Making Old Babylonian Cylinder Seals

We have a good sense for how these seals were carved. The Old Babylonian period (~2000-1600 BCE) seems to have widely used horizontally mounted cutting wheels and drills made of copper. Before then, they were handheld and more often used stone. Seal-cutters were called burgul, or purkullum.

This technology has been associated with workshop development. Sometimes workshops were associated with temples, other times they were in suburbs. The city of Ur had both types: Diqdiqqah showed evidence of seal-cutter training and design practice, and there was a "lapidary house" for the temples.

One of my favorite finds was a jar from Larsa that held beads, bronze tweezers, seal impressions, a gold ring, and a cylinder seal. Next to it was a tablet noting gifts, stones, and objects. Dated hundreds of years earlier (late 3rd millennium BCE), is a similar find from Tell Asmar (Eshnunna).