Harriet Crawford is currently Reader at EARLY EARLY DILMUN the Institute of Archaeology, University EARLY EARLY College London. She holds an MA from the SEALS FROM SAAR University of Cambridge and a PhD from The excavations at Saar produced the London, and is a former director of the D largest single corpus of Bronze Age seals and sealings ever found in London–Bahrain Archaeological Expedition. ILMUN She is currently director of the British ILMUN ILMUNILMUN Bahrain, the centre of the Dilmun Archaeological Expedition to Kuwait. D D civilization (2000 BC). The material forms a unique record of the art of the Her previous publications include period, and provides valuable S Dilmun and Its Gulf Neighbours information about the commercial EALS FROM SAAR (Cambridge University Press 1998) activities of the inhabitants of Saar. and Sumer and The Sumerians EALS EALS An introductory text describes the (Cambridge University Press 1991). S S study of seals and sealings, and is FROM SAAR FROM SAAR followed by a comprehensive analysis of the stylistic and functional attributes of the Saar material. The accompanying catalogue contains full details of over two hundred seals and sealings, and is lavishly illustrated Art and Commerce in Bronze Age Bahrain with colour photographs. The book will be of importance to all Harriet Crawford those interested in the art of the ancient world, and to researchers working in the expanding area of Arabian archaeology. It is the second volume in the series of reports on the excavations at Saar, carried out by the London-Bahrain Archaeological Expedition between 1990 and 1999. Archaeology International is a new publisher dedicated to producing scholarly ISBN 0-9539561-0-5 books on the archaeology of the ancient world. Prospective authors should, in the first instance, send an e-mail to 9 780953 956104 [email protected] ARCHAEOLOGY INTERNATIONAL Harriet Crawford EARLY DILMUN SEALS FROM SAAR Art and Commerce in Bronze Age Bahrain London–Bahrain Archaeological Expedition: Saar Excavation Reports II by Harriet Crawford ARCHAEOLOGY INTERNATIONAL in association with London–Bahrain Archaeological Expedition Ministry of Cabinet Affairs and Information, State of Bahrain Institute of Archaeology, University College London Contents Foreword Acknowledgements 1 First published in 2001 by Introduction Archaeology International Upper House, Stoke Saint Milborough Ludlow SY8 2EJ 2 Tel: 044 (1)584 823303 Fax: 044 (1)584 823389 The Study of Seals and Sealings E-mail: [email protected] 3 © Characteristics and Current Classification of Dilmun Seals Text: HEW Crawford; Graphics: London-Bahrain Archaeological Expedition (2001) 4 Stylistic Analysis of Seals and Sealings from Saar Published in Great Britain All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or 5 Functional Analysis of Seals and Sealings from Saar reproduced or utilized in any form or by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, 6 without permission in writing from the publishers. Distribution in Time and Space at Saar; Ownership British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data 7 Crawford, Harriet Conclusion Early Dilmun Seals from Saar: Art & Commerce in Bronze Age Bahrain 1. Title 8 939.4’9 Bibliography ISBN 0-9539561-0-5 9 Catalogue of Seals 10 Catalogue of Sealings 11 Catalogue of Tokens Foreword Acknowledgements For many years scholars and archaeologists have been This book contains a full account of the seals and sealings This is the second volume in the final publications of the Movers, Diplomat Hotel, Ernst & Young, Flemings, hard at work investigating the origins and growth of from those excavations – wonderful examples of the skills and excavations carried out by the London–Bahrain Grindlays Bahrain Bank, Gulf Colour Laboratories, Gulf Bahrain’s earliest civilization. Their efforts have been artistry of the ancient seal manufacturers – and the discussion Archaeological Expedition at the site of Saar, on the main Daily News, Gulf Petrochemical Industries Company, Hasan rewarded by the uncovering of many new archaeological of their artistic and economic significance provides valuable island of Bahrain, between 1990 and 1999. This work was Mansouri Group, Inchcape, Intercol Group, Investcorp, sites in Bahrain. new information about social conditions of the period. only possible because of the generous support of a great Jashanmals, Kodak Near East, KPMG Fakhro, Linacre The London-Bahrain Archaeological Expedition began The Ministry of Cabinet Affairs and Information number of people. First and foremost, we acknowledge the Associates, Mohammed Jalal & Sons, Nass Scafform, Philip excavations at Saar in 1990. The research has focused on encourages