Post on 16-Jan-2023
The Palace Glyptic of Nabada
in the 3rd Millennium B.C.
Joachim Bretschneider & Greta Jans
KU Leuven Current Resarch On Glyptic From Greater Mesopotamia
Royal Museums of Art and History, Brussels
October 31.10.2013
Lower
Mesopotamia
(historic)
Syrian Jezireh
(cultural/historic)
Syrian Jezireh
(archaeological)
Date B.C. Beydar
Early Dynastic I Early Ninevite 5? Early Jezireh I 2900/2800 -
2700/2650
(I)
Early Dynastic II Ninevite 5/ED II Early Jezireh II 2700/2650 -
2600/2550
II
Early Dynastic
IIIA
Late Ninevite
5/ED III
Early Jezireh IIIa 2600/2550 -
2475/2425
IIIa
Early Dynastic
IIIB
Late ED III Early Jezireh IIIb 2475/2425 -
2325/2275
IIIb
Akkadian Akkadian Early Jezireh IV 2325/2275 -
2200/2150
IV
Our research
- all the sealing data from Tell Beydar excavated during the missions between 1995
and 2001
- supplemented with the already published glyptic material from the 1994 (Teissier
1997)
- and the 2002-2006 (Rova 2008) seasons
Some numbers
Number of sealings: 1521
Number of actual seals: 14
Number of different designs: 215
Number of different functions: 12
G. Jans & J. Bretschneider
Seals and Sealings from Tell
Beydar/Nabada
Beydar Monographs 1
Subartu XXVII
XVIII+492 p., 3000 b/w ill. ISBN:
978-2-503-53510-4
1. Tell Beydar
- In General
- The Official Upper City Complex
2. The Glyptic
- Iconography & Style
- Functions of the Sealings
- In Context
The multi-functional Official Upper City Complex
- End of the Early Jezireh IIIb period (=Early Dynastic IIIb period)
- Combines
- representational (Palace Area)
- religious (five temples)
- and economic (storage-workshop) facilities
Isometric depiction - Official Upper City Complex
Tell Beydar – The upper city
Granary
Dwelling houses
→
Eastern palace
↓ Official Upper City Complex
with palace and 4 temples →
City gate ←
- Greatest body of glyptic from Northern Mesopotamia uncovered from a well-
stratified context
- Remarkable: 85% of the sealings from Beydar can be attributed to the last
occupation phase of the multi-functional Official Upper City Complex (end of
the Early Jezireh IIIb period)
1. Tell Beydar
- In General
- The Official Upper City Complex
2. The Glyptic
- Iconography & Style
- Functions of the Sealings
- In Context
1535 sealings and seals
From the 215 designs:
- 181 designs can be ascribed to an EJ IIIb Phase 3b context
- 4 designs to an EJ IIIb Phase 3a context
- 27 designs were found in an EJ II-IIIa context
- 2 designs in an Akkadian context
The late EJ IIIa group at Beydar abandoned the stylistic elements from the early
EJ IIIa collection known up until then and presents new iconographical and
stylistic elements, which will become prominent for the EJ IIIb glyptic of Beydar
and will fully develop into the 'Beydar Style'
- Beydar style is unique for Beydar and can be recognized through traits such as
- smaller overall dimensions
- complex compositions with narrative characteristics
- intersecting registers depicting standardized elements like
kneeling persons, processions and lying figures
Other EJ IIIb designs from Beydar are composed in the Brak Style:
- Combination southern ED III elements with local principles of arrangement
- The repertoire generally consists of
- banquets
- vertical and horizontal rows of detached frontal heads of animals and
mythological creatures, the so-called animal protomes
- animals, often with an eagle or Imdugud bird
- and geometric bands dividing the registers and framing the composition
An important synchronism with Tell Brak is provided by the Beydar design
Heads 01, which seems to be nearly identical with Brak no. 245a.
