#ancient seals

[blueiscoool]

Over 50 Royal Seals Unearthed in Turkey

Archaeological excavations in Kayalıpınar, a Hittite city in the Yildizeli district of Sivas in the eastern part of the Central Anatolia region of Türkiye, have unearthed over 50 seal impressions from royal family members, including princes, scribes, and local temple lords.

Among the notable finds is the seal of a prince named HattusaRuntiya, which means “Protector of Hattusa,” the ancient Hittite capital. Other seals include Pihaya, a scribe thought to have served Queen Puduhepa, and ArmaTarupasani, a Moon God servant.

Originally a small market for Assyrian merchants, Samuha developed into a prominent trading center in the 18th century BC. The site yielded numerous epigraphic finds and has been identified as the Empire period Hittite city of Samuha. Excavations have shown that Kayalıpınar was an important settlement during the pre-Hittite and Hittite Kingdom periods.

Archeologists Vuslat Karpe and Andreas Muller-Karpe from Germany’s University of Marburg also excavated in Kayalıpınar from 2005 to 2019. With the permission of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, the new period excavations in the area continue under the direction of Koç University Archaeology and Art History Department Faculty Member Assoc. Prof. Dr. Çiğdem Maner.

Head of Excavation Assoc. Prof. Dr. Çiğdem Maner, AA correspondent, said that the excavations carried out in Kayalıpınar for the last 2 years determined that there was uninterrupted settlement from the Palaeolithic Age to the Seljuk period.

Maner highlighted the architectural discoveries at the site, noting that structures from the Assyrian trade colonies, Hittite, Roman, and Byzantine periods have been unearthed.

“We continued excavating the Hittite administrative building from last year, uncovering more seal impressions. These findings are crucial in reevaluating the history of the Hittite royal family,” said Maner.

The team also discovered new discoveries from various stages of Hittite architecture, a Roman road, and Byzantine-era structures, along with evidence of a significant fire that destroyed buildings from the Assyrian trade colonies era.

“The cuneiform tablets and hieroglyphic seal impressions uncovered here are among the most significant findings,” said Professor Hasan Peker, a Hittitologist from Istanbul University.

The team is currently working in a destroyed archive room, where they found seals belonging to high-ranking officials and members of the royal family.

“Since last season, over 50 seal impressions have been uncovered. This year, we found numerous seals bearing the names of princes, who were either connected to the royal family through marriage or blood ties,” said Peker.

“These seals are not only valuable for confirming the existence of these historical figures, but they also provide essential data on the Hittite administrative system,” explained Peker.

The seals were used to authenticate economic and administrative documents, solidifying Kayalipinar’s importance in Hittite governance.

These discoveries have provided fresh insight into the Hittite royal ancestry and the city’s important function in the governance of the empire.

By Oguz Buyukyildirim.

[ancientstuff]

More on the origins of writing, from a different perspective.

[thecrankyprofessor]

Leda and the Swan

Leda

Detail gold ring depicting Leda and Zeus transformed into a swan from Thessaly, 2nd. BC (Benaki Museum)

Benaki Museum (Athens, Greece)

[proxycrit]

Day 49– Riju’s Guestroom

(Ambassador Rauru never meant to get attached to the twin chieftains. The one that becomes the Demon King accuses him of forgetting his own history— the other, concerned with her people’s safety, bitterly capitulates to Hyrule’s demands.

Perhaps a kinder peace could have been achieved, if only Rauru chased after Ganondorf like Naborus on that fateful day. It didn’t matter, in the end. Time has ground every decision into indistinguishable dust, until all that’s left is echoes and ghosts.)

(This self indulgent totk rewrite au is called Familiar Familiar! It all starts when Zelda doesn’t get sent back in time, and now has a whole new batch of tragic tragic lore.)

((Wanna support me? Check out my patreon, with my throw away sketches and references! Remember to use web or android folks, apple charges 30 percent tax.))

[im-here-homie]

a happy audience is the key to the academy's heart

shadow milk design by @catxolotlquoise

[uncharted-constellations]

The Princess and Hero of the First Great Calamity

The orange snoot is very important to me….

[shazzbaa]

RECOGNISE LOVE

Like a moment glimpsed through a keyhole - intimate, and distant.

[t-5secondsart]

now that the "what sage would the lu boys be" polls are over, i thought it would be fun to draw the chain as the ancient sages from totk!

[iliketoeatapplesnotbananas]

Ancients Sealed AU - Chapter 1

read from left to right

Uhh my silly little crk au where after each beast fought their ancient, the beasts managed to seal away the ancients in the same tree. They brought the tree to the ivory pagoda and planted it there, having one of the trees at mystic's place seal it

Anyways shadow milk decided to free pv so the story goes from there but im not entirely sure where it's going yet :p

(I rlly hope that hasnt been done before)

This took nearly 80 hours 😞

[blueiscoool]

Ancient Phoenician Glass Scaraboid Seal with Sphinx 9th – 8th century B.C.

[ganondoodle]

i might be thinking too much about this rather irrelevant background story for the ancient queen and ganondorf (.. yes still botw2/totk rewrite ................ its background stuff you dont get to see, it would just be a line in a hidden diary and some environtmental story telling- that bracelet being in his room- wrote a longer text post about it today but uh .. heres a doodle that took me too long to make bndksbnsd)

[sealbee101]

…uhhmmhghh…hey gusy hey……there’s this game called cookie run kingdom its soo cool guys……it’s really really swag guys it has cookies runniing

[1vylili3s]

So, Shadow Milk, you and Elder Faerie……..how did that happen? Cmon, We’re all curious on how you 2 got together in the past! 👁️👁️

past pt. 27

[ltwilliammowett]

Crystal rock seal with a Minoan warship, 16th century BC

[yebreed]

Jet-black Polyhedral Seal of The Western Wei General

This multi-faceted jet seal of the Western Wei dynasty, belonged to the famous General Dugu Xin (��孤信). It has 8 edges and 26 sides: 18 square and 8 triangular ones. It is the ancient polyhedral seal with the largest number of facets.

Among them, 14 sides are engraved with inscriptions. The inscriptions range from one-character to five-character. The functionality is differentiated, including the use in official letters, orders, document labeling, etc.

The jet, a composite organic gem, from which the seal is carved, is known in China as “coal jade” (煤玉).

The total height of the object is 4.5 cm, the width is 4.35 cm, and the weight is 75.7 g.

The seal was accidentally discovered in 1981 by Song Qing, a student from Xunyang county (旬陽縣), Ankang, Shaanxi. While returning home from school, he picked up a weird object in the gravel on the roadside, which aroused his curiosity with its bizarre shape. Song Qing had no idea what it was. Having examined the inscriptions at home, he gave the find for examination to the local archaeological museum, where the artifact was considered not of particular cultural value.

The seal vegetated on the outskirts of the local exposition for another decade, until it was revealed and recognized by a prominent researcher Wang Hanzhang (王翰章) from the Xi'an Institute of Literature and History. On display in Shaanxi History Museum (陝西曆史博物館).