Arab. arch. epig. 2009: 20: 109121 (2009) Printed in Singapore.

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The earliest cylinder seal in the Arabian Peninsula

A cylinder seal of Late Uruk (late fourth millennium BC) type from Abu Dhabi is presented and analysed. Comparisons with excavated nds from elsewhere in the Near East are discussed. An inventory of cylinder seals from sites in the UAE and the Sultanate of Oman shows that cylinder seal use, while not unknown in the region, was never very great. The ways in which the seal may have arrived at its eventual place of discovery are described and the signicance of the seal is assessed. Keywords: cylinder seal, glyptic, Late Uruk, Jamdat Nasr, Abu Dhabi, archaeology

Holly Pittman1 and D.T. Potts2 1 Dept. of the History of Art, 203 Jaffe Building, 3405 Woodland Walk, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia PA 19104, USA
e-mail: hpittman@sas.upenn.edu
2

Dept. of Archaeology, The University of Sydney, Sydney NSW 2006, Australia

e-mail: dpot3385@usyd.edu.au

Introduction On 10 June 2008, Mr Kim Burke, the head of a team from GRM International undertaking a soil survey for the Environmental Agency (Abu Dhabi), discovered a cylinder seal c.3 km east of Medinat Zayed in the Western Region of Abu Dhabi. The seal was found on the surface of an area (Fig. 1) that had been badly disturbed by temporary camps for herders and animal pens (Fig. 2). The locale is in a duneeld area on undulating plains on a deation crust that is soft but has pockets of lithied sand dunes nearby with approx. 3% slope. This area is well drained with wind erosion and barren except for 2% Cyperus conglomeratus and is used for keeping animals. The parent material is Aeolian deposition and the soils are ne sandy loams to a depth of 5 metres.... There are 10% mixed surface rocks.... The whole area has gatch [calcareous sand] and gravels that have been carted in for tracks and animal yards. (K. Burke, personal communication). No features of any sort, which might indicate pre-

modern habitation were observed, and neither were any sherds found on the surface.

Description The seal is 2.4 cm in height and 2.1 cm in diameter. Carved of a greenish, grey stone that has the appearance of limestone, the seal is pierced vertically for suspension (Figs 36). The Abu Dhabi nd represents a well-known Mesopotamian type, a drilled style, schematic cylinder seal of the sort found in large numbers at sites in greater Mesopotamia. It carries on its side gural imagery carved with a drill and a graver. The scene consists of two females with pigtails facing each other. Each of them is seated on a low platform, extending both arms, bent upward at the elbow, towards a spider-like gure. Behind the right-facing female (in the impression) is a headless quadruped oriented vertically with its legs bent inwards, accompanied on the left by a second spider-like gure.

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Fig. 1. Map showing the approximate location of the nd spot of the cylinder seal.

The type has several distinct attributes. Most examples are around 2.2 cm tall (range = 1.62.7 cm). The diameter-to-height ratio is consistently c.1:1 and thus seals of this type are squat and fat. In prole, the sides of these seals are most commonly straight, as is the case with the Abu Dhabi seal, or slightly concave (Buchanan 1966: no. 18b, pl. 2). Like the Abu Dhabi seal, cylinder seals of this sort found in southern Mesopotamia and Khuzestan are

drilled vertically for suspension. Some examples from western Syria either have a projection that is drilled for suspension, or a V-shaped hole drilled on the top (Braidwood & Braidwood 1960: gs 382 1 and 3). For the most part, seals of this type are made of pink, red, grey, green, or black limestone or

Fig. 2. The sandy spot where the seal was found, marked by a pair of boots.

Fig. 3. Exterior surface of the cylinder seal from Abu Dhabi, showing the drilled and engraved forms of pigtailed women.

