Stamp seal and clay sealings
Sello estampilla y precintos de arcilla
- Date
- c. 6000 BCE · confidence high
- Place
- Tell Sabi Abyad, Balikh Valley, Syria
- Credited to
- Late Neolithic communities (early Halaf)
- Field
- Communication
What it is
Stone or clay stamp seals with geometric motifs impressed onto lumps of mud sealing baskets, jars and doors, found by the hundreds in the burnt building at Sabi Abyad. The first system for marking ownership and guaranteeing the integrity of a shipment.
What it led to
- Private property and administration of communal stores
- Personal or family identity encoded in a sign
- Trust at a distance in exchange: the basis of administered trade
Built on
Made possible
- City and urbanismc. 3700 BCE
- Clay envelope (bulla) with tokensc. 3500 BCE
- Cylinder sealc. 3500 BCE
- Bulla with impressions
- Signature and mark