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Archaeological Collection

The clay stamps

The clay stamps
Item name:The clay stamps
On display:The Earliest Stories from the Crossroads

Description

The clay stamps from the late 5th and the 4th millennium BC, shaped like buttons or cylinders, are associated with decorating and dying or painting clothes, as well as human bodies. The cylindrical seal from Pusti Gradac in Bela Krajina (top) dates to the second half of the 5th millennium BC. Its spiral decoration is unusual for the local Lengyel and Lasinja pottery productions. The three button-shaped seals from Gradec near Mirna (centre) are attributable to the first half of the 4th millennium BC, the cylindrical seal from the pile-dwelling site at Notranje Gorice (bottom) to the second half.

Details

1. Cylindrical seal, clay, l. 6 cm, 4600–4400 BC, Pusti Gradac, Inv. No. B 5994.
2. Button-shaped seal, clay, l. 5.5 cm, 3900–3700 BC, Gradec near Mirna, Inv. No. P 16516.
3. Button-shaped seal, clay, l. 3 cm, 3900–3700 BC, Gradec near Mirna, Inv. No. P 16518.
4. Button-shaped seal, clay, l. 6 cm, 3900–3700 BC, Gradec near Mirna, Inv. No. P 16517.
5. Cylindrical seal, clay, l. 5.9 cm, 3500–3100 BC, Notranje Gorice, Inv. No. B 5852.

Further reading

Turk, Peter and Turk, Matija, 2019: The Earliest Stories from the Crossroads, Ljubljana, Fig. 146, pp. 110, 244.

On display in the Permanent Exhibition