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comparable, unprovenanced examples in museums and private collections. A comprehensive survey of this type of cylinder seal appeared in a study of women in the Sumerian period where all examples known up to 1985 were catalogued (Asher-Greve 1985). Apart from its proportions, the style of carving of these seals is its most consistent attribute. It seems certain that the pigtailed-lady seals developed out of the stylistically and iconographically related, earlier seals known as the baggy style that rst appeared in the Middle Uruk levels of Tell Brak and Susa. This style is characterised by gures that are constructed by drillings of different sizes, resulting in large, rounded forms. This massive style developed into the more delicately modelled style that is characteristic of classic Late Uruk glyptic in which we nd the manufacturing scenes depicting the production of textiles. Invariably, the main masses of the gures are cut by a rotating drill whose cutting marks are often clearly visible, as on the Abu Dhabi seal. These drilled forms make up the head, body and tucked-up legs of the pigtailed gures in an L-shaped composition. In contrast, the pigtail, the bent arms and the platform were cut using a graver.

Fig. 4. Exterior surface of the cylinder seal from Abu Dhabi, showing the drilled and engraved form of a spider-like creature.

marble. More rarely they may be made of chlorite steatite, serpentine or even rock crystal.

Discussion There are dozens of close parallels from excavated contexts for this type of seal, as well as many

Fig. 5. Photograph of a modern impression of the seal from Abu Dhabi (H. Pittman).

Fig. 6. Drawing of the scene on the seal from Abu Dhabi (H. Pittman).

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Because a number of examples (Fig. 7) were found at the single-period site of Jamdat Nasr in southern Iraq (Mackay 1931; Matthews 2002) where, early in the excavation, E.J.H. Mackay found over a dozen seals associated with tablets and sealings, this type was originally associated with the Jamdat Nasr horizon (c.31002900 BC) in Mesopotamia. Roger Matthews has suggested that because there were two unnished seals within the group discovered by Mackay, the Jamdat Nasr examples may have come from a seal workshop (Matthews 2002: 17). However, it has long been recognized that, as a type, the pigtailed-lady seals rst appeared during the Late Uruk period. At Nippur, three squat cylinder seals carrying images of pigtailed ladies were found in Late Uruk Levels XVI (Fig. 8) (7N718 red stone, dia. 2.0 cm, ht. 2.1 cm) and XV (7N720 grey stone, dia. 2.2 cm, ht. 2.2 cm; 7N719 pink stone, dia. 2.1 cm, ht. 2.0 cm). Interestingly, this type does not appear in the later Jamdat Nasr-period levels at Nippur (Wilson 1986: 60). In southern Iraq other examples are known from Telloh (de Genouillac 19341936; Parrot 1948), Fara (Martin 1988) and Ur (Legrain 1951). Seals of this type were also common at Susa in southwestern Iran. Unfortunately, most of these were discovered during the early years of excavation there and are poorly stratied (Amiet 1972). No examples were found in the later, well-excavated Acropole sounding at Susa of the late 1960s and 1970s. Elsewhere in Khuzestan examples are known in Late Uruk levels at Chogha Mish (Delougaz & Kantor 1996: pl. 146e). Further conrmation of a Late Uruk date for this seal type comes from Habuba Kabira and Jebel Aruda in Syria where examples were found together with typical Late Uruk type pottery. At Habuba Kabira, a single-period site of the Late Uruk period, seven seals of this type (Figs 910) were found along with other seals and seal impressions of the Late Uruk period (Hammade 1994: nos. 296, 298303). At nearby Jebel Aruda both seals and seal impressions of this type were found (Hammade 1994: no. 305; Van Driel 1983: nos. 2123). A similar seal with pigtailed ladies was found in Late Uruk levels at Tell As, also in Syria (Hammade 1994: no. 306).

Fig. 7. Photograph of a seal and modern impressions from Jamdat Nasr (after Buchanan 1966: pl. 2 14a-d).

Fig. 8. Drawing of a seal from Inanna Temple XVI at Nippur (after Porada et al. 1992: g. 8 1).

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Fig. 9. Photograph of a cylinder seal from Habuba Kabira South (after Hammade 1994: 32, no. 299).

Fig. 10. Photograph of a cylinder seal from Habuba Kabira South (after Hammade 1994: 32, no. 300).

