-1550 av. J.-C. - Jéricho palais - Louvre - AO 17132.jpg

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 (also impression seal) is a common seal die, frequently carved from stone, known at least since the 6th millennium BC (Halaf cultureTemplate:Sfn) and probably earlier. The dies were used to impress their picture or inscription into soft, prepared clay and sometimes in sealing wax.

The oldest stamp seals were button-shaped objects with primitive ornamental forms chiseled onto them.Template:Sfn The stamp seals were replaced in the 4th millennium BC by cylinder seals that had to be rolled over the soft clay to leave an imprint.Template:Sfn From the 12th century BC the previous designs were largely abandoned in favor of amphora stamps.Template:Sfn Romans introduced their signaculum around the first century BC;Template:Sfn Byzantine maintained the tradition in their commercial stamps.Template:Sfn

In antiquity the stamp seals were common, largely because they served to authenticate legal documents, such as tax receipts, contracts, wills and decrees.

Indus stamp-seal

File:Indus stamp-seal.jpg

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

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

Gallery

• Stamp seal of an Egyptian named: Meru-the Answerer of Horus (Brooklyn Museum)
  Stamp seal of an Egyptian named:
  Meru-the Answerer of Horus
  (Brooklyn Museum)
• Stamp seals (bottom row), cylinder seals (top row)
  Stamp seals (bottom row), cylinder seals (top row)
• Signaculum PRIMIT ("first")
  Signaculum PRIMIT ("first")
• An impression of a cast copper-alloy seal matrix of medieval date (14th century AD)
  An impression of a cast copper-alloy seal matrix of medieval date (14th century AD)

See also

• Ancient Near Eastern seals and sealing practices
• Bulla (seal)
• Indus script
• LMLK seals from Lachish, ca 700 BCE.
• Scaraboid seal

Sources

• Garbini. Landmarks of the World's Art, The Ancient World, by Giovanni Garbini, (McGraw-Hill Book Company, New York, Toronto), General Eds, Bernard S. Myers, New York, Trewin Copplestone, London, c 1966. Numerous examples of the Cylinder seal; ( 3 ) separate Discussions (only) of "Stamp sealing". No seals, or impressions thereof.

External links

• Detail of Stamp seal-Medium Res;
• Article mcclungmuseum.utk.edu—Jar, and associated Stamp Seal
• Gazelle Head, Stamp seal – at the Oriental Institute of Chicago.