NOTES on SEALS and SEAL USE in WESTERN IRAN from C. 900-600 BCE

Iranica Antiqua, vol. XL, 2005 NOTES ON SEALS AND SEAL USE IN WESTERN IRAN FROM c. 900-600 BCE BY Sabrina MARAS (University of California, Berkeley) Beyond the bounds of the Neo-Elamite state, centered in the main on Susa and its highland hinterland, a number of less distinct political entities, including the Manneans (in northwest Iran), the Kingdom of Ellippi (in modern-day Luristan), and, still more ambiguously, the Medes (in western central Iran), and the Persians (in Fars), were each beginning to emerge during the course of the first half of the first millennium BCE. Yet the material culture of Iran in the Iron II and Iron III periods does not always seem to reflect the separate existence of these latter highland entities. Additionally, beyond the bounds of Elam, there is still little textual evidence from Iron Age Iran as a whole. Indeed, the Aramaic inscription from Bukan (Lemaire, 1998, pp. 15-30) constitutes one of the rare excep- tions to the general rule. This is where the study of seals — in particular the imagery they display — has the potential to be a valuable investigative tool. Seals can of course reflect, both in their use and in their iconography, elements of real or perceived political and social identity; and, on occa- sion, they may even help to document details of the forging of one or another given identity, either in alliance with or in opposition to a more established neighboring political power. Significantly, when reviewing the excavated evidence from Iron Age Iran, there is a lack of consistency in seal use and iconography. To some degree, local cultural groups used specific iconographic motifs with a sense of restricted regional identity or otherwise borrowed external con- ventions such as those of Assyria. But how often did these groups within ancient Iran employ visual markers on their seals that spoke of one or another separate affiliation? The purpose of this short study is to elucidate if indeed the western Iranian seal corpus reflects, at least to some degree, the emerging political affiliations in western Iran in what might be termed the middle and late Iron Age. 134 S. MARAS While the excavated evidence for seal use in Iran during this interval is somewhat limited, I believe that even with the scant material that has been published to date, a number of tentative conclusions can be presented. And although the seals and sealings from the regions that will be examined here do not represent the entire spectrum of available evidence, they may help to reveal something of the cultural and political dynamics of the time. I. Hasanlu Much evidence that we have for seal use in Iran during the Iron II period comes from Hasanlu IV, c.1100-800 BCE (Marcus, 1996, p. 1). Quite apart from the unusually rich range of objects recovered from Hasanlu IV, seals and sealings occur in great quantities, signifying that the ruling elite was intimately involved in several aspects of seal use. There also appears to have been a major seal-cutting workshop at the site (Winter, 1977, p. 380). Many of the seals and sealings were found in Burned Building II, where most examples appear to have been used for the purpose of sealing doors or stored commodities (Marcus, 1996, p. 12). Both cylinder and stamp seals were used at Hasanlu, although cylinder seal use far outweighed stamp seal use (Marcus, 1996, p. 9), no doubt as a direct reflection of the importance of the cylinder in representing local administrative authority. It is more than likely, moreover, that the inhabitants of Hasanlu were con- sciously emulating seal use in Assyria, which had long embraced the use of the cylinder seal1. One further indication of the extent to which the elite of Hasanlu associated seal type with status is represented by the way in which Assyrian and Assyrian-style cylinder seals were worn at Hasanlu as symbols of prestige (Marcus, 1996, p. 2). A number of other artistic styles, including a well-defined local style of seal imagery, can be said to reflect a conscious choice of association with a particular visual rhetoric. By virtue of the presence of a local style, the people of Hasanlu were creating a regional identity, conceivably distin- guishing their own locality from others. At the same time, connections with other regions within Iran can be found in the glyptic of Hasanlu 1 Being part of this Mesopotamian continuum in itself could represent desirable social or political status. It is also possible that stamp seals were considered less prestigious by neighboring literate politics. NOTES ON SEALS AND SEAL USE IN WESTERN IRAN FROM c. 900-600 BCE 135 (Marcus, 1996, p. 2). An example of this Western Iranian cross-cultural glyptic tradition is seen in the surface incisions that are found on the bod- ies of animals in a number of Hasanlu seals (Fig. 1) (Marcus, 1996, p. 25). This same stylistic detail is also found, with apparant regional variations, on seals from Surkh-Dum (Fig. 2), and Susa (Fig. 3). In sum, the inhabitants of Hasanlu were largely successful in creating and expressing their own constructed local identity through seal use and seal production. Fig. 1. Drawing of Hasanlu local style seal impression (after Marcus, 1996, p. 83, fig. 16). Fig. 2. Drawing of seal from Surkh Dum-i-Luri (after Schmidt, van Loon and Curvers, 1989, pl. 242, no. 142). Fig. 3. Drawing of seal from Susa (after Amiet, 1972, no. 937). 