Donald Matthews has identied a variety of the pigtailed-lady seal called the Aleppo group that he convincingly argues was made in the Amuq region. This type is characterised by a distinct mechanism of suspension through either a perforated handle or a V-shaped hole on the top of the seal. He has also argued, less convincingly, that the type of suspension was meant to indicate the status of the owner within the Late Uruk administrative hierarchy (1997: 59). The distinctive styles of carving on seals from western Syria and the Amuq Valley demonstrate that that these seals were not used together with seals made in southern Mesopotamia but rather were variations of a seal type that was locally produced and used (Pittman 2007: 297). Amiet (1980) has noted that, in contrast to the drilled Late Uruk glyptic of Mesopotamia, domestic scenes and animals can appear together on the seals of this type in Syria. This may reect differences between the administrative systems of Mesopotamia and Syria within which these seals were used. In Sumer, Amiet suggested, animal herding was organised separately from the wool industry (hence the segregation of animals and domestic scenes there), while in Syria herding and the textile industry were organized together (hence the co-occurrence of animals and domestic scenes). The iconographic range of this seal type is quite narrow, consisting overwhelmingly of pigtailed ladies, characterised by the distinctive, long pigtail

that descends from the back of the head. The identication of this gure as a female is based on comparisons with small sculptures from Susa of the same period, which show females with prominent breasts and long pigtails (Asher-Greve 1985). Judging by the infrequency of gures without the pigtail, males were rarely shown on this type of seal. The pigtailed ladies are most often shown seated on a low platform supported by vertical slats, working with vessels or perhaps horizontal looms. They also appear wearing aring robes and walking in processions carrying standards. Sometimes they are associated, as on the Abu Dhabi seal, with a spider-like form to which they raise their bent arms. Whether this is a gesture of adoration or labour is unclear. Rarely, only the spider is represented, probably as shorthand for the entire scene. On some seals of this type the imagery is divided into panels by vertical dividers, while others show multiple gures in one or two registers, sometimes reversed te be che composition (Buchanan 1966: nos. 14, in a te 15). While the meaning of these images is uncertain, Asher-Greve (1985) made a compelling case for the idea that these images are references to the important role of females in the religious and productive sectors of the economy during the proto-literate period in greater Mesopotamia. There is a consensus among scholars that the juxtaposition of spiders and females is a visual pun on one of the spiders chief

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activities, namely spinning, and as such provides a parallel to women shown weaving. This is based most securely on the more explicitly carved images of the Middle (as well as Late) Uruk period, especially from Susa, which show kneeling female textile workers associated with skeins of thread, woven textiles or supervisors. In these earlier scenes, men as well as women are involved in textile production (e.g. Amiet 1972: nos. 673, 674, 676). The rst pigtailed-lady seals discovered were found alongside other seals having similar proportions that show rows of horned quadrupeds, either alone or with vegetation, or more rarely with architecture, rows of sh, or other simple forms (Matthews 2002: pls 1218; de Genouillac 19341936: pls 3942). The mode of carving is invariably schematic, employing the drill or slow cutting-wheel. H.J. Nissen suggested that, because they show no iconographic differentiation, such schematic seals belonged to ofces or institutions rather than individuals holding personal power. For this reason they did not need to be as highly individualised as seals associated with specic persons (1977). Asher-Greve (1985) agreed that these seals were associated in some way with female labour within the temple or the manufacturing sector, and probably belonged to individuals who had some level of administrative responsibility. However, the actual function of such schematic seals in the administration of greater Mesopotamia is uncertain. Unlike other types of seals used during the Late Uruk and Jamdat Nasr periods, they were rarely used to impress either tablets or sealings. Most are known as actual seals (e.g. at Chogha Mish [Delougaz & Kantor 1996: pl. 152g] and Susa [Amiet 1972: no. 729]) and when their context is documented, it is interesting that they were most commonly found in caches, as at Tello (de Genouillac 19341936; Parrot 1948), or in houses, as on the Diyala sites (Frankfort 1955). E. Douglas Van Buren (1957) was the rst scholar to suggest that these seals were less important as administrative tools than as emblems of status or badges of ofce within the textile industry. Although both the Late Uruk classic style and the schematic glyptic styles continued throughout the Jamdat Nasr Uruk III period in southern Mesopotamia, both styles disappeared in Syria after the collapse of the Late Uruk colonies, though not without leaving behind some traces of stylistic inuence (Pittman 2001).

