Akkadian cylinder seals played an important role in archival and administrative functions. What were these, how were they made, and what was their purpose?

Akkadian cylinder seal is a part cut in reverse to create relief embossing on clay tablets. Yelena Rakic notes that they began to be used in the middle of the 4th millennium BC when writing appeared. Cylinders with various images, including creatures with the heads of a bull and a lion, stars, a moon, and ruminants, were used to create the seal. Their primary purpose was to protect something from being opened. That is, they served as a kind of lock. Furthermore, they were used as a signature to certify the authenticity of documents. Thus, this invention has been an integral subject of document circulation in Mesopotamia.

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