The Routledge Companion to Seals and Seal Studies in Antiquity : New Approaches to Mediterranean and West Asian Visual Culture

This volume highlights current trends in interdisciplinary scholarship on seals and sealing practices in the ancient world, touching on fields of art history, archaeology, Assyriology, and anthropology. It comprises 33 chapters written by prominent international scholars that explore the production and use of seals and a diverse range of sealing practices in the ancient world. Contributions cover a vast geographical area that includes Anatolia, Egypt, Greece, the Indus Valley, Iran, the Levant, Mesopotamia, and Spain, from the Neolithic through the present. The volume is organized into seven parts: Image Agency, Objecthood, and Object Biography; Materiality; Text and Image; Identity; Gender; Senses, Experience, and the Body; and Practice and Technology. This organizational structure allows readers to compare case studies around similar methodologies, rather than focus on specific geographies or periods. The volume provides fresh perspectives on seals and sealing practices as a means to study cultural practice, social interaction, and cognition from a wide range of cultures and geographies. The Routledge Companion to Seals and Seal Studies in Antiquity offers an invaluable resource for researchers and students in various fields, including West Asian, Mediterranean, and South Asian studies.