Heraklion Archaeological Museum - CollectiveAccess System : Sealings : Clay sealing [Σ-Τ516]

Clay sealing

Σ-Τ516

Clay

Almost intact, with minor chipping.

Length: 3 cm. approx. Width: 1.85 cm.

Hagia Triada

Royal Villa, Room 11

Late Bronze Age. Neopalatial period, Late Minoan ΙB period.:

1500-1450 BC:

Gallery:

Case:

Exhibition thematic unit:

Late Bronze Age - Neopalatial period (1700-1450 BC). The New Palaces. The zenith of Minoan civilisation

Scripts and sealing practices

Description

Clay flat-based nodule with chariot race. On the back is preserved the imprint of a brief bureaucratic note of perishable material. This would have been folded and tied with a thin cord, to which the sealing would have been applied for security purposes. The same signet ring has been impressed on two further sealings from the villa of Sklavokambos and another two from Akrotiri Thera. Sealings of this type would have secured brief notes written in ink on parchment, sent over long distances.

Bibliography:

Hallager, E. The Minoan Roundel and other Sealed Documents in the Neopalatial Linear A administration, Li?ge, 1996, 219. M?ller, W. and I. Pini. CMS II6. Die Siegelabdr?cke von Aj. Triada und anderen Zentral- und ostkretischen Fundorten, Berlin, 1999, 29. Montecchi, B. Contare a Haghia Triada. Le tavolette in Lineare A. I documenti sigillatti e il sistema economico-amministrativo nel TM IB. Roma, 2019, 248-250.

Author:

G. F.

Photographs' metadata