Cylinder seals in Arabia The Abu Dhabi seal published here is not merely the earliest cylinder seal yet found in the U.A.E. It is the oldest seal of any type ever found in the Arabian Peninsula. From the mid-fourth to the mid-rst millennium BC, cylinder seals were used widely in the Near East, from Anatolia, Cyprus, the southern Levant and Egypt in the west to the Iranian Plateau in the east and Failaka and Bahrain in the south. Even though these latter two islands the historic region of Dilmun in the cuneiform sources are more commonly associated with circular stamp seals (Persian Gulf and Dilmun style), it is nonetheless true that over eighty cylinder seals have been found on them as well. Beyond the cylinder seal-using area just described we enter zones in which only very small numbers of cylinder seals have been found. Such is the case beyond the Iranian Plateau in Margiana (eastern Turkmenistan), or to the south in eastern Saudi Arabia, the Oman peninsula and the Indus Valley. As the cylinder seals found elsewhere in the Arabian Peninsula will be dealt with in a separate publication (Potts n.d.), our remarks in the present instance will be conned to cylinder seals and seal use in southeastern Arabia. In addition to the Abu Dhabi seal, fteen cylinder seals are known from the U.A.E and Oman. Proceeding from the coast of the Northern Emirates towards the east, these are as follows: 1. Al Sufouh (Dubai, U.A.E.) (Figs 1112) a dark grey, soft-stone seal (ht. 2.14 cm, dia. 1.18 cm) from tomb III, layer 13 (Benton 1996: g. 197). The seal shows a stick-like human gure, the left arm of which forms a continuous line linking it to the leg of a quadruped (reminiscent of a frog or turtle seen from above). A stylised tree is visible as well as another ller motif. The seal iconography suggests that this cylinder seal was locally produced. A close parallel for it exists at Ras al-Jinz, however, and the similarities are so great that the two seals probably came from a similar area. Chronologically the assemblage from Al Sufouh dates to the earlier Umm an-Nar period, c.24002300 BC.

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Fig. 11. Cylinder seal from Al Sufouh and a modern impression of it.

2. Mowaihat tomb B (Ajman, UAE) (Fig. 13) a soft-stone (?) seal (ht. 2.2 cm, dia. 1.7 cm) from a rectangular, subsidiary chamber located alongside the main, circular one (al-Tikriti 1989: pl. 46a). As Haerinck noted, The seal is very worn and was originally decorated with a series of incised dots and lines, showing no obvious pattern. Later on some deep incised lines were added, but these also do not show an identiable decoration (19901991: 1617). 3. Tell Abraq (Umm al-Qaiwain Sharjah, UAE) (Figs 1415) this badly worn, white calcite or limestone seal (TA 75, ht. 4.2 cm, dia. 1.5 cm) shows a horned, seated female deity (?) in front of an offering table; a tree; and a standing gure, probably also female, with arms bent, supporting something

in her left hand. The seal iconography, though difcult to make out, suggests a Mesopotamian or Elamite origin, but little more can be said. Although found in a mid-second-millennium BC (Wadi Suq period) context, the seal may be older (Potts 1990a: 91, gs 109110). 4. Tell Abraq (Umm al-Qaiwain Sharjah, U.A.E.) (Figs 1617) a faience seal (TA 12, ht. 4.1 cm, dia. 1.2 cm) showing a vertical chevron (stylised tree?) anked by vegetal or solar (?) motifs. The top

Fig. 12. Drawing of the scene on the seal from Al Sufouh.

Fig. 13. Drawing of the cylinder seal from Mowaihat tomb B (after alTikriti 1989: pl. 46a).

