05 · OBJECT · PORTABLE AUTHORITY

Cylinder seal

Rolling an image to seal a decision

When rolled on wet clay, the seal left an image that identified or protected a document.

Museum documentation · free public access, no account required.

Specific historical reenactment of Rolling an image to seal a decision, Mesopotamia; exact provenance not recorded, ca. 3500–3100 BCE. — **DECLARED VISUAL RECONSTRUCTION · EXISTING EDITORIAL RESOURCE · TRACEKEEPERS**
Generated reconstruction · Declared visual hypothesis
Declared visual reconstruction for museographic context; it is not a photograph of the original nor documentary evidence.

**DECLARED VISUAL RECONSTRUCTION · EXISTING EDITORIAL RESOURCE · TRACEKEEPERS**
Generated reconstruction · Declared visual hypothesis
Declared visual reconstruction for museographic context; it is not a photograph of the original nor documentary evidence.

History and context

The seal was rolled on fresh clay to leave a continuous band of figures. On doors, baskets, stoppers or slats, the gesture made it visible that someone had controlled a closing or a movement of goods.

Its power did not lie only in the image. It also depended on the context: the same imprint could identify a person, an office or an institutional relationship.

A cylinder multiplied an image as it rolled, but its function depended on a vulnerable surface: a door, basket, or jar closed with clay. Breaking the imprint made the access visible and turned a small stone into part of a security system.

The Met seal with a procession in front of a façade measures just four centimeters. Its modern impression reveals the entire scene and reminds us that the ancient object and the image band were not observed in the same way.

Evidence and interpretation

Documented fact: The Met dates this bituminous limestone seal to the late Uruk period, ca. 3500–3100 BCE; Its exact origin is not recorded. Interpretation and caution: Assigning the ritual scene to a specific god, owner, or bureaucracy requires an archaeological context that this specimen does not preserve. Documented expansion: The Met documents seals from the late 4th millennium used as a mark of ownership or identification on clasps and tablets. Interpretation and expanded caution: An imprint is not an unambiguous modern signature; It could represent a person, position, office or relationship and its reading depends on the context.

Catalogue facts

Narrative date: c. 3500–3100 BCE
Location: Mesopotamia; exact provenance not recorded
Material: Carved bituminous limestone and clay
Context: Administrative sealing and ritual scene
Curatorial reading: The documented fact and its interpretation appear separately in the evidence block.
Reference size: The Met seal measures approximately 4 × 3,4 cm.
Use: Rolled on clay closures and documents.
Advantage: A single stone produced a repeatable figurative band.
Documentary coverage: 2 museum, heritage, primary corpus or research sources for this stop.

A SHARED TOPIC, DIFFERENT MOMENTS

Objects connected through time

Follow a topic across the collections. A shared tag is a way to compare objects, not proof that one culture influenced another.

The order uses the midpoint of each approximate date range; ranges can overlap. Spacing does not represent elapsed time. Swipe, scroll or use the arrows. With the sequence focused, use ← / →, Home or End.

You are viewing

c. 3500–3100 BCE

Cylinder seal

Sumer

Approximate dating according to the record.

Current record

Stone19 dated objects

8 / 19In the centre: Cylinder seal

Also connected, without a comparable date (10)

These objects are not placed after the others: an unknown date does not mean a more recent object.

A White Wall on the DanubeCeltic worlds · 6th century BCE
CemeteryIndus civilisation · ca. 2600–1900 BCE
Engraved stonePrehistory · Before ≈39,000 cal BP
Four gardens and waterAchaemenid Persia · 6th century BCE
Kumbi SalehMande Worlds · medieval occupation; prominent phases between the 11th and 13th centuries
Soma stonesVedic and later Indian worlds · Rigvedic strata; later ritual tradition
The quarry remained visibleGojoseon and early Korea · Mainly 6th–5th centuries BCE
The Thracian HorsemanThracians · Roman era · diffusion especially in the 2nd–3rd centuries CE
Tichitt wallsMande Worlds · II–I millennia BCE
Writing with gapsGaramantes · Diverse chronologies

You can scroll the first group without JavaScript. The other topics are also available below.

