Over 6,000 burnt lumps of clay have now been found in Doliche, most of which appear inconspicuous at first glance, but are nonetheless special. They are the remains of document closures

Since Hellenistic times, contracts of all kinds have been written on papyrus and parchment. The documents were then folded up and wrapped with a string. This was closed and sealed with a lump of clay.

More than 25 archives from Hellenistic and Roman antiquity are now known to have been localised on the basis of the document seals found.

The special feature of these finds is that they have mostly only survived because the archives were burnt down. The fire preserved the air-dried seals, similar to ceramic firing, only unintentionally. However, the context was also lost in the fire: the documents were burnt and the archives also went up in flames.

Current results
The lumps of clay were fired like pottery and thus preserved for posterity. Many of the more than 6,000 document seals from Doliche are sealed. The range of images shows an almost inexhaustible iconographic repertoire. Some of the seals were pressed hundreds of times in clay. In addition to their size, this is a decisive indication that they are official seals.

All the items are currently being recorded in a database, which will soon be made available to scientists and interested members of the public. All the key data on the individual document seals and the impressions on them are recorded there.

Among other things, the size, a brief description, the inventory number, the number of impressions, the literature, the dimensions, the impression form, the seal form and the writing medium are documented. The marks on the back of a document seal usually indicate whether the seal was applied to papyrus or parchment.

All seal impressions are always photographed from the front, from behind and from the side. In the case of the scorpion seal, it can be seen that the writing medium was papyrus. This is revealed by the grooves on the back, which originate from the fibres of the papyrus. The edges of the thread with which the document was wrapped can also be clearly recognised.

The size is of particular importance, as the study of Hellenistic and Roman seal impressions from the Mediterranean world has shown that the official seals, i.e. those used by public officials, are often significantly larger than the so-called individual seals. Individual seals are seals that cannot be assigned to an institution, city or official. Incidentally, an official seal can only be clearly recognised if an inscription is included. In Doliche there are two seals with such inscriptions: one shows the goddess Tyche and the other the handshake (Greek: dexiosis) between the main deity of Doliche – Iuppiter Dolichenus – and the Roman emperor. In the Greek inscription, the name of the city is written in the genitive case.

Other official seals can be deduced from the number of imprints that have survived, as these were used much more frequently than the individual seals. It can therefore be assumed that at least 20 official seals were used in the Doliche archive.

While these seals clearly stand out from the crowd, the individual seals are more difficult to classify. As the documents have been lost and the associated archives destroyed, we have no clues as to which seal was used for which type of document. We are therefore faced with an almost unbelievable mass of seal images, which have often only survived in one impression. The following applies: there is (almost) nothing that does not exist. We have surviving depictions of portraits, male and female figures, heroes, vessels, masks, goddesses and gods, animals, hybrid creatures and much more. However, the users of the seals remain anonymous.

We hope that the detailed documentation in our database will enable us to better categorise the material in the future. In addition, online access will enable colleagues to access this rich iconographic repertoire. The material is also to be presented in printed form as a catalogue, although the material can only be treated cursorily here due to its abundance

Incidentally, among the document seals from Doliche there are also some that have no imprints at all. Apparently, these seals were purely functional and no sealing was required.

The same probably applies to the circular imprints on the back of the writing instruments. Who ‘sealed’ them also remains unclear. However, these seals tell us more about the sealing process than many a beautiful picture. Apparently, the act of sealing was more important than the seal itself.

Expter & Author