1Employing a wide variety of excavated material from Egypt and neighboring regions, this study examines the stylistic development of seals and sealings during the gradual coalescence of the Egyptian dynastic state. The available glyptic evidence suggests Egyptians rapidly progress from the adoption and adaptation of glyptic styles from imported Mesopotamian material in the early Naqada II period to creating and employing semiotic categories denoting social institutions and administrative roles in the formative Egyptian state of the Naqada III period. Recent archaeological discoveries indicate that the use of seals was more widespread in Upper Egypt during this period than previously supposed and not limited to sites with royal associations. This in turn provides us some basis for a discussion of sealing use, not only in the context of long distance trade but for the development of administrative networks in Upper Egypt some of which may have been created for the purpose of enhancing and complementing the control of highly valued goods for the use of Egypt’s elites.

2Cylinder seals and sealings found in Cemetery U at Abydos (Dreyer et al. 1998, Hartung 1998a), at the Upper Egyptian settlement at El-Amra (Hill & Herbich 2011), and the administrative buildings at Naqada’s South Town (Di Maria 2007) show an enthusiastic adoption of the technique as a way to control the flow of trade goods from outside Egypt’s borders and provide a continuum of glyptic development from the Naqada IId period (ca. 3480 BC) to the end of Dynasty 0 (ca. 3110 BC). Glyptic evidence from A-Group Lower Nubian sites and the Egyptian trading post at ‘En Besor in southern Palestine is informative on how this technique was employed in areas not directly under Egyptian control but clearly in close contact with the developing visual vocabulary of the Egyptian elites directing trade in neighboring regions (van den Brink 1995). This continuum reflects indirect contact with southern Mesopotamia and her colonies, but also the spreading influence of Egyptian elite culture, and the developmental stages of the Egyptian hieroglyphic system. Evidence of the different ways in which Upper and Lower Egyptians, as well as Lower Nubians adopted sealing technology using readily available materials is an indication of how widespread the practice was in the late and terminal Predynastic period.

3I have previously proposed a glyptic seriation system by dividing the images of the Abydos Cemetery U cylinder and stamp seal impressions into categories based primarily on dates determined by radiocarbon and archaeological evidence and secondarily on the basis of composition, style and motif (Hill 2004). I then examined these stylistic groups to determine whether different groups might indicate different semiotic meanings, using a model suggested by Mesopotamian cylinder seal studies (Pittman 1993). The stylistic development of cylinder seals and sealings at Abydos was used as a basis from which to discuss other Predynastic seals and sealings from sites with Egyptian- related material in Lower Nubia (dating to the Naqada IIIb-c period) and southern Palestine (dating to the late Dynasty 0 to mid-Dynasty I). Finally, this stylistic progression was used to suggest Predynastic dating criteria for seals and sealings previously thought to be Early Dynastic. However, the paucity of our sources has hindered scholars from developing a well rounded picture of the systems within which sealing practice evolved. While most of the newest Upper Egyptian evidence comes from an elite mortuary site, it must be recognized that sealing was very much a practice of the everyday sphere of trade and exchange however elaborate its expression may have been in the elite mortuary sphere. Findings at the site of El-Amra in Upper Egypt and Tell el-Farkha in Lower Egypt provide a more nuanced view of the practices and institutions involved in the use of seals.

4Archaeologists began to reevaluate Predynastic Egyptian cylinder seals and sealing practices based on discoveries of the German Archaeological Institute at the B and U cemeteries at Abydos in the mid-1990s. Seals and mud sealings have been published from settlement contexts at Naqada’s South Town, in the settlement at Tell el-Farkha in the Nile Delta and in the Terminal Predynastic to Dynasty I phase of Adaïma, indicating that sealing practice was not limited to the royal mortuary sphere, nor used only to protect exotic sumptuary goods (Midant-Reynes & Buchez 2002). Excavations at Tell el-Farkha (Chłodnicki 2008: 496-7) and survey at the Upper Egyptian site of El-Amra in the Qena district to the south of Abydos (Hill & Herbich 2011) have uncovered still more evidence of sealing practice in settlement contexts, though in different functional settings. Taken together, these finds indicate that there was a system of administering the flow of goods which lay outside or worked in conjunction with systems of interregional trade and tribute contributing sumptuary goods to elite burials.