Brak SS Beydar- Palace
Akkadian Scribe seal
SS Tell Brak
Contest designs
Contest 01 - EJ IIIb
Contest 02 - EJ IIIb
Contest 03 - EJ IIIb
Contest 04 - EJ IIIb
Contest 05 - EJ IIIb
Contest 06 - EJ IIIa
Contest 07 - EJ IIIb
Contest 08 - EJ IIIb
Contest 09 - EJ IIIb
Contest 10 - EJ IIIb
Contest 11 - EJ IIIb
Contest 12 - EJ IIIb
Contest 13 - EJ IIIa
Contest 14 - EJ IIIb
Contest 15 - EJ IIIb
Contest 16 - EJ IIIb
Contest 17 - EJ IIIb
Contest 18 - EJ IIIb
Contest designs: - Majority of all seal designs from Beydar (65 of 215)
- Wide variety of styles and compositions
- 25 two-registered (mostly in miniature style)
Iconographical classification in 12 design groups
Contest 40 (50)
Contest 41 (70)
Contest 42 (59)
Contest 43 (rova28)
Contest 44 (3)
Contest 45 (117)
Contest 46 (159)
Contest 47 (rova31)
Contest 48 (19)
Contest 49 (43)
Contest 50 (rova29)
Contest 51 (89)
Contest 52 (28)
Contest 53 (103)
Contest 54 (rova21)
Contest 55 (rova23)
Contest 56 (rova22)
Contest 57 (rova30)
Contest 58 (154)
Contest 59 (76)
Contest 60 (rova27)
Banquet designs
Banquet 01 - EJ IIIb
Banquet 02 - EJ IIIb
Banquet 03 - EJ IIIb
Banquet 04 - EJ IIIb
Banquet 05 - EJ IIIb
Banquet 06 - EJ IIIb
Banquet 07 - EJ IIIb
Banquet 08 - EJ IIIb
Banquet 09 - EJ IIIb
Banquet 10 - EJ IIIa
Banquet 11 - EJ IIIb
Banquet 12 - EJ IIIb
Banquet 13 - EJ IIIb
Banquet 14 - EJ IIIb
Banquet 15 - EJ IIIb
Banquet 16 - EJ IIIb
Banquet 17 - EJ IIIb
Banquet 18 - EJ IIIb
Banquet 19 - EJ IIIb
Banquet 20 - EJ IIIb
Banquet 21 - EJ IIIa
Banquet designs: - 27 designs
- 10 two-registered
(of which 4
miniature style)
Animal row designs
Animal 01 - EJ II?
Animal 02 - EJ IIIb
Animal 03 - EJ IIIb
Animal 04 - EJ IIIb
Animal 05 - EJ IIIb
Animal 06 - EJ IIIb
Animal 07 - EJ IIIb
Animal 08 - EJ IIIb
Animal 09 - EJ IIIb
Animal 10 - EJ IIIb
Animal 11 - EJ IIIb
Animal 12 - EJ IIIb
Animal 13 - EJ IIIb
Animal 14 - EJ IIIa
Animal 15 - EJ IIIb
Animal 16 - EJ IIIb
Banquet 20 - EJ IIIb
Banquet 21 - EJ IIIa
Contest 39 - EJ IIIb
Contest 61 - EJ IIIa
Contest 63 - EJ IIIb
Various 02 - EJ IIIb
Various 03 - EJ IIIb
Animal rows: - 23 designs
- Majority: two-registered
- Majority: miniature style
Eagle 1 (1)
Eagle 2 (2)
Eagle 3 (31)
Eagle 4 (23)
Eagle 5 (rova14)
Eagle 6 (rova13)
(Lion-headed) eagle designs - 6 designs
Heads 1 (27)
Heads 2 (14)
Heads 3 (152)
Heads 4 (100)
Heads 5 (107)
Heads 6 (58)
Heads 7 (86)
Heads 8 (61)
Heads 9 (rova44)
Heads 10 (15)
Detached heads:
- 10 designs
Herding 1 (138)
Herding 2 (rova19)
Herding 3 (85)
Herding 4 (74)
‘Herding’ designs - Consist of a row of animals & a person
- Herding 4: mixture of different elements
Protomes 1 (9)
Protomes 2 (41)
Protomes: - 2 designs
- fragmentary animal bodies in profile mostly forming a stereotype
composition
Row 1 (12)
Row 2 (111)
Row 3 (99)
Row 4 (83)
Row 5 (64)