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Fig. 14. Drawing of a badly worn cylinder seal (TA 75) from Tell Abraq (H.B. Potts).

and bottom of the scene are framed by a train-tracklike band and the carving is very crude (Potts 1990a: 122123, gs 150151). Iconographic parallels at Choga Zanbil and Susa, as well as the material of which the seal is made, strongly suggest it is a Middle Elamite product from south-western Iran of the fourteenth thirteenth century BC. 5. Hili North Tomb B (Al Ain, Abu Dhabi, U.A.E.) an unpublished seal was discovered in 1984 during excavations by the late Majid Mohsen Haddou, supervised by Dr W.Y. al-Tikriti. Now in the Al Ain Museum, the seal is cut in a crude, linear style, and shows two, long antlered horned quadrupeds (Arabian oryx?) anking a stylised anthropomorph (?). 6. Qidfa (Fujairah, U.A.E.) a soft-stone cylinder seal (QDF.1.86.M.104) was excavated in tomb 1

Fig. 15. Photograph of a modern impression of TA 75.

at Qidfa in 1986 by Dr W.Y. al-Tikriti. Now in the Fujairah Museum, it was published in 2007 (Ziolkowski 2007: g. 67). The side of the seal shown in the published photograph shows an anthropomorph with raised arms, claw-like hands and feet, and a curved sword at waist height (2007: 237238, n. 170) which is virtually identical (though not in carving style) to the gure shown on a soft-stone amulet (TA 440, 3 x 2.2 x 0.6 cm) from Tell Abraq (Potts 1991: 9596, gs 136137) of Iron Age date (cf. no. 7 from Kalba below). The same gure has been found in at least twenty-six petroglyphs in Fujairah, Dubai, Sharjah and Ras al-Khaimah (Ziolkowski 1998: gs 62 and 101; 2007: 222, motif 7, with full refs and gs 52, 65 and 66). 7. Qidfa (Fujairah, U.A.E.) a faience (?) seal, unpublished, was excavated in tomb 1 at Qidfa in 1986 by Dr W.Y. al-Tikriti. It is now in the Fujairah Museum (M.C. Ziolkowski, personal communication). 8. Qidfa (Fujairah, U.A.E.) a faience (?) seal, unpublished, was excavated in tomb 1 at Qidfa in 1986 by Dr W.Y. al-Tikriti. It is now in the Fujairah Museum (M.C. Ziolkowski, personal communication) 9. Kalba (K4) (Kalba, Sharjah, U.A.E.) an unpublished, pale green crystalline stone seal on display in the Sharjah Archaeological Museum was excavated at the multi-period site of K4 by C.S. Phillips. The decoration on the seal (K-45, ht. 3.7 cm, dia. 0.8 cm) consists of a stick-gure anthropomorph with upraised arms, bent at the elbows, and splayed, three-toed feet. A curved object at its waist is

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Fig. 16. Drawing of a Middle Elamite cylinder seal (TA 12) from Tell Abraq (H.B. Potts).

comparable to that seen on no. 6 from Qidfa and the amulet from Tell Abraq referred to above. A second anthropomorph (?) with downward angling arms (or zoomorphs?); a stylised tree; six dots; and a standard or offering table (?) can also be seen. 10. Kalba (K4) (Kalba, Sharjah, U.A.E.) an unpublished, soft-stone seal (K4-43, ht 2.3 cm, dia. 0.85 cm) was also found at K-4 by C.S. Phillips. A large, cruciform rosette is preserved, as well as two pairs of limbs (?). 11. Rafaq 2 (Ras al-Khaimah, UAE) an unpublished stone seal (RAK 97 334, ht 2.3 cm, dia. 1.4 cm) excavated by C. Phillips in 1989 and displayed in the Ras al-Khaimah National Museum (room 47, showcase 3) in the early 1990s. The seal

Fig. 17. Photograph of a modern impression of TA 12.

