Abstract
This paper presents a detailed analysis of the iconography carved on a cylinder seal found in a metallurgical site within the archaeological complex of Konar Sandal South, near Jiroft, in the Halil river valley of the Kerman province, south-eastern Iran. This seal is made of a whitish marble and – even if heavily worn by use – it retains traces of different animal figures. These animals represent the translation into local style of a rare but characteristic iconography found in the seal production of the Indus Civilization. The merging into a single seal of different animals, some of which clearly belong to the standard animal series of the Indus seals, might have provided the owner with a special authority that allowed him/her to hold different administrative functions. Moreover, the discovery at Konar Sandal South of a cylinder seal bearing an Indus-related iconography might further testify to the direct interest of Indus merchants and probably craftsmen in trade exchanges with a major early urban site in south-eastern Iran.
Highlights
Pittman has recently published a cylinder seal made of a white stone
No 2006IX001, according to the caption of Figure 4.12)[1] found at the southeastern periphery of the citadel mound of Konar Sandal South, one of the main mounds of the Jiroft sites complex.[2]. She discusses the find in the framework of the interaction between south-eastern Iran and the Indus cultural area (Figure 1), ascribing it to a series of cylinder and stamp seals that she called the ‘whitestone group’
Regardless of its manufacturing tradition, this seal from Konar Sandal South seems to re-elaborate and adapt to the local style an original and peculiar iconography of the Indus Civilization, respecting a series of rules at the basis of the Indus seal production
Summary
Pittman has recently published a cylinder seal made of a white stone (Inv. No 2006IX001, according to the caption of Figure 4.12)[1] found at the southeastern periphery of the citadel mound of Konar Sandal South, one of the main mounds of the Jiroft sites complex.[2]. In Indus seals the large horns of zebus were never made with such tubular tools, but carved separately by means of sharp-cutting points (Figure 4.1) They never appear as arcs of the same circumference.[16] A narrow hump-like prominence, which may represent a disproportionate ear, projects vertically from the long neck. Considering the presence of a zebu and an Indus unicorn, the finely carved oblique eye, slightly inclined, and the nearby crescent-like feature probably belong to the head of an Indus buffalo (Figure 4.3).[20] The rest of the muzzle, neck, and back are completely effaced, but given the geometry and proportions of the original Indus design, we may exclude that the two circles drilled above the unicorn were part of the same animal. If these almost-disappeared lines represented wavy horns, following the same pattern as animals 3.1 and 3.2, the three circles might have outlined the head, chest, and back of a markhor wild goat (Capra falconeri) or a blackbuck antelope (Antilope cervicapra) like those represented on some Indus seals (Figure 4.5).[24]
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