An interesting 4,000-year-old “seal” engraving discovered in the UAE
Archaeologists have discovered a soft stone seal from the end of the third millennium BC in “Kulba” in Sharjah, UAE; The motifs on this seal strangely relate to completely different cultures.
Faradid | Since 2019, excavations in the southeast of the Arabian Peninsula have been carried out by the Austrian Academy of Sciences (OeAW) for investigation. As a result of this research, researchers for the first time can identify extensive trade networks from the Indus region to the Aegean Sea around 4500 years ago. According to researchers, probably the Persian Gulf region was a link between East and West about 4500 years ago.
According to Faradid, Kolba is an ancient site in Sharjah, United Arab Emirates, which has been continuously inhabited since the early Bronze Age to the Iron Age (about 2500 to 600 BC).
In addition to providing a favorable climate, the strategic location of Kolba made it an excellent entry point that connected land and sea caravan routes.
The discovery of a special seal in the archaeological excavations of this area indicates the involvement of Kolba in the extensive trade and exchange networks. According to archaeologists, this type of seal, which was originally produced in the “Dilmon” region (west of the Persian Gulf), can be attributed to the end of the third millennium BC.
This seal depicts a bull and possibly a lion in attack mode. Bull motifs, widely identified in similar seals, are influenced by the iconography of seals from the Indus Valley (India). However, the existence of the image of a lion is very interesting and unexpected, because this image is not found in the seals of the Indus Valley, but is seen more as a character in the cylinder seals of the westernmost Mesopotamia region.
Therefore, the motifs on the Kolba seal are apparently a combination of the traditions of eastern and western motifs; Traditions that were brought to this region due to the booming trade on the coast of the Persian Gulf.
