DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.49517#0116
CHAPTER XXIII
SEALS AND SEAL IMPRESSIONS
Pls. 40, 41, 42
At Kerma, one hundred and four seals were found and nearly a thousand seal impressions
in mud which represented at least one hundred and nineteen different seals. Now the
other material found at Kerma leaves no doubt of the approximate date of the seals and
their range from the time of Sesostris I to the end of the XHIth Dynasty, while the seal
impressions are dated to the Hyksos Period by the names which occur on some of them.
This material must therefore have an important bearing on the history of scarabs and seals
during this period, and requires careful consideration. It will be shown in the first place
that the Kerma collection contains no seals of the Vl-XIth Dynasties nor any which are
necessarily of the XVIIIth Dynasty, and second, that the types of scarabs usually assigned
to the Hyksos Period began to be made as early as the reign of Amenemhat II.
The chief publications on seals are:
Newberry, Scarabs: An Introduction to the Study of Egyptian Seals and Signet Rings,
London, 1906.
Newberry, Scarab-shaped Seals, Catalogue General, London, 1907.
Petrie, Scarabs and Cylinders with Names, London, 1917.
1. HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE FORMS OF EGYPTIAN SEALS
Egyptian seals may be arranged chronologically as follows:
A. Early seals, from the Late Predynastic Period to the beginning of the Xllth Dy-
nasty.
I. Plain seals:
1. Cylinder seals; the only seal used down to the Vth Dynasty, the common form of the
Vlth Dynasty, occurs in the Middle Kingdom, very rare thereafter.
2. Button seals; first dated examples in the Vth Dynasty, the common form between the
end of the Vlth and the beginning of the Xllth Dynasty, sporadic examples thereafter.
There are two forms, one round and the other rectangular.
3. Hemicylinder seals; during the Xlth and Xllth Dynasties — possibly a little earlier.
II. Amulet seals:
1. Button seals with amulet on back — frog, hippopotamus head, hawk head, crocodile,
etc ; from the VHth Dynasty to the early part of the Xllth. The same and other
animal amulets, including the beetle, occur as separate figures in faience, ivory, and
semiprecious stones from the Old to the Middle Kingdom.
2. Beetle seals, of short oval form, high in the back, with inscriptions like the button seals;
the latter half of the period between the Vlth and the Xllth Dynasties and as late as
the early part of the Xllth Dynasty. It is to be noted that the beetle, owing to its
form, is better suited to cover the seal part of a button seal than the other animal forms,
but requires a slight elongation of the seal.
70
SEALS AND SEAL IMPRESSIONS
Pls. 40, 41, 42
At Kerma, one hundred and four seals were found and nearly a thousand seal impressions
in mud which represented at least one hundred and nineteen different seals. Now the
other material found at Kerma leaves no doubt of the approximate date of the seals and
their range from the time of Sesostris I to the end of the XHIth Dynasty, while the seal
impressions are dated to the Hyksos Period by the names which occur on some of them.
This material must therefore have an important bearing on the history of scarabs and seals
during this period, and requires careful consideration. It will be shown in the first place
that the Kerma collection contains no seals of the Vl-XIth Dynasties nor any which are
necessarily of the XVIIIth Dynasty, and second, that the types of scarabs usually assigned
to the Hyksos Period began to be made as early as the reign of Amenemhat II.
The chief publications on seals are:
Newberry, Scarabs: An Introduction to the Study of Egyptian Seals and Signet Rings,
London, 1906.
Newberry, Scarab-shaped Seals, Catalogue General, London, 1907.
Petrie, Scarabs and Cylinders with Names, London, 1917.
1. HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE FORMS OF EGYPTIAN SEALS
Egyptian seals may be arranged chronologically as follows:
A. Early seals, from the Late Predynastic Period to the beginning of the Xllth Dy-
nasty.
I. Plain seals:
1. Cylinder seals; the only seal used down to the Vth Dynasty, the common form of the
Vlth Dynasty, occurs in the Middle Kingdom, very rare thereafter.
2. Button seals; first dated examples in the Vth Dynasty, the common form between the
end of the Vlth and the beginning of the Xllth Dynasty, sporadic examples thereafter.
There are two forms, one round and the other rectangular.
3. Hemicylinder seals; during the Xlth and Xllth Dynasties — possibly a little earlier.
II. Amulet seals:
1. Button seals with amulet on back — frog, hippopotamus head, hawk head, crocodile,
etc ; from the VHth Dynasty to the early part of the Xllth. The same and other
animal amulets, including the beetle, occur as separate figures in faience, ivory, and
semiprecious stones from the Old to the Middle Kingdom.
2. Beetle seals, of short oval form, high in the back, with inscriptions like the button seals;
the latter half of the period between the Vlth and the Xllth Dynasties and as late as
the early part of the Xllth Dynasty. It is to be noted that the beetle, owing to its
form, is better suited to cover the seal part of a button seal than the other animal forms,
but requires a slight elongation of the seal.
70