Openwork seals are a distinctive type of artifact characteristic of the Oxus Civilization/Bactria-Margiana Archaeological Complex (BMAC) and Halil Rud civilization. Worn on hair or on cloth, these seal-pins conveyed visual information to onlookers by the means of elaborated images visible on the obverse, while the corresponding compartmented patterns on the opposite side, used to make impressions, are less obvious and discernible. This chapter focuses on an intriguing example of these artifacts which was recently recovered by the Iranian security forces from illegal excavators. Its iconography is discussed within the broader framework of the Halil Rud imagery on chlorite artifacts and additional glyptic art.
The ‘Bee-Bull’ that Whirled Clockwise: An Openwork Copper Seal-Pin of The Halil Rud Civilization
Massimo Vidale
;
2023
Abstract
Openwork seals are a distinctive type of artifact characteristic of the Oxus Civilization/Bactria-Margiana Archaeological Complex (BMAC) and Halil Rud civilization. Worn on hair or on cloth, these seal-pins conveyed visual information to onlookers by the means of elaborated images visible on the obverse, while the corresponding compartmented patterns on the opposite side, used to make impressions, are less obvious and discernible. This chapter focuses on an intriguing example of these artifacts which was recently recovered by the Iranian security forces from illegal excavators. Its iconography is discussed within the broader framework of the Halil Rud imagery on chlorite artifacts and additional glyptic art.Pubblicazioni consigliate
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