Credited to Iraq. Sources place the invention at Uruk in southern Mesopotamia about 3500 BCE, with cylinder seals appearing slightly later at Susa in south-western Iran.
How it began
According to sources cited by Wikipedia, cylinder seals were invented around 3500 BCE in the Near East at Uruk in southern Mesopotamia, in present-day Iraq, and slightly later at Susa in south-western Iran. The Metropolitan Museum of Art holds early examples described as probably from Uruk (modern Warka) and says the first cylinder seals were probably made over 5,000 years ago. Their appearance is linked to the invention of cuneiform writing on clay tablets.
Before it existed
Cylinder seals followed the development of stamp seals, which are known from the Halaf culture or slightly earlier. A stamp seal was pressed once into clay. The cylinder seal was a special kind of seal that could be rolled instead of stamped, so one small object could cover a much larger surface with a repeating design.
How it works
A cylinder seal is a small cylinder engraved with written characters, figurative scenes or both. Rolled over wet clay, it leaves a raised impression of the carved design. Seals were made from hardstones, glass and ceramics. The impression functioned much like a signature. Seals marked clay tablets and were also impressed on other materials, including jars and textiles.
What lasted
Cylinder seals served as administrative tools, signatures and marks of ownership, and also had decorative and magical roles. They stayed in use for millennia: known examples include a seal of the Uruk period of about 3100 BCE, the seal of Queen Puabi of Ur of about 2600 BCE, a seal of Ur-Nammu, and an impression of a seal of Darius I of about 500 BCE. Scholars group them by culture, such as Akkadian, Assyrian and Babylonian seals.
