Babylonian
Cylinder Seal
Near Eastern (Babylonian)
original
gift of: Professor Thurston Lacalli
date: 4th to 2nd millennium BC
provenance: purchased by donor
description: An original black stone cylinder seal, with hole through centre. Engraved with symbols and figures depicting a presentation scene. A moulded impression of the seal is mounted beside. Length 2 cm, diameter 1 cm.
Cylinder seals were rolled over wet clay, leaving an engraving on tablets, bricks or ceramics. The use of these seals coincides with the use of clay tablets in the Near East which began at the end of the fourth millennium BC.
This seal is probably Babylonian; possibly Sumerian.