5Cylinder seals and sealings found in the U Cemetery at Abydos, A-Group Lower Nubian sites, and the Egyptian trading post at ‘En Besor in southern Palestine provide a continuum of glyptic development beginning in the Naqada IId period (ca. 3480 BC) and continuing to the end of Dynasty 0 (ca. 3110 BC) and some indication of the semiotic categories developing as a means of signaling institutions and possibly office and affiliation.

6The Abydos seal impressions were excavated in multiple graves in the U Cemetery by the German Archaeological Institute expedition led by Dreyer (Dreyer et al. 1996, Dreyer et al. 1998) and their context and possible interpretations have been discussed by Hartung (Hartung 1998, 2001). The seal impressions and their datable archaeological context provided us with the first evidence that the Egyptians, at this location, were making use of cylinder seals in ways that served the interests of local elites, namely through the control of sumptuary goods meant for the tombs of the ruler and his family members (ca. 3400 BC). However, the isolated nature of the Cemetery U evidence within Upper Egypt as a whole has led some scholars to question whether this first wave of cylinder seal use was a brief local phenomenon and that a lacuna of both glyptic and graphic development exists between the Naqada IIIa2 and the First Dynasty¹.

7Cemetery U at Abydos is located in the northernmost region where the prehistoric Naqada culture developed in the 4th millennium BC. The last graves in the cemetery date to the Naqada III b-c and make a continuous temporal development into Cemetery B dating to Dynasty 0, the period during which the northern and southern territories of the early state were brought under the control of a central authority (Kemp 2006: 73- 8; Wilkinson 1999: 36- 41). Evidence suggests that unification consisted of a gradual expansion of Upper Egyptian influence and control over the Delta, partly by peaceful means such as trade and colonization and to some degree by warfare as is attested on early Egyptian monuments such as the Narmer Palette (Petrie 1921: figs. J26, K27).

8Egyptian sealings from this period, like those of their Asian counterparts in the Mesopotamian cultures of Uruk and Elam, consist of small lumps of clay used to fasten two ends of a string or thong, holding a jar lid or a bag tie in place. When they were still wet, the lumps of clay were impressed several times with a seal that left a small intaglio relief on the surface. Sealing a jar, bag or door not only protected the goods in it from tampering, but it was a practical means of control and symbol of administrative power. Seal impressions, like the goods they sealed, were mobile. Therefore different seal impression styles can indicate different points of origin and possibility different economic institutions. While our samples contain relatively few styles compared to the large corpus of Mesopotamian seals, the seals and seal impressions found in Egypt and neighboring regions can be compared for stylistic and thematic affinities. These comparisons, combined with chronological controls provided by associated artifacts and ¹⁴C dates, permit the construction of a seriation of cylinder seal glyptic in Predynastic Egypt. Radiocarbon dates from the German Archaeological Institute Cemetery U excavations have further set apart the Naqada II period and the Naqada III period by 150 years (Görsdorf et al. 1998, Hendrickx 2006: 92).

9This expanded time frame, allows for a longer period of development between these two phases of Predynastic Egyptian culture. Hartung has suggested that cylinder seals were used in Egypt as early as the Naqada IIc period (Hartung 1998b). He bases this assessment on the highly developed use of seals in the Naqada IId period, and evidence at Abydos of contact with the proto-literate Elamite culture (Dreyer 1998: 181) and trade networks between Lower Egypt and southern Palestine. However, there is evidence from sites such as Naqada and at Naga ed Dêr which argue for contact with the cultures of southern Mesopotamia (Podzorski 1988, Di Maria 2007). What was the primary route through which proto-Elamite material reached Egypt is still debated. A growing number of scholars focus on the possibility of sea trade with Mesopotamian colonies based in northern Syria and/or land-based trade through southern Canaan (Mark 1997, Hartung 1998b). A longstanding argument holds that because late Predynastic Upper Egyptian art shows a strong Elamite influence that contact with this Southern Mesopotamian culture occurred through a Red Sea trade route funneling Mesopotamian goods, including seals, directly to the Upper Egyptian polities of This, Naqada and Hierakonpolis through the wadis of the Eastern Desert (Kantor 1952: 1992, Di Maria 2007).

