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The Yale Alumni Magazine is owned and operated by Yale Alumni Publications, Inc., a nonprofit corporation independent of Yale University. The content of the magazine and its website is the responsibility of the editors and does not necessarily reflect the views of Yale or its officers. |
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The cylindrical seal was a business necessity for merchants and bureaucrats in ancient Mesopotamia, as official as letterhead and signature today. Families commissioned their seals from skilled artists, who carved complex mythological or social scenes into expensive imported stone. Seals passed from one generation to the next. “It was a bad omen if they were lost,” says Ulla Kasten, associate curator of Yale’s collection of ancient Mesopotamian artifacts. The seals date from as far back as 3800 BCE.
Shown here in one of the three rooms in Sterling Memorial Library that house the collection—the country’s largest—are several seals and some ancient and modern impressions. At lower left is a clay document and its clay envelope, encircled with the imprints that declare its authenticity. |
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©1992–2012, Yale Alumni Publications, Inc. All rights reserved. Yale Alumni Magazine, P.O. Box 1905, New Haven, CT 06509-1905, USA. yam@yale.edu |
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