Sealings before cities: new evidence on the beginnings of administration in the ancient Near East

The sealing of receptacles and storage facilities is one of the most conspicuous features related to early administration in the protohistoric Near East. It has been known and discussed for decades in the context of the northern Levant and Mesopotamia. Until recently, this phenomenon had not been at...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inLevant (London) Vol. 49; no. 1; pp. 24 - 45
Main Authors Freikman, Michael, Garfinkel, Yosef
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Routledge 02.01.2017
Subjects
Chalcolithic
early administration
Munhata
Neolithic
sealings
Sha'ar Hagolan
Tel Tsaf
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Summary:The sealing of receptacles and storage facilities is one of the most conspicuous features related to early administration in the protohistoric Near East. It has been known and discussed for decades in the context of the northern Levant and Mesopotamia. Until recently, this phenomenon had not been attested in the southern Levant. However, in this paper the authors present an assemblage of sealings discovered in the excavations of Pre-Pottery Neolithic layers at Munhata, Pottery Neolithic deposits at Sha'ar Hagolan and Middle Chalcolithic remains at Tel Tsaf, all located in the Beth-Shean Valley. We propose here, definitions of protohistoric sealings and their typology and function, and discuss the significance of this phenomenon for early administrative activity in the ancient Near East.
ISSN:0075-8914
1756-3801
DOI:10.1080/00758914.2017.1323290