An Old Babylonian Cylinder Seal from the Museo Orientale Umberto Scerrato: Notes on a Digital Microscopic High Magnification Analysis

Thirty-seven seals constitute a collection exhibit in the Museo Orientale Umberto Scerrato (MOUS) of the University of Napoli “L’Orientale”. The lot was acquired during the 1960s of the last century by Professor of Semitic Studies Giovanni Garbini in order to give form to a permanent collection for educational purposes. All of them, both cylinder and stamp seals were previously studied by L. Cagni, S. Campurra Mazzoni, and A. de Maigret in the early 1970s; finally, they were described by S. Graziani in the catalogue of the MOUS, whose last edited version (2nd) appeared in 2018. Since the previous studies focused on the stylistic and iconographic features of both cylindrical and stamp seals, a technological study mainly addressed to engraving and intaglio techniques will be carried out within the laboratory activities of the MOUS and the teaching of Archaeology and Art History of the Ancient Near East at “L’Orientale”. The collection is even more valuable because the seals cover a wide chronological range, stretching from the Akkadian to the Sassanian period, allowing to observe the technological changes that characterize the Ancient Near Eastern glyptic, based on a high magnification digital microscopic analysis approach and the support of 3D orthorectified models.