Heraklion Archaeological Museum - CollectiveAccess System : Seals : Petschaft with Cretan Hieroglyphic inscription on the sealing surface [Σ-Κ748]

Writing in Ancient Crete ➔ Petschaft with Cretan Hieroglyphic inscription on the sealing surface

Σ-Κ748

Stone (Blue Chalcedony)

Almost intact, edge of the base broken.

Height: 13 cm. Diameter of sealing surface: 12 cm.

Mochlos

Toom Complex Ι-ΙΙΙ (Tomb ΙΙΙ)

Middle Bronze Age. Protopalatial period, Middle Minoan II period.:

1800-1700 BC:

Gallery:

III

Case:

Exhibition thematic unit:

Middle Bronze Age - Protopalatial period (1900-1700 BC). The First Palaces. The emergence of palatial societies

Writing and economic administration

Description

Petschaft (loop signet) with a perforation at the top of the handle for suspension. Made of a hard semiprecious stone, the signet is probably dated to Middle Minoan II, when an important technological innovation was adopted in Crete: the horizontal drill. The sealing surface, on the circular base of the signet, is divided into three horizontal sections. The central section contains an inscription in Cretan Hieroglyphic script, which has not yet been deciphered. Brief inscriptions in Cretan Hieroglyphic are carved on many Minoan seals, and were probably intended to provide lexical information, like the similar inscriptions on clay tablets for accounting records. The sign on the Mochlos petschaft in the shape of a typical Minoan masted ship is also attested in other groups of signs inscribed on clay accounting documents. The “x” sign indicates the direction of reading, while there are S-shaped hooks above and below the inscription.

Bibliography:

Seager, R.B. Explorations in the island of Mochlos. Boston - New York, 1912, no. ΙΙΙ.i, fig. 14, 36. Soles, J.S. The Prepalatial Cemeteries at Mochlos and Gournia and the House Tombs of Bronze Age Crete. Hesperia Suppl. XXIV. Princeton, New Jersey, 1992, 50. Platon, N., I. Pini, and G. Sallies. Iraklion Arch?ologisches Museum. Teil 2. Die Siegel der Altpalastzeit. Corpus der Minoischen und Mykenischen Siegel II.3. Berlin, 1977, 356, no. 249. Jasink, A.M. Cretan Hieroglyphic Seals: A New Classification of Symbols and Ornamental Filling Motifs. Biblioteca di "Pasiphae" 9. Pisa-Roma, 2009, 125-126.

Author:

G. F.

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