10Recent survey at the site of El-Amra, 8 km to the south of Cemetery U at Abydos, provides additional evidence of a longer period during which the adoption and adaptation of sealing practice took place². Features and artifacts discovered in a University of Pennsylvania sponsored survey of the site of El-Amra in 2007 give support to the idea that sealing practice was common in the control of goods at non-royal centers. El-Amra’s cemeteries were published at the turn of the twentieth century by British archaeologist David Randall-MacIver (Randall-MacIver & Mace 1902). Randall-MacIver produced a typology of Predynastic to Early Dynastic tombs based on his investigations of the site. In his synthesis of Predynastic culture Petrie chose El-Amra as the type site for the earliest Predynastic phase of Egyptian culture – the Amratian phase. El-Amra is one of the three largest Predynastic cemeteries in the Abydos region, the other two being Abydos and Mahâsna (Patch 2004). The magnetic map in the central area of the preserved site abutting the end of a low desert shelf which ends in a 4-meter drop off to the cultivation reveals three clear concentrations of anomalies, distinct from the surrounding low desert, which are characterized by low magnetic values (fig. 1). Each of these concentrations appears to be outlined, at least in part, by oblong anomalies, which constitute an obvious demarcation between what is inside and the surrounding ground. The largest of these concentrations in the center covers an area of c. 3,350 m in the eastern part of the prospected area. The ground corresponding to this concentration of anomalies is uneven, dotted with low dumps and shallow depressions, and strewn with a much larger quantity of pebbles than anywhere around it (Hill & Herbich 2011). Other features include pathways leading from the wadi bed to gaps in the surface features which appear to be entrances to these demarcated areas.

1. Magnetic map outlining the settlement areas at el-Amra
Carte issue de prospections magnétiques mettant en évidence les structures d’habitat à el-Amra

11The soil covering the mapped anomalies is a distinct gray color, attesting to the presence of mud or mud brick structures underground. Examination of the features revealed them to be the remains of mud-and-stone conglomerate architecture. The walls were erected of stones set in layers of Nile silt, and plastered apparently with Nile silt – a smoothed surface face has survived in a number of places. This building technique explains the accumulations of stones on the surface where anomalies were mapped, erosion having left behind the more permanent component of the walls, the stones, after the less durable component, Nile mud, has worn away. Hoffman records similar deflated mud and cobblestone walls or wall foundations at Hierakonpolis Locality 29 (Hoffman 1983: 12). Eroded mud bricks of various sizes were also found on the surface in this area, possibly the remains structures inside the conglomerate walls.

2. Stamp seal collected at el-Amra, Object 2027 (length 1.75cm)
Impression de sceau provenant d’el-Amra (long. 1,75 cm).

12Investigations of El-Amra included a surface collection of the interior and immediate exterior of these wall-like features. Surface finds on the outer wall of the eastern concentration included a terracotta seal. This seal is pierced through its center and has 20 indentions on one side in the shape of a five-pointed star. On the other side, there is a similar drilled-hole design though in a less regular pattern of 14 indentions (fig. 2). There is some firing discoloration on one side and evidence of use wear around the edges of the drill hole through which the seal was strung. I would submit that this object is a local interpretation of a stone seal in fired clay, not an example of a counter, used to tally the number of goods sent or delivered. It was pierced so that it could be strung and carried and measuring at less than 2 cm in diameter it is much smaller than other counters that have been reported by Naqada South Town excavators and at other sites outside Egypt where preliterate sealing practice has been documented in detail, such as Arslantepe in southern Turkey (Pirelli 2007: 58-9; Frangipane 2007). Examples of counters from El-Amra include a long strip of unfired clay marked by indentions and fragments of clay disks sometimes referred counterpart labels (Hill 2010: 321).

