Sumer is the earliest known civilisation in the historical region of Mesopotamia, settled by humans circa 4500-4000 BC, founded in the region of the Fertile Crescent. Their control of the region lasted for around 2000 years, before the Babylonians settled in 2004 BC. The Jemdet Nasr Period took place in southern Mesopotamia with in the Sumerian culture. A great number of administrative cuneiform tablets and seals came from this period. The stamp seal was a carved object, usually made of stone, which first appeared in the fourth millennium BC and was used to impress pictures or descriptions into soft, prepared clay. These seals guaranteed the authenticity of marked ownership: as such, they were instrumental in legal transactions, and in the protection of goods against theft.
For more about stamp seals, see our relevant blog post: Making their Mark
