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Cylinder Seal Depicting Goats and Temple Façade
This cylinder seal was carved with a design that shows two gazelles and the façade of a building that was probably a temple. Cylinder seals were invented around 3500 BCE and were used by officials to seal packages and storerooms. They were carved with designs distinctive to each official.
Scenes including temple façades are relatively common in the late Uruk and Jemdet Nasr periods (3300-2900 BCE), which shows the importance of temples as economic institutions in early Mesopotamia.
Name: Cylinder Seal Depicting Goats and Temple Façade
Material: Marble
Size:
Height: 3.4 cm (1.33 in)
Diameter: 3.0 cm (1.2 in)
Date: ca. 2900 BCE
Place of Origin: Khafaje, Iraq
Location: Oriental Institute Museum, Chicago, Illinois
Source and Registration#:
Oriental Institute Museum A21370
Geoff Emberling
Former Chief Curator, Oriental Institute Museum of the University of Chicago