13A parallel example in a different medium was a hemispherical limestone seal with a similar drilled pattern was found in Tomb7501 unearthed at the site of Naga-ed-Dêr. Reisner dated the tomb to the Naqada IIb/c period based on associated pottery (Podzorski 1988: 260 1). Parallels for this type of stamp seal decoration exist at eastern Mesopotamian at sites like Nuzi/Yorgan Tepe, Susa, Tepe Gawra, and Tepe Giyan (Caldwell 1976: figs. 163, 22, 107, and 101). The striking aspect of the El- Amra find is its medium – fired clay – and its context in a settlement area in association with mud sealings. Though it was not found within a datable context, stylistically, the seal belongs to this earlier phase of contact, Naqada IIc-d.

14Several different sealing styles dating to Naqada IId were found in individual graves at Abydos. As Hartung notes, the placement of multiple sealings in a single grave indicates that seals of this period did not mark ownership or the identity of a single individual, but were designations marking the goods placed in the burial. Hartung states that sealings found in this cemetery were only found on imported Canaanite-style vessels, indicating that the seals were being used as insignias of long distance trade administration (Hartung 1998b). Seals designating and protecting trade items indicate that by the late Naqada II period, the central to northern region of Upper Egypt had already laid foundations for a system of administration and trade control.

15The Abydos seal impressions provide a set of images that we can infer were significant to the Predynastic Egyptians. Some of these seal impressions fit neatly into the existing corpus of Predynastic Egyptian art. Others present images that dropped out of the Egyptian glyptic repertoire in the Early Dynastic Period. Many images are repeated in iconic fashion in a variety of different seal compositions. In some cases, the images similarities to later hieroglyphic signs hint at their meaning and point to a development of the Egyptian writing system in the Predynastic even if they cannot be considered writing per se (Hill 2004: 24-9).

16Sealings recovered from Abydos Naqada IId graves into four glyptic styles, each of which uses a different system of design and rule of composition. A fifth group shows affinities with other Predynastic artwork. The Field of Geometrics or Single Symbols group is defined as a seal having a single repeating pattern or symbol (Hill 2004: fig. 18). Though the symbols in this group are varied many of these design elements evoke later hieroglyphic signs. The most intriguing of these is the hour glass design which resembles the Old Kingdom determinative for a cylinder seal. In the Multiple Repeating Symbols group rows of single signs are grouped with the intention of representing natural associations between the signs and figural representations (Hill 2004: fig. 19). One example from this group, if Hartung’s reconstruction is inverted, shows multiple triangles which can be linked to boat standards on Naqada II painted pottery, above a continuous wavy line representing water above a line of animals representing fish (Hartung 1998a: fig. 4). The resulting association is Boat -Water -Fish. If the triangle standard was recognized as belonging to a particular region or temple another layer of meaning is contained within the association that we cannot fully ascertain.

17The Animal Rows group contains representations that can be found on D-Ware painted pottery, carved ivory knife handles and bone or ivory combs from the Naqada IId period (Hill 2004: fig. 20). The similarity to Mesopotamian animal rows has been noted, and the first example here shows some of the cross-fertilization of these two styles. For instance, the typically Elamite three-lobed fill element is juxtaposed with the triangle design prevalent on Naqada IId ware vessels.