Seals

Cylinder seal · c. 3500–3100 BCE · Sumer — You are viewing
Susa accounting bulla · 3500–2900 BCE · proto-urban period; towards 3300 BCE as a guide, not exact date · Sumer
Indus seals · ca. 2600–1900 BCE · Indus civilisation
Rations for women and children · Towards 509–493 BCE · Achaemenid Persia
Bamum document · 28 April 1922 · Bantu-speaking worlds

Without a comparable date (not part of the chronological order):

Meluhha · ca. 2600–1900 BCE · Indus civilisation

Accounting

Cylinder seal · c. 3500–3100 BCE · Sumer — You are viewing
Naqada labels · ca. 3300–3100 BCE · Ancient Egypt
Susa accounting bulla · 3500–2900 BCE · proto-urban period; towards 3300 BCE as a guide, not exact date · Sumer
Ivory tablets · c. 3100–2900 BCE · Ancient Egypt
Jemdet Nasr · c. 3100–2900 BCE · Sumer
Account of malt and barley · c. 3100–2900 BCE · Sumer
Weights · ca. 2600–1900 BCE · Indus civilisation
Before the Hittites · c. 19th century BCE · Hittites
Linear B · c. 1375 BCE · Greek worlds
Maya's cubit · 1330–1295 BCE · end of the 18th dynasty · Ancient Egypt
Rations for women and children · Towards 509–493 BCE · Achaemenid Persia

Animal imagery

Lion-man · ≈40,000 years · Aurignacian · Prehistory
Before the San · ≈25.500–23.500 BCE · San histories
Before the name San · ≈25.500–23.500 BCE · San histories
Altamira · Assemblage ≈36,000–13,000 BP · bison ≈18,400–15,300 cal BP · Prehistory
Lascaux · ≈23,500–21,000 cal BP · debated contextual estimate · Prehistory
Zaraysk Bison · ≈23,000–21,000 years · Prehistory
Rondelle de Mas-d'Azil · ≈18,000–16,000 years · Prehistory
Lamp from La Mouthe · ≈20,500–13,000 years · Magdalenian framework · Prehistory
Engraved stone from Çakmaktepe · PPNA · site proposal: ≈9600–8800 BCE, provisional · Prehistory
Cueva de las Manos · Sequence ≈9300–1300 BP · Prehistory
Cylinder seal · c. 3500–3100 BCE · Sumer — You are viewing
Queen's Lyre · ca. 2600–2500 BCE · Sumer
The goat from PG 1237 · ca. 2600–2400 BCE · Sumer
Indus seals · ca. 2600–1900 BCE · Indus civilisation
Queen of the Night · 19th–18th centuries BCE · Sumer
Bull-leaping · c. 1600–1450 BCE · Greek worlds
Stag Vessel · 14th–13th centuries BCE · Hittites
Before the Scythians and Sakas · Final Bronze–Initial Iron, ca. 1200–600 BCE · Scythians and Saka
Ivory in Nimrud · 9th–8th centuries BCE · Phoenicians
Lamassu of Khorsabad · Reign of Sargon II · 721–705 BCE · Sumer
The Tello Obelisk · c. 800–500 BCE · Pre-Inca cultures
Ashurbanipal Hunt · 645–635 BCE · Sumer
Banquet under leopards · Around 480–470 BCE · Etruscans and Rome
The oldest knotted carpet · 5th–4th centuries BCE · Scythians and Saka
The silver amphora of Chertomlyk · 4th century BCE · Greek worlds
Thoth in the form of a baboon · 664–30 BCE · Ancient Egypt
Poroina Mare Rhyton · Second half of the 4th century BCE · Thracians
Borovo · 4th century BC C.; 350–300 BCE in the ISAW catalog. · Thracians
Leipzig Fish Plate · Last third 4th–early 3rd century BCE · Greek worlds
Dove of the Amarejo · 3rd century BCE · Iberians
Chão de Lamas pectoral · 3rd–2nd centuries BCE · concealed in the early 1st century BCE · Iberians
Fibula from Lancia · ≈300–100 BCE · Iberians
Horse fibula · 2nd century BCE · disputed chronology · Iberians
The dismantled cauldron · 2nd–1st centuries BCE · Celtic worlds
Kalathos of Alcorisa · 2nd–1st centuries BCE · Iberians
Egyptian oil lamp with a fish, held in Laon · 3rd–4th centuries CE · Ancient Egypt
Laon lamp with fish · 3rd–4th centuries CE · Etruscans and Rome
Gold rhinoceros · ca. 1220–1290; found in 1933 · Bantu-speaking worlds
Zimbabwe birds · main period of Great Zimbabwe, c. 12th–15th centuries · Bantu-speaking worlds

Without a comparable date (not part of the chronological order):

Bhimbetka · Mesolithic–historical and medieval period · Prehistory
Eland Cave · Regional tradition of ≈4,000 years · up to historical period · Prehistory
Fawn spear-thrower · Middle Magdalenian · Prehistory
Game Pass Shelter · Regional rock art chronology · panel not dated in isolation · San histories
Kakadu · Regional corpus ≈20,000 BP–contemporary era · Prehistory
Leang Karampuang · Minimum 51,200 years · dating published in 2024 · Prehistory
Sierra de San Francisco · Broad tradition with direct dates ≈5290–295 BP · Prehistory
Tassili n’Ajjer · Corpus ≈6000 BCE–first centuries CE · Prehistory
The Thracian Horseman · Roman era · diffusion especially in the 2nd–3rd centuries CE · Thracians
Trumpet from Numantia · No individual dating published on this record · Iberians

