650 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1959 
Lapis lazuli, the dark blue semiprecious stone, was one of the most 
popular materials for inlaid jewelry, beads, and cylinder seals, though 
this stone, like diorite and obsidian, had to be imported from distant 
lands. 
Ficure 19.—Fragment of stone stela; the thunderbolt god Ningirsu with eagle and stone 
mace. 
The cylinder seal, a large cylinder-shaped carved bead which the 
owner wore also as a proud ornament, was one of the original Sumerian 
inventions. Every seal was engraved differently; there are no two 
seals with identical designs. The design of the seal symbolized the 
owner and marked his property. A jar of oil or wine or a barrel of 
Figure 20.—Royal cylinder seal. 
corn could be closed with a stamp of wet clay; the seal was then rolled 
over it and this print identified ownership. Documents written by 
scribes on wet clay were affirmed by the seals of the contracting parties. 
Naturally, the design had to be sophisticated enough to be unique. 
Seals and impressions are so abundant in Mesopotamian sites that 
Legrain (1951) calls their collection “one of our most constant and 
