Tell Brak and Nagar

Abstract

The seal impression Aleppo Museum 6763 was discovered by Sir Max Mallowan and published by him in Iraq IX (1947), pl. XXIV: 1. It is unclear how much contact Mallowan's epigraphist, Gadd, actually had with the material (Finkel 1985, 201), but in any case the inscriptions on the seal impressions were not then read. The Mallowan glyptic from Brak in Aleppo was missing for many years (Finkel 1985, 199 n.2), but has recently been rediscovered by Hamido Hammade, Curator of Syrian Antiquities. We publish the impression here in advance of the full catalogue of the Brak glyptic which is now in preparation because of the importance of the inscription.The impression was made onto a flat strip of unbaked clay with a smooth unmarked back which is broken at both ends. It seems most likely to me that this type of sealing—which is not uncommon—was made simply to see what the design looked like. It is not impossible that the impression (or indeed the seal itself) was brought to Brak from elsewhere for some purpose such as to authenticate other sealings or to identify a person, but the seal could also have belonged at Brak. This uncertainty means that the inscription cannot furnish proof of the ancient name of Tell Brak.