militarized during the Akkadian period, lapis lazuli
became extremely rare. Surely this is not because the
material had lost its value, but rather because the supply
that had flowed so freely through the hands of the
maritime merchants had been cut off or diverted.
Instead, the more readily available serpentine became
the most common stone for seals (Sax et al. 1993 ),
together with a number of harder and colorful stones.
Especially prominent are the micro crystalline quartzes
including red, green, and yellow jaspers, agates and
greenstone. Rock crystal is largely restricted to the
Akkadian period as is the black and white spotted
diorite that comes from central Iran. The famous seal of
Kalki, the scribe of Ubil-Eshtar, an official and brother
of an Akkadian king is made of this material (Figure
16. 3 a, b). Shell, frequently used in the ED period, con-
tinues to be popular into the Akkadian period. These
materials, most of them coming from the Iranian plateau
and region of the Persian Gulf, demonstrate that Mesopotamian lapidaries had mastered
the techniques for cutting very hard stones. Harder bronze tools and new, more effective
abrasives had become readily available (Sax and Meeks 1995 ; Sax et al. 1998 ).
After the collapse of the Akkadian central control in the region, a radical change is
visible in the kinds of material used for seals. Trading links to the eastern plateau were
apparently broken. Colorful hard stones were no longer easily available. During the
transition to the second millennium, under the hegemony of the Ur III kings, colored
stones completely disappear replaced apparently by both preference and necessity with
dark stones. Chlorite is the single most common stone for seals of the Ur III period.
And a new material, iron oxide, primarily hematite but also magnetite and goethite,
is used for the first time. It is thought that the primary source for commonly occurring
–– Holly Pittman ––Figure 16.3a (left)Cylinder seal of speckled black and white diorite. Akkadian period.
Inscribed “Ubil-Eshtar, brother of the king, Kalki, scribe, is your servant”
(British Museum BM 89137 , courtesy of the Trustees of the British Museum)Figure 16.3b (right)
Modern impression of cylinder seal of Kalki (British Museum BM 89137 ,
courtesy of the Trustees of the British Museum)Figure 16.2
Cylinder seal carved from
obsidian of the Uruk/Jemdet
Nasr period, c. 3100 BC(ex-
collection Moore. The Ada
Small Moore Collection of
Ancient Near Eastern Seals,
Sotheby’s sale catalog auction
December 12 , 1991 # 7 )