Beyond sealing: evidence of Middle Bronze Age stamps from the Kouris Valley, Cyprus

Abstract

A focused analysis of provenanced and unprovenanced Middle Bronze Age stamps from the Kouris Valley in Cyprus is presented in this article. Stylistic aspects are investigated, along with possible external prototypes on which they may have been based, as well as their possible multiple uses and functions. Finally, the limited evidence from Middle Bronze Age contexts in Cyprus is discussed in relation to the very different ways in which foreign influences and differing trajectories affected the move toward increasingly complex societies, and how these may have influenced sealing practices on the island.

Keywords:

• Middle Bronze Age Cyprus
• stamps
• sealing practices
• decorating tools

Acknowledgements

I wish to extend my gratitude to the Department of Antiquities, Cyprus for granting official permissions and for the collaboration and steady support, and particularly to the Director Marina Solomidou-Ieronymidou, and to Yiannis Violaris, Demetra Aristotelous and the staff of the Kourion and Limassol District Museums. I acknowledge the Director for her permission to access to the Iosifides Collection. Thanks are due to Dimitri Iosifides for showing me the terracotta stamp kept in his collection of antiquities, officially registered with the Department of Antiquities.

The Erimi Archaeological Project is grateful for the funding and support of MAECI, the Italian Embassy at Nicosia and the University of Siena (Dept. DFCLAM). Drawings and photos of seals from Erimi and Alassa are by G. Albertazzi and D. Redamante.

Finally, I am also grateful to Jenny Webb, Lindy Crewe, Mia Amadio, Giulia Muti, Luis Ortiz and the anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments and suggestions, which improved the quality of the initial manuscript.