The mudbrick stamp or brick seal of

Mesopotamia Mesopotamia ''Mesopotamíā''; ar, بِلَاد ٱلرَّافِدَيْن or ; syc, ܐܪܡ ܢܗܪ̈ܝܢ, or , ) is a historical region of Western Asia situated within the Tigris–Euphrates river system, in the northern part of the ...

are impression or

stamp seal __NOTOC__ The stamp seal is a carved object, usually stone, first made in the 4th millennium BC, and probably earlier. They were used to impress their picture or inscription into soft, prepared clay. Seal devices have seldom survived through ti ...

s made upon bricks or

mudbrick A mudbrick or mud-brick is an air-dried brick, made of a mixture of loam, mud, sand and water mixed with a binding material such as rice husks or straw. Mudbricks are known from 9000 BCE, though since 4000 BCE, bricks have also been ...

. The inscribed seal is in

mirror A mirror or looking glass is an object that reflects an image. Light that bounces off a mirror will show an image of whatever is in front of it, when focused through the lens of the eye or a camera. Mirrors reverse the direction of the im ...

reverse on the 'mold', mostly with

cuneiform Cuneiform is a logo- syllabic script that was used to write several languages of the Ancient Middle East. The script was in active use from the early Bronze Age until the beginning of the Common Era. It is named for the characteristic wedge- ...

inscriptions, and the foundation mudbricks are often part of the memorializing of temples, or other structures, as part of a "

foundation deposit Foundation deposits are the archaeological remains of the ritual burial of materials under the foundations of buildings. File:Foundation nail IMG 0073-black.jpg, Foundation nail dedicated by Gudea to Ningirsu. File:Fenestrated axehead-AO 24447-P5 ...

", a common honoring or invocation to a specific god or protector.

Example mudbrick seal

The brick stamping mold for

Sin-Iddinam Sin-Iddinam (, dsuen-i-din-nam) ruled the ancient Near East city-state of Larsa from 1785 BC to 1778 BC. He was the son of Nur-Adad, with whom there may have been a short co-regency overlap. The annals for his 7-year reign record that he camp ...

Larsa Larsa ( Sumerian logogram: UD.UNUGKI, read ''Larsamki''), also referred to as Larancha/Laranchon (Gk. Λαραγχων) by Berossos and connected with the biblical Ellasar, was an important city-state of ancient Sumer, the center of the cult ...

is housed in the Louvre. It is a nearly complete mold, with an inscription in cuneiform to the Sun God, Utu, as a

for the god's temple, the Ebbabar.

Gallery

File:Clay seal AF12903 mp3h8659.jpg, Ancient Egypt
later clay seal impression, Dynasty 26, with name of an undetermined king Psamtik

Ancient Roman bricks

File:Museum Quintana - Ziegelstempel.jpg, Ancient Roman brick, with inscription

External links

High Res photo of stamp from MesopotamiaArticle
Bricks Ancient Near and Middle East clay objects {{MEast-stub