Stamp seals first appeared in Mesopotamia around early the 6th millennium BC. They were used as an administrative tool, acting as a signature, for stamping on clay surfaces, as were the cylinder seals invented in the 4th millennium BC. Traditional Mesopotamian seals had a profound aesthetic influence on the peripheral regions, among which Anatolian stamp seals inherited most of the typical features from the Old Assyrian period (circa 2000-1700 BC).
The Dingir symbol had various uses, comprised of a crescent moon and star it was originally used as a ideogram to represent the sky and heavens. Its use was later extended to a phonogram to represent a god or goddess, specifically the supreme deity of the Sumerian pantheon; An. The two concepts, of the heavens and divinity, were closely intertwined with the cuneiform sign for the divine being also used to represent the heavens. The Dingir was a motif commonly used on seals.