Catalogue of the Western Asiatic Seals in the British Museum, Volume I, Cylinder Seals, Uruk-Early Dynastic Periods

1963 ◽  
Vol 67 (1) ◽  
pp. 87
Author(s):  
Briggs Buchanan ◽  
D. J. Wiseman
Keyword(s):  
British Museum ◽  
Early Dynastic ◽  
Cylinder Seals

THE BEGINNING OF THE EARLY DYNASTIC PERIOD AT UR

Iraq ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 76 ◽  
pp. 1-17 ◽  
Author(s):  
Giacomo Benati
Keyword(s):  
British Museum ◽  
Early Dynastic ◽  
Complete Study ◽  
Building Level ◽  
Regional Perspective

This article presents a reconsideration of the architecture, stratigraphy and finds from Building Level H, excavated in Trial Pit F at Ur. Analysis of Woolley's original excavation records, kept at the British Museum, provides the basis for a contextual reconstruction. A new complete study of published and unpublished materials now housed at the British Museum and at the Penn Museum of Philadelphia is offered here. Distribution of in situ artefacts is examined here in order to provide insights on the function of the excavated loci. Finally, pottery and glyptic assemblages, considered from a regional perspective, are used to define the chronological horizon of Level H.

scholarly journals PIGS AND PLAQUES: CONSIDERING RM. 714 IN LIGHT OF COMPARATIVE ARTISTIC AND TEXTUAL SOURCES

Iraq ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 80 ◽  
pp. 151-165
Author(s):  
Gina Konstantopoulos
Keyword(s):  
British Museum ◽  
Potential Functions ◽  
First Millennium ◽  
Cylinder Seals

Rm. 714, a first millenniumb.c.e.tablet in the collections of the British Museum, is remarkable for the fine carving of a striding pig in high relief on its obverse. Purchased by Hormuzd Rassam in Baghdad in 1877, it lacks archaeological context and must be considered in light of other textual and artistic references to pigs, the closest parallel being a sow and her piglets seen in the reliefs of Court VI from Sennacherib's palace at Nineveh. Unlike depictions of pigs on later cylinder seals, where they are often shown as a dangerous quarry in hunting scenes, Rm. 714's pig appears in a more neutral, non-aggressive posture, similar to the sow in the Assyrian reliefs. Although Rm. 714's highly curved reverse would inhibit its use as a mounted or otherwise easily displayed object, the tablet may still have served as an apotropaic object or sculptor's model, among other potential functions.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document