I hope you are as excited to learn more about the ancient avian history as I am to teach it! Today we begin with a look at the earliest periods of cylinder seal creation. We will cover the Protoliterate Period (before 3000 BC) and the three Early Dynastic periods (3000 BC to 2400 BC)
The Protoliterate Period, also called the Ukuk period, describes the seals created prior to 3000 BC contain a striking amount of detail that never existed in the period just previous (the Al Ubaid after an excavation site near the city of Ur). This means we have no record of how the ancient peoples of the Tigris and Euphrates area near the Persian Gulf came to learn how to create such works. It was during this period, about 3300 BC, that cylinder seals and human writing, make an appearance on the world stage for the very first time.
This first plate shows a long-haired female sitting on a short piece of furniture with her hands raised towards a structure, possibly a temple and possibly in worship. Besides the structure stands the known symbol for Inanna, the rod and ring.
The second plate comes from the Early Dynastic period (I)
The Early Dynastic period shows a change in the style of artwork depicted on the seals. In the early phases (I) there is no enrichment of the subject matter and much of the artwork is geometric in nature, sometimes with animals included in the design. Human figures were rarely shown in this early stage.
In the second phase (II) the trends form the previous stage were continued, except now the artwork took up the whole seal from top to bottom, even if the figures were a mixture of standing and sitting. (Perspective was not practiced!) The main themes during this time period were heroes and animals.
This plate shows an early banquet scene with an alter in the middle, upon which stands an unknown circular object. Two people sit back to back against the altar and on both sides worshippers come towards them
This plate comes from the Early Dynastic III period (approximately 3000-2340 BC.) and shows five figures that have bird-like heads. One bird-man offers a cup to a seated deity which wears the double-horned headgear. Double-horned headgear in the ancient near-east is thought to be a symbol of divinity. The figure to the right of the seated deity has an exceptionally long reach and appears to be fighting a skirted figure that has elaborate bird-like features including feathers on the head and a long protruding beak. This skirted figure is also containing a smaller skirted figure, which also appears to be fighting the warrior with the long arm.