Row 6 (82)
Banquet 22 (65)
Row of figures: - 7 designs
Geometric 1 (145)
Geometric 2 (120)
Geometric 3 (36)
Geometric 4 (rova45)
Geometric 5 (95)
Geometric 6 (26)
Geometric 7 (84)
Geometric 8 (44)
Geometric 9 (97)
Geometric 10 (75)
Geometric 11 (143)
Geometric 12 (106)
Geometric 13 (17)
Geometric 14 (158)
Geometric 15 (162)
Geometric 16 (155)
Geometric 17 (57)
Geometric 18 (98)
Geometric 19 (144)
Geometric 20 (157)
Geometric 21 (rova48)
Geometric designs: - 25 designs
- Roughly 3 groups:
lattice, chevron &
lozenge/diamond pattern
Boat designs
Boat 01 - EJ IIIb
Boat 02 - EJ IIIb
Boat 03 - EJ IIIb
Boat 04 - EJ IIIb
Boat 05 - EJ IIIb
Boat 06 - EJ IIIb
Boat 07 - EJ IIIb
Boat 08 - EJ IIIb
Boat 09 - EJ IIIb
Boat 10 - EJ IIIb
Boat 11 - EJ IIIb
Boat 12 - EJ IIIb
Boat 13 - EJ IIIb
Boat 14 - EJ IIIb
Boat designs: - 14 designs
- Rather unfamiliar
to the Northern
repertoire
(except for a
few examples
from Brak)
- And now Beydar
In Beydar: 2 categories: - 1e: Recurring elements like the plough, a lion, a jar, a (naked?) person, a human
headed protome at the prow, horned kneeling figure inside the boat & a
kneeling horned figure behind the boat
Myth of the journey of the Shamash through the underworld?
Wagon designs
Wagon 01 - EJ IIIb
Wagon 02 - EJ IIIb
Wagon 03 - EJ IIIb
Wagon 04 - EJ IIIb
Wagon 05 - EJ IIIb
Wagon 06 - EJ IIIb
Wagon 07 - EJ IIIb
Wagon 08 - EJ IIIb
Wagon 09 - EJ IIIb
Wagon 10 - EJ IIIb
Wagon 11 - EJ IIIb
Wagon 12 - EJ IIIb
Wagon 13 - EJ IIIb
Wagon 14 - EJ IIIb
Wagon 15 - EJ IIIb
Wagon 16 - EJ IIIb
Wagon designs - 16 designs
- Majority: 2 registers
intersecting in the centre
- Some recurring elements:
- the presence of a plurality
of figures standing in a row
- 2 different wagons in 1 design
- a kneeling figure underneath
the pole or the head of the
draught animal
„Rituel de Haute Syrie“ (P. Amiet) Bretschneider in Festschrift für Erika Bleibtreu, LIT Verlag, Vienna 2013
1. Tell Beydar
- In General
- The Official Upper City Complex
2. The Glyptic
- Iconography & Style
- Functions of the Sealings
- In Context
Door peg 13%
Other peg 28%
Jar 27%
Languette 20%
Label 4%
Basket 1%
On wood 2%
Jar stopper 3%
On pot 1%
Other 1%
Functions
Different functions
F-Field
Function
Sure
Probable
Peg
247
198
Jar
168
53
Tongue-shaped sealing
70
25
Label
21
4
Jar stopper
18
2
Wood
11
0
Basket
9
2
Sherd
7
0
Door bolt
3
0
Reed
1
0
Seal
6
0
583
288
Function
Sure
Probable
Tongue-shaped sealing
38
6
Peg
2
0
Jar
0
2
Jar stopper
0
1
Seal
1
0
41
9
F field I Field
Door bolt sealing (2)
- Doors can be closed in different ways
- Most common system in Beydar used peg and string
- But a few examples demonstrate the bolt
-Both systems: different basic principle
- Bolt is an actual locking technique
- while peg and string are used as means to fix a sealing.
