Publisher's Synopsis
The book surveys 474 prehistoric stamp seals from the earliest late Aceramic Neolithic to the early Bronze Age. The large majority of the seals originate from Syria, South-East Anatolia and North Mesopotamia. A smaller number of stones come from present-day Lebanon and Israel, while few specimens may have originated in Southern Mesopotamia and South-West Iran. The book analyses the various types of prehistoric stamp seals and the prototypes of cylinder seals. The criteria employed for the typological analysis are those of material, size, shape, cutting end engraving techniques, as well as composition and iconography. As a result of the paucity of published material, there are many specimens that constitute a missing link between various areas and eras, stamp seals that broaden the iconographic corpus of prehistoric glyptic, and items that advance our understanding of the material and technical procedures in use.
