Chapter Five - Rematerializing the Early Dynastic Banquet Seal

Summary

The banquet seal of third-millennium southern Mesopotamia is a rich source of information relating to the social, political, and religious practices of Sumerian elites, including women. Applying concepts of materiality to the banquet seal, I will argue that this type of seal came into use as part of broader changes in social order, in which elites used material culture, including seals, to establish and maintain their control over a social hierarchy that was becoming ever more steep. The banquet seal, with its image of elite feasting, helped structure and reinforce that social hierarchy. Made from materials in a limited range of colors, and carved with simple, legible scenes known in other media, the banquet seal was part of a suite of self-referential visual culture whose redundancy increased the power and readability of its message. This chapter demonstrates how viewing seals through the lens of materiality allows us to look beyond imagery and seal function to how seals helped constitute social relations.