Jar sealings (174) - Attached to the shoulder of a jar
- Show the impressions of the covering – textile or leather – and of the string or
thongs securing this covering around the neck of the jar.
- In Beydar: majority of jars were covered with textile.
Tongue-shaped sealings/Languettes (127)
Tongue-shaped slices of clay with a smooth reverse (frequently showing clear
fingerprints) and an even obverse usually impressed carefully with only one seal
rolling.
Their reverse demonstrates a total lack of string impression or any other kind of
imprinted object or surface.
Tongue-shaped sealings: use
- Roger Matthews: test strips for cylinder seals, used in order to be able to see what
the design looked like once imprinted
- As a means of identifying seal impressions on incoming goods or
- Cylinder test rollings prior to sealing in some other capacity
- Donald Matthews: possibly used as mini-documents given in return for work, to
be exchanged for rations or other forms of payment, or perhaps as means of
identification of messengers
- Adelheid Otto: langetten placed on top and/or on the sides of a clay calotte-
shaped jar covering
Jar stoppers (18)
- Jar stoppers differ from other types of clay sealings:
- the sealing itself serves as a lid or covering over the contents of a container
- so that the stopper can be removed without being broken and then
replaced if required
- Different shapes
Exceptional jar stopper 32907-M-4:
Entire surface of this mushroom-shaped stopper is covered with rollings (contest
scene)
Labels (24)
- Different names for this type of sealing: docket, bulla, tag or label
- Ovoid sealings, usually with three or four sides, attached to a length of string,
leaving a hole on either short side. When broken, the impression of the string is
visible along the long axis of the sealing
- Any evidence of adhesion to other surfaces is lacking
- Moulded around lengths of string attached to various objects, some portable,
some not
Sealimpressions on jars (7) - Cylinder seals rolled onto jars – mostly on the shoulder or the rim – before
firing.
- This practice does not involve the actual ‘sealing’ of the container’s content or
of a room.
-Only intended as decoration or (also) another function, like
- a guarantee for certain quality on a restricted number of the total
production
- an indication for products to be consumed on special occasions or
- a mark for different categories of material.
In Beydar: 7 sealings on pottery.
Interestingly, all eight sherds all show the impression of one and the same seal,
Herding 04.
1. Tell Beydar
- In General
- The Official Upper City Complex
2. The Glyptic
- Iconography & Style
- Functions of the Sealings
- In Context
The information obtained from specific designs and the sealings’ function can be
completed with contextual data.
The 3 parameters – design, function and context - can be correlated and lead
to a range of suppositions concerning - nativeness
- disposal and discarding of sealings
- administration and
- chronology
Correlation design – function
- Discrepancy between the wagon and boat sealings on one hand and the
contest and banquet scenes on the other hand:
Contest & banquet scenes: primarily impressed on jar sealings & languettes
↕
Wagon & boat designs: mainly rolled on (door) peg sealings & labels
Wagon designs
- High percentage of door peg sealings depicting wagon designs: strengthens the
iconographic (and contextual) arguments that these designs are native to the
Beydar administration
- Restricted distribution of wagon scenes: confirms the interpretation of these
designs being exclusive to the core ‘Palace Administration’
- Head of the Palace administration: possibly the individual using design Wagon 01
Wagon 1
largest (3.7 cm high) and most multifaceted scene with a narrative character
Nativeness
Depending on a sealing’s function and context a design can be attributed as native
to a site or not
For Beydar: 37 designs are certainly native
Storage process
Different phases in the storage process of clay sealings
- the rolling or stamping of the clay sealings on the containers or doors
- the gathering of the sealings as they are taken off the objects to which
they had been fixed
- they are kept in a container or in the corner of the room or on a shelf =
temporary disposal
- storage in a proper archive room and
- finally the sealings are discarded
In Beydar – examples of:
- Temporary disposal: corner in a room, installations, a dead-end of a corridor,
…
- Final disposal: ‘toilet’ installations and large joints between different buildings
The Joints
- in between the double walls in the eastern part of the Palace Area
- Contained 515 sealings
- Remarkable: the majority of the 30 different sealing designs discarded inside
the Joints are exclusive to the Palace Area
- The overwhelming majority (95%) of the identifiable sealings inside the Joints:
peg or door peg sealings
The Joints were used as a place for final discarding of the sealings, but this
was not the most easy location for doing so, because the joints were
difficult to reach
The care, with which the sealings were disposed off, could be evidence of
the fear of fraudulent reuse
- separation line dividing the sealing designs in the administratively unified
Palace Area from the area in the South
- most of the designs appear only in one specific area, indicating certain
administrative units were overlooked by only one official or organisation
specializing in one location
Besides the Joints, the Eastern Row of Rooms
produced a large amount of sealings
- With a total of 363 exemplars
- With 22 different designs
- Scattered on and around a platform in room 32912.
