Research Items

Abstract

Ancient Egyptian Sealings.—During the seasons 1928–29 and 1929–30 the Harvard-Boston Expedition excavated the ancient Egyptian fortress on Uronarti (Geziret-ib-Melek). In addition, the ground south of the fort was examined, resulting in the discovery of a few graves and a large unfortified palace or dwelling-house. The fort was built in the twelfth dynasty, but abandoned as a military post before the end of the thirteenth dynasty. In the eighteenth dynasty the cult of Sesostris, the founder, was reestablished and two temples built or reconstructed, the fort being occupied by the priests. An account of the results by Dr. G. A. Reisner is given in Sudan Notes and Records, vol. 14, pt. 1. The objects found were of no great importance, except for a large collection of sealings in mud or clay, numbering nearly five thousand. Of these, the official and the private sealings were about equal in number. Not only do these provide a large variety of designs, but they also add very considerably to our knowledge of the methods of using the seal. The sealings are of various forms. The letter seal is of firm black clay, and bears the papyrus imprint on its reverse. The funnel and double funnel sealings have a hole or holes arising from the base, and show prints of string passing two or more times around the hole. They were evidently used for sealing bags of rations and other supplies for the garrison. The parcel seal is of ordinary mud and circular in form, bearing the mark of tied string on the under side. The box seal and door seal are chiefly in slot form. The key-hole seal was forced into a hole like a key-hole. The sample seal is a single impression on a pat of mud, and has not been attached to anything. It was probably kept for comparison with the sealing of official dispatches. The sealings are usually covered with impressions of the same seal; but in a large number of cases the official seal has been over-stamped with a private seal, probably that of the officer using the official seal. It seems possible that there was a system of registration of seals, similar to that now employed in modern Egypt, to prevent fraud.