Pieczęcie i ich rola w rejonie górnego Eufratu we wczesnej epoce brązu (ca 3100-2000 p.n.e.)

Abstract

Cylinder seals appeared in the eastern Anatolia in the end of the 4th millennium BC, together with other elements of late Uruk culture (e.g. Arslantepe VIA). In the Malatya-Elazig region both the cylinder seals of the Syro-Mesopotamian tradition (Norjuntepe, Korucutepe, Tajkun Mevkii, Pulur/Sakyol, Arslantepe) and the seal impressions on the pots are known (Arslantepe, Norjuntepe, Han Ibrahim §ah, Tepecik). In this area the prevailing form are seals and sealings with geometric designs (inter alia, lozenges, triangles, crosshatching, chevrons). Other motifs were also used occasionally: floral and figural (birds, scorpions), as well as quadruple spiral (Arslantepe VIB). The seals from the Upper Euphrates region resemble the "Jemdet Nasr" or "Geometric Style". Many geometric designs derive from the Uruk glyptic tradition. In the Keban area, local geg stamp seals made of clay were popular in the Early Bronze Age. They are dis­tinguished by a characteristic repertoire of designs (swirls, concentric circles, spirals). These motifs are deeply rooted in the Transcaucasian and eastern Anatolian tradition (they were also used as decorative patterns in the "Early Transcaucasian Ware" and Eastern­Anatolian painted pottery). Cylinder seals and seal impressions from the Upper Euphrates area constitute an important index to the connections, presumably of a trading nature, between Syria, northern Mesopotamia and eastern Anatolia. In the local administration and economy they did not become the important device that they were in the 3rd millennium BC Mesopotamia.