The Stamp Seals from Tell esh Sheikh

Abstract

The site of Tell esh Sheikh was excavated in 1947 and 1948 as part of the British project at Alalakh-Tell Atchana in the Amuq plain. It is located two miles west of Tell Tayinat, which adjoins Alalakh, with the mound of Tabara al Akrad one and a half miles east. Other sites on the eastern edge of the plain include Çatal Höyük and Judeidah. Woolley discusses Tell esh Sheikh in the reports of excavations at Alalakh. The seals are described most fully by Buchanan, based on information and sketches supplied to him by the excavators. The present study reflects research done in the Antakya Museum and references to its inventory books. As stated by Buchanan, the seals are distributed over seven levels at the site and include a number of gables made of bone. Further information regarding archaeological context is lacking, according to David French, who is reviewing documentation and finds for the forthcoming publication of the Tell esh Sheikh excavation.An investigation of seals and sealings at such sites as Norşuntepe and Değirmentepe in eastern Anatolia, and Tepe Gawra in northern Mesopotamia, has provided close parallels for materials, shapes, motifs and styles found in the Tell esh Sheikh seal corpus. Such associations in part confirm results of pottery analysis but also raise questions about the correlation of pottery and seal chronology, and about relations between sites on the Cilician plain and regions closer to the resource-rich areas in the northeast. A review of findings follows below.