Publisher's Synopsis
Since the Ashmolean collection of Iron Age stamp seals is so representative, Buchanan's catalogue entries have been combined with fully referenced introductory sections written by Dr Moorey in this book, to provide the first stage of such a general survey. Each seal is illustrated twice to show both the design and the shape of the back, a crucial element in any typological system for such seals. Much has been written about the major arts of the Near East in the first millennium BC, but little of the minor arts, among which the engraving of stamp seals was a conspicuous and often culturally revealing craft. They then appear not only in Syro-Palestine, but also in Mesopotamia, where the stamp seal returned to popularity after being virtually absent since the prehistoric period.;This book provides a commentary on the seals most widely used in the Near East from about 1200 BC to the time of Alexander the Great. It offers both a catalogue of a representative collection for scholars and a general commentary for the non-specialist collector.;This book should be of interest to students and scholars of archaeology, epigraphy, glyptic art, the history of religion, and ancient Near Eastern civilization.
