About two seal‐impressed jars from Tell Abraq (Emirate of Umm al‐Quwain). New evidence for intercultural networks in the lower Arabian Gulf in the late 2nd – beginning of the 1st millennium BC

Abstract

Ongoing excavations at Tell Abraq (Emirate of Umm al‐Quwain, U.A.E.) are revealing new aspects of this multiperiod site, which was occupied from c. 2500 BC to 300 AD. Together with substantial architecture dated to the 2nd and 1st millennia BC, relevant assemblages of archaeological materials are being collected and dated to different phases of the site’s life. Among this material, exceptional is the discovery of two jars bearing the impression of two different cylinder seals, which will be presented here. Seal impressions on any media are extremely rare in the whole of south‐eastern Arabia and strongly indicate a foreign provenance for the jars. Their iconographic study, the fabric and morphological parallels for the jars, and probable chronology will be discussed, as this can highlight transmarine connections during the late 2nd‐first half of the 1st millennium BC, as well as provide new data to address chronological issues in south‐eastern Iran itself.

Heirloom cylinder seals at Mleiha (Sharjah Emirate, UAE)

“…She considers it to be a ‘lone representative of a well‐established workshop or tradition’. The seal measures 46 × 14.5 mm and is thus of similar length as the one that made the Tell Abraq impression (estimated to have been 42 × 10 mm; Majchrzak & Esposti, 2022, p. 156). Collon (2022) points out that although the seal draws on other glyptic traditions, it does not belong to any familiar well‐defined group.…”

“…54-56, figs. 4 and 5;Majchrzak & Esposti, 2022;Matthews & Fazeli Nashli, 2022, pp. 431-433, fig. 12.57).…”

“…431-433, fig. 12.57). The excavators suggested that the Tell Abraq vessels were imports rather than local products and pointed to seal characteristics to argue a foreign seal provenance (Majchrzak & Esposti, 2022). Although there are indeed strong links, there are no exact parallels, and a Mesopotamian or Elamite production may be doubted.…”

“…The production of faience and frit objects does require a specialised knowledge and the relative rarity of such items at the SE‐Arabian Iron Age sites does not favour the idea of a local production centre. The ‘trumpet base’ shape of the Tell Abraq vessels may argue for a SE‐Iranian provenance (Majchrzak & Esposti, 2022, p. 165); our understanding of this region's Iron Age period and its seal use, however, is still fragmentary at best (Maresca, 2018; Matthews & Fazeli Nashli, 2022, p. 509, fig. 12.5).…”

“…Drawing of a pottery vessel with a vertical sealing on the shoulder from Tell Abraq (after Majchrzak & Esposti, 2022, figs. 6 and 10) and frit/faience seal with modern sealing from an Iron Age burial at Qidfa 1 (after al‐Tikriti, 2022, p. 70, fig.…”