18Central Figure on Field of Single or Alternating Symbols group has no precedents in Uruk or Elamite cylinder seal impressions and appears to be an Egyptian stylistic development (Hill 2004: fig. 22). The seal impressions in this group feature images which have links to cylinder seal designs which date to the Naqada III period was well as later hieroglyphic signs and other Predynastic artworks. The device of framing a central figure with symbols or a decorative border also carries over into later seal designs. In this group symbols recognizable as the fetishes for deities can be identified in some cases. That temple shrines were likely the first economic institutions in Predynastic Egypt has been proposed by many scholars (Butzer 1976: 63, 70, Tables 2, fig. 11, Kemp 2006: 112-3). One can hypothesize therefore that the sealings marked goods donated to an elite grave from the shrine of a particular deity. For example, a seal design recovered from Tomb U210 at Abydos (Hartung 1998: fig. 8a) contains a central group of icons which can be read as bȝ bird on a standard with the iconic determinative of the cow goddess Bat. This figure is attested on the Gerzeh Palette and in a later period on the Narmer Palette (Anselin 1999). Bat with her distinctive incurved horns is later associated with the 7th Upper Egyptian nome, and is more prominent iconographically than Hathor who became popular in later historic periods (Fischer 1962: 7-8). Similar animal icons such as the dog on the sealing from Tomb U153 (Hartung 1998: fig. 6) also appear on standards in later monuments including the Narmer Palette and the Scorpion Macehead.

19Other seals and sealings which bear relation to the economic institutions of the Naqada IId period include the fish and net or fish and building style. While this design has strong affinities to seal designs recorded in Mesopotamia, it is clear from its wide adoption and adaptation that the design found a good “cultural fit” in Egypt where seals and now sealings with this design has been found at various sites including Naga-ed-Der and Matmar. Two other seals, one found at Zawiyet el-Aryan in a poorly recorded context and another purchased on the antiquities market show more elaborate treatments of the net design which actually appear to represent buildings and not fishing nets (Boehmer 1974). Both Dreyer and Hartung propose that the Abydos sealing is one of a standard seal type in Predynastic Egypt designating jnw or offerings made to a temple (Hartung 1998). It is perhaps significant that a generic design such as this entered the repertoire at this stage, representing a generic concept rather than a specific designation or a purely geometric design could have been one of the first steps in the Egyptians developing a visual vocabulary for seals which would “travel” well, i.e. be readily grasped by whomever saw them, whereas the seals designating particular shrines or districts would require a more specialized knowledge to interpret.

20Returning to the El-Amra finds, our team collected a terracotta cylinder seal measuring 3.47 cm immediately inside the embankments of the South Wall (fig. 3). The seal shows use wear on its narrower side. The surface of the seal is circumscribed by three incised grooves and four horizontal grooves that would reproduce a picket fence type pattern on a mud sealing. The impression left by this seal would be similar to the prototype of the spȝt or nome sign found in ink inscriptions on cylinder vessels in Tomb U-s, a tomb roughly contemporary with Tomb U-j at Abydos, dating to Naqada IIIa1-2 (Engel 2006). For a settlement located outside the royal center, a seal like this one would serve a localized purpose, marking goods intended for intraregional use and storage.

3. Cylinder Seal collected at el-Amra, Object 2020 (length 3.5 cm.)
Sceau-cylindre provenant d’el-Amra, objet 2020 (long. 3,5 cm)

21Other finds along the south wall of Area IB include mud sealings. A few of these surface finds bear the impression of seals while others have impressions of twine, pottery vessels, boxes, cloth bags, door bolts, and box knobs (fig. 4). This indicates that the south wall was the main entrance though which goods were delivered, unsealed, inspected and possibly resealed. These finds are remarkably similar to findings at the administrative building at Naqada’s South Town (Barocas 1985; Barocas, Fattovich & Tosi 1989, Di Maria 2007). The comparative richness of the tombs within the El-Amra cemetery during the late Predynastic (Naqada IId) is a strong indication that El-Amra was a destination point for trade goods (Hartung 2001: abb. 54, 56).

4. Mud sealings with sealing and back impressions collected from the South Wall and Eastern Concentration areas at el-Amra settlement
Empreinte de sceau avec marques de scellement provenant du Mur Sud et de la concentration Orientale sur le site d’el-Amra

22Terracotta cylinder and stamp seals are not rare in Mesopotamia and archaeologists have recovered them in the earliest levels of the sites of Susa, Ur, and the Diyala region. Additionally, simple linear designs appear on seals made of all types of materials. It was common in the past for archaeologists to dismiss clay seals as imitations of “genuine” seals made of stone, ivory or other rarer and more precious materials. Consequently scholars and collectors dismissed many terracotta seals as crude fakes and never published them nor contributed them to museum collections. However, scholars now accept that clay seals were common from the beginning of sealing practice in Mesopotamia (Werr 1988).