dates to the Iron Age (D. Kennet, personal communication). The seal is badly worn and it is not possible to identify the scene on it. 12. Rafaq 2 (Ras al-Khaimah, U.A.E.) an unpublished stone seal (RAK 97 335, ht 1.8 cm, dia. .9 cm) excavated by C. Phillips in 1989 and displayed in the Ras al-Khaimah National Museum (room 47, showcase 2) in the early 1990s (D. Kennet, personal communication). The seal has incised, linear decoration in the form of two diamond shapes, one above the other; a wavy, vertical line (snake?); and a possible anthropomorph holding a spear or standard (?). 13. Baat (Oman) a chlorite seal was found in Grave 154, excavated by the German Mining Museum (Bochum) in 2008 (G. Weisgerber, personal communication). The seal shows two les of longhorned caprids, moving in opposite directions, one above the other in horizontal rows. Judging by their long tails, these are almost certainly Arabian oryx and as such the likelihood that this is a local product is extremely high. 14. Baat (Oman) a second, fragmentary, frit or faience seal shows the lower half of a long-skirted male whose lower legs and feet are visible, in front of an offering table. It was also found in Grave 154 in association with second-millennium BC metal objects (G. Weisgerber, personal communication). 15. Ras al-Jinz (Oman) (Fig. 18) a badly worn seal of unidentied stone (no dimensions published) was found in Building II, period II, at Ras al-Jinz, a

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Fig. 18. Drawing and photograph of a cylinder seal and modern impression from Ras al-Jinz (after Cleuziou & Tosi 2007: g. 265).

context dated by the excavators to c.25002250 BC (Cleuziou & Tosi 2007: 218, caption to g. 222). The seal depicts an abstract anthropomorphic gure with arms shown dangling vertically from broad shoulders and wavy lines reminiscent of snakes, as well as a symbol that may represent some sort of vegetation. The anthropomorphic and zoomorphic gures, in linear style, recall the gures on the seal from Al Sufouh, with which this nd is broadly contemporary. To these nds may be added a cylinder seal-impressed sherd from Umm an-Nar island (Figs 1920). The impression shows an animal

(lion?) with a somewhat distorted head attacking a short-horned and short-tailed caprid, possibly a gazelle, accompanied by a ower or large rosette. The closest parallels for the impression come from Syria (Ebla, Tell Chuera, Hama), suggesting that the vessel of which this is a fragment was an imported storage jar (Amiet 1975). It could have come from Syria, down the Euphrates, via one of the southern Mesopotamian cities, or alternatively, but perhaps less probably, it could have come overland through the Syrian and Arabian deserts. Chronologically speaking, the Syrian parallels suggest a date around 25002250 BC and this is consistent with the early

Fig. 19. Photograph of a cylinder seal-impressed sherd from the settlement on Umm an-Nar Island (after Frifelt 1995: g. 255).

Fig. 20. Drawing of a cylinder seal-impressed sherd from the settlement on Umm an-Nar Island (after Frifelt 1995: g. 255).

