Craftsmen and Sponsors: Organization of Glyptic Productions in proto-Elamite Iran
Résumé
Cylinder seals represent a highly specialized craft. As objects, they demand a high level of craftsmanship; as administrative tools and “technologies of power”, they are linked to socioeconomic and political entities. Therefore, we need to examine the ways in which workshops were organized and the degree of craftsmen’s independence. This study will focus on two radically different productions: the “proto-Elamite classic style” and the “mechanical production” often referred to as “geometric seals” or “Jemdet Nasr seals.” Both are documented from the late 4th to the early 3rd millennium BCE in Iran. This article aims to understand and define the different production mechanisms established by societies during a period of unprecedented proto-urban development on the Iranian plateau, known as the “proto-Elamite phenomenon.”