Introduction

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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 in antiquity after opening of the sealed container; 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.

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 often are carved with a new iconography. This is not only for the royal seals but also for scenes which have no concurent inscriptions. 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.

Even 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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Overview

Major Styles Mozan Group, DUMU NINTU and variations.

Deep Fringe, Globular Style

Classic Early Dynastic and Akkadian

Schematic and Geometric Styles.

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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.