Le scene di pastorizia nelle impronte di sigillo su giara del Bronzo Antico: l’espressione simbolica dell’ideologia rurale all’interno del sistema economico regionale eblaita
Author(s)
Date Issued
2014
Type
bookPart
Volume
XVI
Start Page
223
End Page
250
Abstract
The iconographic and stylistic features of the Early Bronze Age seal impressions on jars
can be better investigated if they are analyzed in relation with the functional purposes of
the sealings and the uses of the sealed vessels. More specifically, the representations linked
to the fertility symbols and the productivity sphere, as the ‘shepherd scenes’, are crucial
for defining the position of the common glyptic within the proto-urban Syro-Palestine
contexts and the meanings borne by the depictions chosen. ‘Shepherd scenes’, in fact, with
their themes and symbols, may represent the needs of the rural components of the protourban
societies, materially and ideologically tied to the field of fertility and productivity.
This interpretation, consequently, strengths the hypothesis that these socio-economic
levels played an active role in the production of the sealed jars, as far as concerns both
the contents of the vessels and the sealings themselves. In this regard Ebla represents an
ideal case-study, since a rich evidence concerning the common glyptic is here attested.
The ‘shepherd’ or ‘defense of the herd’ scenes are well documented, showing a certain
degree of variety in the style and structure of the depiction and having comparisons with
impressions from the whole Syria-Palestine. From a formal point of view, moreover, these
representations show Mesopotamian (Uruk and Early Dynastic) ichnographic influences
which, superimposed on the local Late Chalcolithic traditions but also re-elaborated
according to the regional cultural preferences and aesthetical taste, contribute to create
the features of the Syro-Palestinian Early Bronze Age common glyptic.