Bamboula (…“Seal impressions…”) Benson 1955Jack L. Benson

Mycenaean

AMERICAN SCHOOL OF CLASSICAL STUDIES? [printed: ...] (faint header, not legible)

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[handwritten: Tell Judaidah?] [handwritten: have been] sherds was found at Tell el-Judaidah and another at El-Karm. [handwritten: Tell Judaidah and another at El-Karm]

All these representations have, as a group, much in common. Their occurrence is limited to a connected land area and to a connected line sequence. They show a certain stylistic homogeneity; however, it is not my purpose to discuss either this or their ultimate stylistic affiliations, since in this respect they have absolutely no connection with the Bamboula specimens. Technically, the representations of the group also have in common a flat, unmodelled surface. This again is generally not the case with the Bamboula specimens. In other matters of technique, however, there are some general resemblances between the Bamboula group and the mainland group. Among the latter, it appears that the majority of seal impressions are on the body of large storage jars, although there are deviations from this rule. Two of the Tarsus examples are described as being on the sides of bowls, another on a handle. One of the examples from Hama has the impression partly on the side of the rim. Several others appear to be on the side of a short flaring rim or neck. The El-Karm example is described as being on the side of a large bowl. The variety indicated here corresponds to the situation at Bamboula, where impressions occur on neck, side and rim of large storage jars and also on the handle of a jug.

Handwritten: Mycenaean

Handwritten marginal note, struck through: square seal stamps are also found

The terracotta stamp seal from Bamboula is unusual not only in being terracotta (see below) but for its square shape. Square seal stamps are associated primarily with the Indus Valley civilization in the third and second millennia. Hittite square and rectangular seals are also found with some frequency during the second millennium; and it is with these that one might expect to find some relationship on the part of the Bamboula

19 [handwritten: 20]

[pencil annotation: PTQ] [pencil annotation: (rubbed) back]