Corpus of Stamp Seals from the Southern Levant. Volume VI

The <i>Corpus of Stamp Seals from the Southern Levant</i> (CSSL) continues the <i>Corpus der Stempelsiegel-Amulette aus Palästina/Israel</i> (CSAPI), introduced by Othmar Keel in 1995 with a groundbreaking introductory volume (OBO.SA 10: Einleitung) and pursued from 1997 to 2017 with five massive catalogue volumes (OBO.SA 13, 29, 31, 33, 35). CSAPI I-V listed 8250 stamp seals and stamp seal impressions; additional 591 items were published by Jürg Eggler and Othmar Keel in their <i>Corpus der Siegelamulette aus Jordanien</i> (OBO.SA 25, 2006). The present volume, dubbed CSSL VI to underline continuity in purpose, is the first of a series aiming to bring Keel’s <i>Corpus</i> to completion. Adding another 947 objects, it brings the total of published items to 9788. Virtually all (945) are from Lachish, a major Canaanite, later Judahite site during the Bronze and Iron Ages. <br />Due to the expanded format of both textual description and visual documentation, CSSL VI is published in two parts. While basic principles of Keel’s volumes are maintained for the sake of consistency, some aspects have been significantly modified. First and foremost, CSSL is the product of a collective endeavour, resulting from the commitment of more than a dozen junior and senior researchers. In terms of form and content, CSSL is published entirely in English; stamp seals are whenever possible documented in six photographic views, many hundreds of them in new colour photographs, which allow a better grasp of the original objects and their present state of preservation. The objects are discussed in detail following a rigorous analytical protocol, which values the description of the base engravings but puts equal emphasis on the objects’ material characteristics and the archaeological context from which they were retrieved. Perhaps most significant in terms of continuity and innovation, CSSL retains a sustainable book format, but the corpus is released simultaneously as a fully searchable, open access digital database.

• Edited by C. Uehlinger
• Edited by I. Koch
• Edited by S. Münger
• Edited by S. Schroer