Introduction

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Background

Having such a large number of broken pieces of seal impressions pressed on small clay lumps it was possible to determine their exact stratigraphic position. Two groups in particular were discarded together in antiquity after opening of the sealed containers; one group was excavated in A7 and found outside the western wall of the palace. These can be dated to the same period as the seal impressions found inside the palace itself. The second group was discovered in excavation unit K1, a dump on the eastern side of the main mound and dating to the ED III period.

Most of the sealings we have excavated were just tossed down in the place the container was opened. This is true even of most door sealings which were found near doors.

Within the royal palace of Tupkish large numbers of seal impressions were found in the work rooms in A1, A5, in the service courtyard A9, the kitchen A6, a work room (A15) near the monumental stone lined courtyard. Near this same courtyard we found later Akkadian seal impressions belonging to Tar’am Agade, daughter of Naram Sin in A13. Other areas within the palace held smaller numbers of seal impressions.

While the ED III seals iconography in Urkesh are connected with southern Mesopotamia, the Akkadian period seal impressions that we have excavated in Urkesh are carved with a new iconography. This is not only for the royal seals but also for scenes which have no concurent inscriptions. For instance good examples of sealings without inscriptions are seal impression showing a potter’s workshop (A1.364) and impressions we have interpreted as the deity who lived in Urkesh, Kumarbi, walking in the mountains (A1c1 a composit from impressions A1.58, A1q894.1a and 1b). Both of these scenes are only partial but no trace of inscriptions were found with them.

With this new iconography due to the large number of impressions connected with the palace it is possible to pursue research questions that often are missing in the record from excavated sites. So for instance I could follow avenues that gave evidence regarding not only single iconographic reconstructions but also styles in use in the Urkesh royal household. These are found here in the section on Styles.

Also avenues leading to a study of workshops were available in Urkesh. So groups of seal carvers using specific ways of carving as well as specific subjects could be individuated. These are discussed below under Workshops.

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Indices

The examples given are clearly only meant to serve as examples, i. e., they do not represent a complete list of seal impressions in which a given style is found. The complete list will be found in the indices [GIVE LINK TO RIGHT HAND SIDE, STILL TO BE WORKED ON]. For instance, no example of the dotted eye style from A16 is cited below, but there are four such seal impressions: A16.167, A16c2 and A16c3. Details of style are noted in the categorizaion system [ADD]

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Introduction: Stylistic characteristics

In examining the glyptic styles found in Urkesh, questions concerning how important are the composition, carving techniques and iconography among others in the various seal impressions we have excavated. Frequently the impressions are only partial evidence for the original seal,meaning that many times these questions cannot be adequately answered however. Below are some of the questions I had in mind when doing the research on the Urkesh seal impressions.

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Composition

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Carving Techniques

1. emphasis on borders – gives greater sense of depth
2. how are muscles shown – if at all
3. what parts of the bodies are patterned (hair, dress, hats) and what parts are not usually patterned (ie. what parts have more detail and therefore more emphasis)
4. how are heads carved
5. how are lion’s manes carved
6. how obvious are the circular drill holes and why have the seal cutters left them so obvious and not remodeled (recut them) into more naturalistic patterns

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Iconography

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Style

The notion of style as used here for the Urkesh seals covers elements highlighted by the seal carvers such as

• basic subjects (e. g., royal images or animal combat),
• how single elements are portrayed (such as human eyes or garments), or
• how the overall subject is shown (e. g., with figures well spaced or alternatively arranged in a scattered way).

The general categories of realism and “surrealism” are the initial basis I have used because they are so prominent in Urkesh glyptics, and I treat them at length below. They deal either with general formal features (deep fringe, pointed edge) or with the unusual rendering of parts of the human body (dotted eye, extended arm, oval head). This discussion includes also important elements the seal cutters have chosen for instance diagnostic minor details such as the feet (as in AKc103).

Urkesh art is a new creation that goes beyond Akkadian art in southern Mesopotamia, and it is a mirror of the local society. Thus the iconography shows us elements that were important to the two rulers Uqnitum and Tupkish and to their attendants: for instance, the act of braiding the queen’s hair or the relation of the nurse Zamena to the small child seated on Uqnitum’s lap. It also gives us an insight into their daily life as discussed below. It highlights what was important to them because they wanted to transmit these ideas about their life to the members of the local society they were connected with.

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The Mozan Group

Stylistic characteristics: elegant designs, movement in figures (ex the “Minoan man ), unusual positions (eg. bent figs and especially two bent figs below insc), See discussion of bent figures in my notebook.

Another indication of the range of subject matter and composition in this group is A1.364. On the left is a seated human figure with a stool decorated with a fringe type design, at the bottom at least, and wearing a flat hat. The rest of the rolling is divided into two. The lower register has a seated figure with both hands on a large vessel, in the act of making it. This composition is unusual and shows ths same idea as the bent figures, that is people working at every day activities and in poses that take up only about half of the height of the composition. Another composition with a similar theme is A5.141. The theme may revolve around a banquet but the emphasis is on the vessels and the figures connected with them and not the banquet per se.