23While rare, clay cylinder seals have been attested in both Egypt and Nubia and include the two examples collected by Firth from surface surveys of the Ikkur Fortress and Kostamna and the poorly glazed example excavated from a tomb in Zawiyet el-Aryan (Boehmer 1974). Dating to the Naqada IIIB, a fired clay cylinder seal was discovered by the Polish Archaeological Expedition to Tell el-Farkha in the eastern Nile Delta. Much of the sealing material at this site was discovered in the site’s production areas, indicating that it was a source point for trade goods, not a destination. The terracotta seal is engraved with images of an early serekh and nebtj signs. Again, however, these signs are generic designations and no specific king is named (Chlodnicki 2008: 496-7, fig. 4A/B), perhaps making this seal analogous to the empty serekh potmarks found on Dynasty 0 wine and oil jars. However, for the purpose of directing goods to the culture core where the king resided, such a seal would have served its purpose.

24The Tomb U-j seal impressions represent a closed find from a dated context and give us a single time capsule of cylinder seal styles designated for royal or high status use in the Naqada IIIa 2 period. Evidence of a signing system also found in U-j on bone and ivory labels and ink pottery inscriptions indicates that a system of “writing” locales and the names of shrines dedicated to particular deities was well developed during this period, but was not seen as an essential element in seal glyptic. This restrictive use of early hieroglyphic writing was probably related to the different functions served by the labels, pottery vessels and seals. Seals during this period go through a different kind of elaboration, one designed to mark and enhance the status of the person for whom the goods are intended or from whom the goods were donated. The most dramatic marker of this elaboration is the complex geometric borders which frame the figural scenes engraved in the seal. These geometric designs have been found in the painted decoration of niches on the superstructure facade of First Dynasty tombs at Saqqara. Their uniqueness in Upper Egypt’s glyptic corpus for Upper Egypt could indicate that the owner of U-j was practicing an early form of commodity branding, marking the rarity and quality of the goods destined for the tomb of the ruler (Wengrow 2008:9). Aside from advertising the exotic quality of burial goods, there was also the issue of quantity that might have created a different kind of economic pressure. Amassing the resources for an elite burial would require not only imported goods, but such goods in numbers that would further enhance the status of the ruler. This pressure toward ever increasing conspicuous consumption may have led to the local manufacture of foreign style pottery as a means of inflating the apparent richness of the burial. It is therefore interesting to note that the remains of what appears to be a draft kiln discovered through magnetic prospection El-Amra were strewn with the sherds of vessels which bear similarities to the Palestinian style pottery recovered from Tomb U-j at Abydos. While further investigation of this feature is required, it could be evidence of a local production center manufacturing the exotic (Hill & Herbich 2011, Porat & Goren 2001, 2002, Hartung 2002). Seal impressions from U-j contain stylistic features that survive from earlier periods including busy, crowded compositions. Horror vacui during this period is expressed through the numerous, virtually shapeless elements filling small spaces. In addition to animal rows is what might be termed a dominant element, a human or animal icon, in the case of Tomb U-j a scorpion figure on one sealing and a human figure carrying a scepter in another sealing, both controlling wild desert creatures.

