Making their Mark: A Concise Guide to Western Asiatic Stamp Seals

Differing from most of the delicate and sophisticatedly engraved stamps seals made of precious stones, the earliest ancient Near Eastern stamping devices were relatively large ceramic objects with a stem handle and with geometric patterns engraved on the bases. They have been extensively found in village settlements of the Neolithic period in Anatolia, Mesopotamia, Levant  … Read more

By Anastasia,

  Category: Imagery & Symbolism, Near East
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Mesopotamian Cylinder Seals—Exploring Glyptic Images

In the ancient Near East, cylinder seals were used over a wide geographical landscape, that extended from Anatolia (modern-day Turkey) to the valley of the Indus River. There were various ancient Near Eastern cultures, that once flourished in the ancient Near Eastern landscape, that developed distinctive imagery representations and iconic glyptic styles expressing different mythological  … Read more

By Anastasia,

  Category: Imagery & Symbolism, Near East
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Decorative Metalwork Techniques

There were many methods used to decorate and embellish ancient items ranging from delicate jewellery, impressive armoury and funerary objects to magnificent buildings and palaces. Each requiring a high level of skill and intricacy. Many techniques travelled across different civilisations and periods, modified slightly to the actual process and look for better precision or influences  … Read more

By Leia Dowding,

  Category: Decorative Techniques
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Engraved Gemstones in Ancient Rome

Mesopotamian Traditions and Roman Craftmanship Intaglios – carved gemstones – usually mounted in rings, were a popular style of Roman jewellery for their aesthetic and practical uses. The technique was established well before the Roman period, most likely in Ancient Mesopotamia. Drill cutting techniques established by the Greeks, allowed the Romans to create intricate intaglio  … Read more

By Virginia,

  Category: Ancient Rome, Buying & Collecting, Imagery & Symbolism
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The Symbolism of the Spiral in Celtic Imagery

Early Spirals Spiral patterns, although associated now with the Celtic people, have in one form or another, been used in the art of many cultures worldwide. Appearing on rock art in Britain and Ireland as far back as the Neolithic period, spirals appear to have held important, though now forgotten, meaning with some of the  … Read more

By Virginia,

  Category: Imagery & Symbolism, The Celts
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The History and Mythology of Gemstones in Ancient Jewellery

Jewellery in Ancient Egypt Jewellery has been worn by ancient cultures around the world for thousands of years. In ancient Egypt both men and women were great lovers of jewellery and adorned themselves with a profusion of charms and amulets. Jewellery also showed wealth and status and offered protection from evil. Although the Egyptians had  … Read more

By Anastasia,

  Category: Ancient Egypt, Ancient Greece, Ancient Rome, Imagery & Symbolism
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Scythian Gold

Scythians, a nomadic civilisation Despite being a nomadic civilisation, the Scythians proved immensely helpful in the preservation of their own culture for posterity in that they understood the conservational capacity of ice. They went to great lengths to preserve their dead, mummifying them and then burying them in mountainous regions across Eurasia – Kazakhstan, Mongolia,  … Read more

By Virginia,

  Category: Near East
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