Sumerian Cylinder Seal with Procession of Paired Porters Bearing a Slung Jar

Mesopotamia, Early Dynastic I–II Period, ca. 2900–2600 BC.

Carved in a creamy calcite stone preserving a beautifully legible frieze in which files of short-kilted men advance in a mirrored pair. The duo shoulders a horizontal carrying-pole from which a bulbous storage jar is suspended by two diagonal cords in a triangular sling, with a smaller accessory vessel resting on the ground line at their feet, an economical composition, cut in the shallow, linear manner characteristic of the earliest Early Dynastic glyptic and repeated around the full circumference of the stone to produce a continuous procession when rolled. The subject belongs to the vocabulary of temple- and palace-provisioning scenes, in which bulk commodities; most often the barley beer, oil, and grain that dominate contemporary Sumerian ration texts,  are conveyed to a central storehouse by teams of laborers, and it stands as a rare and quietly compelling document of the administered economy that first gave rise to writing itself.  Close iconographic parallels for the paired-porter motif include the Sumerian copper alloy figure Man Carrying a Box, Possibly for Offerings in the Metropolitan Museum of Art (55.142), dated to the same Early Dynastic I–II horizon, and several published calcite procession seals of the Fara–Ur I phase in the British Museum, notably within registration series 116000–123000 covering Late Uruk through Early Dynastic III.

 Cylinder seals acted as personal signatures and administrative tools, rolled across wet clay on tablets and jar stoppers to identify the owner or authority and make transactions legally binding. In addition, they served as protective amulets and status symbols, being drilled and worn on cords or pinned to garments, with their imagery and materials believed to confer protection and prestige.

Size 1 in (2.54 cm ) Height.  Damage and repair evident in surface. 

Provenance: Pierce Thomas Williamson (15 March 1949 – 18 November 2025), of Tiverton, Rhode Island. Williamson was a graduate of De La Salle High School (Newport, RI) and of Rhode Island College, where he earned a bachelor's degree in history and secondary education. He taught history at Tiverton High School for thirty-six years, ultimately serving as Chairman of the History Department, and was widely known among his students, colleagues, and community for his scholarly engagement with American and European history and for his ability to bring historical objects and events vividly into the classroom.