A History of Sumer and Akkad: An account of the early races of Babylonia from prehistoric times to the foundation of the Babylonian monarchyKing, L. W. (Leonard William)
History
A History of Sumer and Akkad: An account of the early races of Babylonia from prehistoric times to the foundation of the Babylonian monarchy
King, L. W. (Leonard William)
Akkadians; Babylonia -- History; Sumerians
There remains to be considered the use of the bulbous mace-head and of
the stone cylindrical seal, both of which are striking characteristics
of the early Egyptian and Sumerian cultures. It is difficult to regard
these classes of objects, and particularly the latter, as having been
evolved independently in Egypt and by the Sumerians. In Babylonia the
cylinder-seal is already highly developed when found on the earliest
Sumerian sites, and it would appear that the Sumerian immigrants
brought it with them into the country, along with their system of
writing and the other elements of their comparatively advanced state
of civilization. Whether they themselves had evolved it in their
original home, or had obtained it from some other race with whom they
came into contact before reaching the valley of the Euphrates, it is
still impossible to say. The evidence from Susa has not yet thrown much
light upon this point. While some stone seals and clay sealings have
been found in the lowest stratum of the mound, they are not cylindrical
but in the form of flat stamps. The cylindrical seal appears, however,
to have been introduced at Susa at a comparatively early period,
for examples are said to have been found in the group of strata
representing the "Second Period," at a depth of from fifteen to twenty
metres below the surface. The published material does not yet admit
of any certain pronouncement with regard to the earliest history of
the cylinder-seal and its migrations. In favour of the view that would
regard it as an independent product of the early Egyptians, it may be
noted that wood and not stone was the commonest material for cylinders
in the earliest period.[16] But if the predynastic cylinder of Egypt
is to be regarded as ultimately derived from Asia, the connection is to
be set at a period anterior to the earliest Sumerian settlements that
have yet been identified.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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