25The surviving glyptic material from Egypt’s southern periphery in Lower Nubia emphasizes the lively trade in raw materials and finished goods between the Naqada IId to Naqada IIIb cultures of Upper Egypt and the Classic and Terminal A-Group Nubians at the sites of Faras, Qustul, Sarras West and Siali. The powerful chiefdoms that ruled this region in the late Predynastic employed their own set of iconographic images expressing the power of the ruler, however, it is clear that ideas and images were being exchanged from the adoption, adaptation and in some cases melding of Egyptian and Nubian iconography. The Faras, Qustul L-17, Sarras West, and Siali Seal impressions document the development of an increasingly narrative structure of seal design (Griffiths 1921, Williams 1986: 168, Mills & Nordström 1966: fig. 3, Reisner 1910: pl. 65f). The Siali Seal impression illustrates the short-lived combination of pure imagery with hieroglyphic inscriptions that were soon to dominate cylinder seal decoration in the Early Dynastic Period. While Nubian seals were used in an area peripheral to the core Upper Egyptian culture, they appear to elaborate the theme of subjugation to a central authority. In all cases, the seals and seal impression of Lower Nubia have direct affinities to the styles and conventions employed in the Abydos Cemetery U seals. These include most notably the presence of animal rows, high-prow boats, filler elements, the use of framing devices above and below the main compositional field and the standing human figure.

26In the peripheral areas to Egypt’s north the glyptic imagery shows definite influences from seal glyptic of Northern Syria and Palestine. The largest corpus of seal impressions extant comes from the site of ‘En Besor, a settlement that has been interpreted to be trading outpost colonized by Egyptians (Brandl 1992). The preserved imagery from these sealings is predominantly Egyptian in character. A total of 90 seal impressions were recovered in the excavation of Stratum III of the ‘En Besor Tell Gophna has dated to the end of Dynasty 0 or the beginning of the First Dynasty on the basis of Egyptian style pottery found in association with the sealings (Schulmann 1976, 1980, Gophna 1987, 1990). The ‘En Besor sealings share with the Abydos material the busy compositions and the use of numerous fill elements. Though found in completely different cultural contexts the ‘En Besor seals share with the Nubian seals and sealings ideograms such as inverted «ka» arms and human figures representing a controlling or ruling element in seal compositions. A major element from the Upper Egyptian style is the walking or «praising» man, though his tools or symbols of authority and control frequently change or disappear altogether. This may have more to do with differences in status of seal carriers and users at ‘En Besor who were shipping goods to Egypt rather than the Egyptian elites for whom the goods were intended. Additionally there is evidence for influence from Northern Syrian glyptic, particularly in some of the decorative elements such as wave borders (Pittman 1994a: figs. 10 a-b).

27A semiotic model used to analyze proto-literate Uruk seal impressions recognizes the different functions of the sites from which seals were recovered therefore the different glyptic needs of seal bearers acting at the culture’s core centers and those used on the periphery of the trading and production network (Pittman 1994b). A comparison of the seals from Uruk’s core and periphery show that the seals found at the center emphasize the ritual roles of the rulers. Those from the peripheral trading colonies in Syria show the production, management and transport of goods needed to support temple economies at the center.

28In applying this model to Upper Egyptian elites who also were engaged in controlling long distance trade networks, we can see that they shared similar needs with the elites of the Uruk system. While the economic frameworks for each of these systems are similar the symbolic frameworks for representing core and periphery were culturally specific (fig. 5). The elites of the central Naqada culture were interested in obtaining, controlling and redistributing rare trade goods for their benefit. Through the use and redistribution of these goods, the power and prestige of the ruler and the cult centers were enhanced. The images on the seals at the center would focus on the divine aspects of the ruler and interdependent relationship he shared with the gods who supported him. On the other hand, the administrators in the peripheral trading posts would have been interested in demonstrating their efficacy in obtaining and delivering goods needed at the center. Or as we know was the case in historic periods, the outpost commander’s duty was to keep the local inhabitants productive, under control and submissive to the Egyptian ruler.

5. Seal impressions
Impressions de sceau

29However, to concentrate exclusively on the long distance trade aspects of seal use and glyptic development would be to ignore half of the picture of the processes occurring within the Upper Egyptian core. From the Naqada IId to Dynasty 1, the region saw the consolidation of royal power reflected in glyptic development by royal iconography subsuming or incorporating other Upper Egyptian institutions including traditional cultic centers (Hill 2004: 117). The processes that accompanied this economic consolidation can only be read in the settlements of Upper Egypt of which we have very few surviving examples. It is hoped that continued investigations at El- Amra will shed light in these internal developments in early Egypt’s economic and iconographic systems.