2019
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“Celebrating Life in Mesopotamia,”
in M. D'Andrea, M.G. Micale, D. Nadali, S. Pizzimenti and A. Vacca (eds.), Pearls of the Past. Studies on Near Eastern Art and Archaeology in Honour of Frances Pinnock, marru. Studies in Near and Middle Eastern Archaeology 8, Münster: Zaphon, 2019. pp. 413-427.
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The sealings found at Urkesh provide us with information not only about the royal couple and its courtiers, but also valuable data about working activities at the site.
In the introduction (section 1), after a description of the main features of Urkesh's glyptics, the author presents sealings related to common people: “However these scenes of the rulers of Urkesh and elite members of the court are also vehicles for the display of work of more common people. Non-elite palace workers are found in the elite seals depicted both under the seal inscriptions as well as alongside but also extending partly under the seal inscriptions. Additionally many non-inscribed seals illustrate the performance of daily tasks as well. It is these non-elite workers and their work that are the focus of this study. Scenes showing non-elite workers can be divided into two categories: services (cooks, butchers, a singer, lyre player) and those involved in craft production (production of ceramics, baskets, and cloth). These activities are carried out by both men and women connected with the palace but for the most part they appear to be women connected with queen Uqnitum's part of the palace administration” (p. 414).
Section 2 deals with representation of craft production (the ones recalled above by the author), while section 3 presents sealings portraying services: sub-section 3.1 is about cook (e.g. Tuli); sub-section 3.2 described the figure of butchers; sub-section 3.3 offers a glimpse on musicians (displayed on seals of queen Uqnitum (q4, q6, q7 and q8 [cf. also q5]).
The conclusions stress the importance of such an evidence in reconstructing ancient (palatial or not) crafting and service activities at Urkesh, remarking the peculiar realism ed expressionism of these representations.
[M. De Pietri – November 2019]
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