136 S. MARAS The evidence from Hasanlu would suggest the following: first, that the inhabitants of the Hasanlu region (here tentatively taken to be representative of the region of Mannea) used seals in a non-literate yet organized administrative system; second, the existence of a local glyptic style amidst the presence of other styles suggests that, regardless of outside influences, there was a relatively strongly established sense of local identity; and third, the use of actual Assyrian seals as personal ornaments can be taken to express the Manneans’ not incongruous, parallel desire to be allied with the status of the great empire of Assyria — something that hints at an internal tension between strictly regional pride and broader political aspi- rations. II. Surkh Dum-i-Luri and the Kingdom of Ellipi Within the region of modern-day Luristan lay the kingdom of Ellipi. Here, the intriguing site of Surkh Dum-i-Luri, in southern Luristan, produced an important assemblage of seals. The architecture of the site suggests it is representative not solely of an administrative center (Schmidt, van Loon & Curvers, 1989, p. 489), but of a sanctuary dating between the mid-8th and the mid-7th centuries BCE (Schmidt, van Loon & Curvers, 1989, p. 50). It served, in short, as a depository for hundreds of precious objects in the Iron III period when the kingdom of Ellipi was at the height of its power, intermittently loyal to either Assyria or Elam (Schmidt, van Loon & Curvers, 1989, p. 490). Out of 200 seals found at Surkh Dum-i-Luri, 125 had been incorporated into the sanctuary’s floors and walls, and the remaining seals were found on or above the floors of the latest levels (Schmidt, van Loon & Curvers, 1989, p. 413). A good number of the seals seem to have been previously used, sometimes for as long as 400 years (Calmeyer, 1995, p. 37), before being presented as votive offerings. The excavator, E.F. Schmidt, sug- gested that the nomads of the region deposited the seals, which may have been acquired through trade or stolen in raids (Schmidt, van Loon & Curvers, 1989, p. 487), and it appears that the value of the seals in this particular context did not derive from any administrative utility. More than 79% of the 200 seals were cylinders (Schmidt, van Loon & Curvers, 1989, p. 413). And although most of the seals were of Iron Age date, the greater number of them dated to the 10th and 9th centuries BCE, i.e., to a period preceding the construction of the sanctuary (Schmidt, van NOTES ON SEALS AND SEAL USE IN WESTERN IRAN FROM c. 900-600 BCE 137 Loon & Curvers, 1989, p. 413). This may have been due to a higher value ascribed to “heirloom” seals, or perhaps the older seals had outlived their administrative usefulness. The context would suggest that those leaving the seals as votive objects placed a value on qualities either inherent or ascribed to the seals, such as perhaps their general rarity in the region; their ascribed value in neighboring literate cultures; their inherent value as semi-precious stones; or, perhaps, their apotropaic value. Nine of the 11 Assyrian seals were made from semi-precious stones and thus had obvious intrinsic material value (Schmidt, van Loon & Curvers, 1989, p. 418). The more local seals, however, were made of many separate materials: e.g. of various stones or of bitumen, bone, shell, or bronze. In addition, more than half of the corpus, perhaps under Elamite influence, proved to be made of faience (Schmidt, van Loon & Curvers, 1989, p. 418). In sum, most were made of inexpensive, readily available materials. Thus the value ascribed to the majority of the Surkh Dum-i-Luri seals would seem to have resided in the symbolic act of placing them within the sanctuary. What has been called a local style (see Schmidt, van Loon & Curvers, 1989, pp. 416-417, plate 248: figures 208-220) is indicated through a number of seals with geometric motifs, which appear to denote a measure of internal cultural affiliation. In contrast, there are also examples of seals showing stylistic or iconographic ties to external polities.

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