scientific publications such as this one and help of the Ministry of Cabinet Affairs and Information, and Morris, Serco-IAL, Standard Chartered Bank, Unitag, United the excavation of a Dilmun settlement dating to the Early is aware of the contribution they make towards would like to thank particularly HE Mohammed Al-Motawa, Gulf Bank, United Insurance Company, and Yateem Dilmun period, around 2000 BC. The discovery and revealing the significant role played by Bahrain Minister of Cabinet Affairs and Information, Dr Abdullah Brothers. excavation of this settlement represents important throughout its long history. Yateem, Assistant Under-Secretary for Culture, Shaikha We are also grateful for the major support for the additions to the archaeological heritage of Bahrain, and Nayla bin Ali Al-Khalifa, Director of Archaeology and publication of this book that we have received from the complements earlier discoveries at Qala’at al-Bahrain, Mohammed Ebrahim Al-Motawa Heritage, and Mr Khalid Al-Sindi, Superintendent of Ministry of Cabinet Affairs & Information, and from Arab Barbar and Diraz. Minister of Cabinet Affairs and Information, State of Bahrain Archaeology, who has a great fund of information on the Banking Corporation, Al Ahli Bank, Aluminium Bahrain, seals of the Early Dilmun Period. Batelco, Bahrain International Bank, Caltex Bahrain, Dilmun We also gratefully acknowledge the generous financial Investments and Philip Morris. support and help-in-kind given to the Saar Project between My personal thanks go especially to Jane Moon and 1995 and 2000 by the following companies: ABN Amro, Robert Killick who suggested that I write this book and who African & Eastern, Airmech, Al Ahli Commercial Bank, helped me with advice at every stage of its production. Any Aluminium Bahrain, American Women's Association, Arab remaining errors are entirely my responsibility. My warmest Banking Corporation, Arabian Exhibition Management, thanks also go to Tessa Rickards who drew the impressions Bahrain Airport Services, Bahrain Kuwait Insurance of the seals themselves and with whom I spent much time Company, Bahrain National Holding, Bahrain Petroleum trying to understand the more abstruse aspects of the Company, Banagas, Bank of Bahrain and Kuwait, Banque designs! I am also grateful to Dr Lamia Al Gailani-Werr for Nationale de Paris, Bahrain Maritime & Mercantile looking at an early draft of the introduction. International, Bahrain Technical & Trading Company, Basrec, Batelco, The British Bank, The British Council, Budget Rent-A-Car, Business International, Cable & Wireless, Harriet Crawford Caltex Bahrain, Citibank, Clifford Chance, Crown Worldwide September 2000 1 Introduction The archaeology of the Arabian Gulf has been produced by intensified research, that their transformed in the last twenty years by an importance is being recognised. The Gulf is explosion of new information. There has been a natural corridor, linking cultures and a growing awareness in the Gulf itself and in continents as far apart as Africa, Asia, the rest of the world of the importance of its and India, and the people who lived there heritage. This is attributable to a number of in prehistoric times blended many elements factors: to an emergent sense of national to produce a way of life which was well- identity, to changing economic circumstances, suited to a difficult environment, and which are forcing formerly oil-rich nations to whose material culture had its own look to alternative means of generating distinctive character. income, such as tourism, and to the political One of the major powers in the Gulf in the situation in the Middle East. Recent conflicts late third and early second millennia BC was have made access to countries such as Iraq known in the cuneiform record as Dilmun, a and Iran impossible for many scholars, so land with the dual character of a focussing research on more welcoming mythological country which was the home of regions. Areas such as the Gulf were once the Sumerian Noah, Ziusudra, and a thriving regarded as peripheral to the so-called High commercial centre. Texts and archaeology Civilizations of Egypt and Mesopotamia, and together show that by the late third it is only now, as a result of the new data millennium BC the real Dilmun was centred on the island of Bahrain (Potts 1990, p. 181). Recently, thanks to work carried out by scholars from Bahrain and from many other countries, the real Dilmun has begun to emerge from the mists of mythology and can now take its place as a vital entrepot in the network of trade routes which criss-crossed the ancient Near East at this period. A great deal of information is available on the international trade which