More Evidence for Early Bronze Age Glyptics from the Southern Levant

Abstract

During much of the Early Bronze Age in the southern Levant, cylinder seals were used, albeit sparingly, for impressing pottery prior to firing. Actual seals are quite rare for this chrono-cultural milieu and most evidence derives from impressions on potsherds. This catalogue presents 14 additions to a growing corpus of glyptic related objects, seal impressions and bone imitations of cylinder seals from four sites in Israel. These objects are described in detail and their significance discussed with reference to the archaeological record and in a context of social development in the Early Bronze Age.