Seven thousand years ago, residents of prehistoric Israel engaged in complex barter activities and protected property rights, research based on millennia-old clay seal impressions has revealed.
In antiquity, seal impressions – known among experts with the Latin term bullae – were used to sign documents or containers, ensuring they would reach their recipients closed and untouched.
Some 150 clay sealings dating back some 7,000 years were found in an excavation conducted by Hebrew University of Jerusalem archaeologists in 2004-2007 in Tel Tsaf – a prehistoric village in the Beit She’an Valley in the North. While their purpose was the same, almost all of these sealings were simple pieces of clay, without any impression on them.
From an article in the Jerusalem Post
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