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Umm an-Nar date for the settlement on Umm anNar Island (Potts 1990b: 113). The fteen cylinder seals just described thus span the period extending from the middle or third quarter of the third to the early or mid-rst millennium BC. The stylistic and iconographic parallels adduced above conrm that the regions sixteenth seal, from Abu Dhabi, is older still and belongs to a well-dened category of Late Uruk glyptic dating to the later fourth millennium BC. The material of the seal, its dimensions and its iconography all suggest that there is absolutely no reason to doubt its authenticity. The provenance of the seal, however, does raise questions about the date of its arrival in the area. Bearing in mind that the site of the seals discovery has not been thoroughly investigated, no evidence of pre-modern human settlement was noted in the area. How long the area has been used to keep livestock is unknown, and certainly considerable damage may have been done to what may only ever have been an ephemeral habitation with a scatter of surface remains. On the other hand, if the seal reached Abu Dhabi during the Late Uruk period, in Mesopotamian terms, perhaps between 3400 and 3100 BC, then it was almost certainly brought by a northerner (Mesopotamian or Susian) to the region. Seal use was, by then, relatively common within the large agro-pastoral-industrial administrative units of sites like Susa and Uruk. The local populations of the south-east Arabian littoral at this time were herders of sheep, goat and cattle who supplemented their diet with shing, hunting and shellsh-gathering. Sites of this period, all of which are aceramic, are rare, prompting one scholar to refer to this as the Dark Millennium (Uerpmann 2003). Far more sites date to the sixth and fth millennia BC, but one site, on Akab Island in the lagoon of Umm al-Qaiwain, does date to the ry, Charfourth millennium (Jousse et al. 2002; Me pentier & Beech 2008). It would seem unlikely, however, that the communities of the coast had any functional need for a seal at this time. Alternatively, the seal may have come to Abu Dhabi at almost any time subsequent to its manufacture. It could have been brought to the region, and lost, by someone in the nineteenth century, perhaps used as a bead or exotic trinket, and the same is true of the earlier centuries of the second and rst millennia AD, or for that matter, the third, second and rst millennia BC. Ample evidence exists in the U.A.E. of maritime trade contact with southern Mesopotamia in all periods. This began not long after the period in which the Abu Dhabi seal was manufactured and is rst attested by the modest numbers of squat, polychrome jars of Jamdat Nasr type found in the tombs at the base of Jabal Hat near Al Ain (Potts 1986; Carter & al-Tikriti 2004), at Jabal Emalah in the interior of Sharjah (Potts 2001: 37), at Zukayt in Oman (Cleuziou & Tosi 2007: gs ry 2000: table 46). As 102103) and elsewhere (Me compositional analyses have shown, these vessels were manufactured in southern Mesopotamia (2000: 185188) during the Jamdat Nasr period, c.31002900 BC. By this time the Abu Dhabi seal was probably already a century or more old. It has been speculated by many scholars that Mesopotamian contact with south-eastern Arabia at this time was stimulated by a desire to acquire copper, and that objects such as the Jamdat Nasr style jars found in the U.A.E. and Oman may have been exchanged for copper ingots (e.g. Potts 1990b: 8992). If the Abu Dhabi seal was not transported to its nal resting place thousands of years after its manufacture, it may well have been amongst a range of goods brought by traders from southern Mesopotamia desirous of obtaining copper to take back to their homeland. Seasonal migration between the mountainous interior and the coast has been well documented for the earlier fth-millennium BC population of BHS 18 at Jabal Buhais in the interior of Sharjah. The excavators consider BHS 18 a base camp where the nomadic population spent the spring part of its yearly cycle before moving to the Hajar Mountains in summer and to coastal sites in winter (Kiesewetter 2006: 115). Despite the forbidding nature of the desert of western Abu Dhabi, this kind of movement could well account for the deposition of a cylinder seal in such a sandy environment, far from the sites where other evidence of contact between Mesopotamia and the communities of south-eastern Arabia c.3000 BC has been found.

Acknowledgements
The cylinder seal from Abu Dhabi was discovered by Kim Burke (at the time GRM International, currently Agwest International) who then informed Peter Hellyer (National Media Council, Abu

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Dhabi, and formerly of the Abu Dhabi Islands Archaeological Survey) of his discovery. Peter Hellyer in turn reported the discovery to the Environment Agency Abu Dhabi (EAD), whose Secretary-General, H.E. Majid Al Mansouri, kindly gave permission for it to be photographed, studied and published. Peter Hellyer very kindly passed on news of this important discovery to one of us (DTP) shortly after it was made. The authors would like to express their sincerest thanks to Messrs Burke and Hellyer, and to H.E. Majid Al Mansouri, for all of the assistance they have provided in bringing this important nd to the attention of the scholarly community. Thanks also go to Dr Walid Yasin al-Tikriti (Abu Dhabi Authority for Culture & Heritage) for information on the seal from Tomb B at Hili North; Dr Derek Kennet (Durham University) and Mr Christian Velde (Ras Al Khaimah National Museum) for information on the seals from Rafaq; Dr Gerd Weisgerber (German Mining Museum) for information on the two seals from Baat; Dr M.C. Ziolkowski (Fujairah) for information on the Qidfa seals; and Mr Carl Phillips and Dr Emma Thompson (Sharjah Archaeological Museum) for information on the Kalba seals.

References
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