- Large amounts of jar sealings (126) and the languettes (48)
Three possible hypotheses for this room:
→ used as a checkpoint for incoming goods
→ or as a checkpoint for outgoing goods
→ or it was used as a checkpoint for temporary sealing disposal
5 main ‘managers’
- 5 native designs are present in exceptionally large quantities in the Official
Upper City Complex: Banquet 02, Contest 15, Contest 44, Wagon 01 and
Wagon 06
- These 5 designs occur only in the Palace Area
→ Hypothetically, the officials utilizing one of these 5 designs could be identified
as one of the 5 main 'managers' of Nabada, as mentioned in the Beydar
tablets.
- Wagon 01 and 06 are the only wagon designs from Beydar showing war
iconography
- Together with the 2 contest designs
→ it can be inferred that the 5 leading officials: had a preference for contest and
war related motives
An important synchronism with Tell Brak is provided by the Beydar design
Heads 01, which seems to be nearly identical with Brak no. 245a.
Brak SS Beydar- Palace
Akkadian Scribe seal
SS Tell Brak
Tell Beydar Tell Brak
Palace
IIIb Heads 01
older and younger
archive
Brak
Style
Beydar
Style
ED
Glyptic
No Akkadian
glyptic
Temple
Oval
Brak Style
ED Glyptic No Akkadian
glyptic
SS
Complex
Heads 01?
Brak Style
Akkadian
Scribe seal
Manishtushu?
Tell Beydar Mari
Wagon 01
Beydar Master
Seal
Ishqi-Mari
seals
Publications
Jans G. & Bretschneider J., Seals and Sealings of Tell Beydar/Nabada (Seasons 1995-2001). Subartu XXVII,
Turnhout Brepols, 2011 (2012).
Bretschneider J., Was ich nicht erklären kann, das sehe ich als kultisch an: Gedanken zu den Syrischen Siegeln
der Gruppe "Rituel de Haute Syrie", in: Selz G. & Wagensonner K. (eds.), Orientalische Kunstgeschichte(n),
Festschrift für Erika Bleibtreu, LIT Verlag, Vienna, 2013.
Bretschneider J. & Jans, G. , Checkpoint Room 32912. Inspection of Incoming Goods, Outgoing Wares or
Temporary Disposals in the Early Jezireh IIIb Official Upper City Complex of Tell Beydar?, in: Quenet P. &
Al-Maqdissi M. (eds.), “L’Heure immobile” Entre ciel et terre. Mélanges en l’honneur d’Antoine Souleiman,
Subartu XXXI, Turnhout Brepols, 2012, 9-20.
Bretschneider J. & Jans G., Van Palais tot Puinhop, EOS 11 (2012), 88-91.
Bretschneider J. & Jans G., Tell Beydar en Syrie: L' organisation dans un palais il y a 4500 ans environ,
Archéothéma 25 (2012), 80-84.