Engraving

Engraved ochre from Blombos · ≈77,000–75,000 years · Prehistory
Altamira · Assemblage ≈36,000–13,000 BP · bison ≈18,400–15,300 cal BP · Prehistory
Lascaux · ≈23,500–21,000 cal BP · debated contextual estimate · Prehistory
Rondelle de Mas-d'Azil · ≈18,000–16,000 years · Prehistory
Lamp from La Mouthe · ≈20,500–13,000 years · Magdalenian framework · Prehistory
Engraved stone from Çakmaktepe · PPNA · site proposal: ≈9600–8800 BCE, provisional · Prehistory
Twin-chambered vessel from Cova de l’Or · Early Neolithic · VI–V millennia BCE · Prehistory
Before Nubia · V–IV millennium BCE · Nubia, Kerma and Kush
Before Gojoseon · Middle Neolithic, c. 4000 BCE · Gojoseon and early Korea
Cylinder seal · c. 3500–3100 BCE · Sumer — You are viewing
Guadancil idol-plaque · 3750–2500 cal BCE · Iberians
Staff of Anta 4 · Late 4th–first half of the 3rd millennium BCE. · Prehistory
Linear A · c. 1700–1500 BCE · Greek worlds
The Cascajal Block · Proposed c. 1000–900 BCE · Maya worlds
Las Limas · c. 1000–600 BCE · Maya worlds
Motagua jade · c. 900–600 BCE · Maya worlds
The Tello Obelisk · c. 800–500 BCE · Pre-Inca cultures
Twenty-six voiceless signs · 5th–4th centuries BCE · Scythians and Saka
The Raimondi Stele · c. 400–200 BCE according to MNAAHP · Pre-Inca cultures
Dove of the Amarejo · 3rd century BCE · Iberians
Urewe vessel · regional range c. 800 BCE–650 CE · Bantu-speaking worlds
Lukasa · 19th–20th centuries · Bantu-speaking worlds

Without a comparable date (not part of the chronological order):

A tradition that invents · collected in 1993 or 1995 · Batwa / Twa histories
Engraved stone · Before ≈39,000 cal BP · Prehistory
Ishango, without genealogical shortcut · More than 20,000 years; context ca. 25,000–20,000 BP · Batwa / Twa histories
Vessels without a language · Urewe, broad regional range ca. 800 BCE–650 CE · Bantu-speaking worlds
Writing with gaps · Diverse chronologies · Garamantes

A closer look

About 1 min to read · 1 section. Further reading and sources · free access. Editorial review recorded: September 5, 2026.

From a flat impression to a continuous scene

The cylinder did not simply replace one mark with another: it expanded the figurative surface available compared to stamping stamps, used for millennia before. Rolling the stone allowed more complex compositions to be displayed without increasing the size of the transportable object too much. The Met also highlights that the stamps preserve images that have disappeared from other media and allow us to compare styles from successive periods. Its historical value therefore reaches both the identification of operations and the reconstruction of lost visual repertoires.

Museum · The Met · Stamp with scene in front of a facade, 1983.314.1Access recorded: September 5, 2026.

Location and territory

REGIONAL AREA

Mesopotamia; exact provenance not recordedSouthern Mesopotamia and cities of the alluvial plain. The footprint marks the indicative center of the area, not a border or an exact point.

Where it is held

The British Museum

Reference material evidence · Documented collection

One of the specific stamps used to document the technique of this synthesis card.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Reference material evidence · Documented collection

Late Uruk seal and impression used as reference material testimony.

The holding institution is documented; public display may change. Check its official record before visiting.

Sources and references

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Cylinder seal

History and context

Evidence and interpretation

Catalogue facts

Objects connected through time

Cylinder seal

Swanscombe handaxe

Engraved ochre from Blombos

Before the San

Before the name San

Engraved stone from Çakmaktepe

Grinding stone from Çakmaktepe

Warka Mask

Cylinder seal

Uruk Vase

Narmer Palette

Worshiper of Tell Asmar

Statue of Ebih-Il

Weights

Lamassu of Khorsabad

Ashurbanipal Hunt

Heads on the wall

Sarcophagus of Eshmunazar

The statue was the urn

The inscription of Pistiros

A closer look

From a flat impression to a continuous scene

Location and territory

Where it is held

The British Museum

The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Sources and references

Did you enjoy this exhibit?