Sealing without seals

– an explanation

“Once upon a time...” or rather during the period 30 Aug. – 5 Sept. 1987 was
in Athens held the conference Sixth International Colloquium on Aegean Pre-
history. The Prehistoric Aegean and its Relations to adjacent Areas the papers
of which have not yet been published. Fourteen years is a long time and much
research concerning Minoan and Mycenaean seal administration has been
published during those years, while the topic of my paper “Sealing without
seals” has not received much attension. The paper may therefore still be of
interest for those working on Minoan and Mycenaean administration, and I am
grateful to the Centre of Cultural Research at the University of Aarhus for
making it available in their series “Work in progress” and on the Internet.
In the following I present the original paper as it was delivered for the pro-
ceedings of the congress. I have, however, added a plan of the LM I settlement
of the GSE and in square brackets [...] given a few comments and references
to relevant publications which have appeared since 1987:

CMS V, Suppl. 1A, Berlin 1992

CMS II.6, Berlin 1999
Hallager, E.,
1996 The Minoan Roundel – and other Sealed Documents in the Neopala-
tial Linear A Administration, I-II, (Aegaeum 14), Liège 1996.
Hallager, E. & B.P. Hallager (eds.),
2002 The Greek-Swedish Excavations at the Ag. Aikaterini Square Kastelli,
Khania 1970 1987, III, The Late Minoan IIIB:2 settlement, (ActaAth –
4o XLVII:III), Stockholm 2002.
Pini, Ingo (ed.)
1997 Die Tonplomben aus dem Nestorpalast von Pylos, bearbeitet von W.
Müller, J.-P. Olivier, I. Pini & A. Sakellariou (†), Mainz 1997.

Århus, 16 November 2001

Erik Hallager
 SEALING WITHOUT SEALS

by
Erik Hallager

By the phrase "sealing" is here meant the deliberate securing of the contents
of an object (including a document) in such a way that the "sealing" must be
physically broken to get at the contents.
The finds from the MM IIB Room 25 at Phaistos are a good example of
how the Minoans by the end of the Old Palace period used clay and seals in a
way very similar to that which we find in the Eastern Mediterranean to secure
property and to control access to storerooms. Then, it seems, sealings sealed
objects rather than documents. About 10% of the sealings had secured various
kinds of identifiable goods such as jars or rush matting, while about 90% sea-
led either flaring wooden pommels or small wooden cylindrical pegs, both
wrapped around with cords. Characteristic for all these sealings is the repeated
use of one seal all over the clay lump which sealed the object or peg.
When we get further down in time in MM III(/LM IA) at Knossos and
Mallia this sealing system seems in part to continue, but two new sealing types
are introduced:
l. A crescent-shaped sealing pierced with stringholes [Single-hole and two-
hole hanging nodules, cf. Hallager 1996, fig. 2; Schnur-plombe and Schnur-

* I wish to express my gratitude to the Director of the excavation, Dr. Yannis Tzedakis, for his
agreement to the presentation of this material before the final publication, and to Dr. Maria Vla-
saki for her agreement to the mentioning of the LM I vases to which the different clay stoppers
fitted. Also a warm thanks to Ms's Helle Vandkilde and Vanna Ninniou for their agreement to the
inclusion of the relevant fragments of pithoi. I wish to thank Dr. Geoffrey Bibby for correcting the
English text. Finally I wish to express my gratitude to the Danish Research Council for the Huma-
nities, which granted me the scholarship under which it was possible to carry out this study.
All photographs are by the author, except Fig. 3a which is by Ms B.P. Hallager to whom I am
also grateful for her criticism of this manuscript.

3
Fig. 1. The Greek-Swedish Excavations at Kastelli, Khania. Plan of the LM I settlement
after the excavation i 1987.

end-plomben, cf. Müller in Pini 1997, Tabelle 1; CMS 6.2, Tableau 1-2],
which according to Weingarten is the new way of sealing objects – the clay no
longer being pressed against the object [for a different opinion Hallager 1996
I, 197-199], and
2. A flat-based nodule, where the clay has been pressed down directly onto
leather strips which have very reasonably been interpreted as parchment docu-

4
ments [Flat-based nodules, cf. Hallager 1996, fig. 2; Päckchenplomben, cf.
Müller in Pini 1997, Tabelle 1; CMS II.6, Tableau 4].
Those two types in a developed form became the most common types in
the LM I period and we find – again according to Weingarten – : "a change of
emphasis, now on sealings which authenticate, rather than sealings which
prove the storeroom or container is intact".1
When we get down into LM IB it seems that the above two main types,
with the addition of some "unusual clay nodules" [the nodulus] which had not
been fastened to anything,2 were the only sealings in use in the Minoan admi-
nistration. Such sealings or nodules have been found all over the island and
with this "The switch from Phaistos, from Near Eastern sealing habits, is com-
plete."3
The change is undeniable, but evidence from the Greek-Swedish Excavati-
ons at Khania (Fig. 1) may raise the question of whether the change was so
profound as published evidence seems to indicate.

For sealings other than those usually used one may call attention to The
Master Impression, which does not fall into any of the known categories and
which may have sealed a written document rolled up from two ends and bound
by a string which was then sealed.4
Another unusual sealing – also from the GSE – is a triangular clay bar with
twelve seal impressions, ten of which are different.5 We do not know what it
sealed. Dr. Pini has suggested that it was pressed against leather or
parchment. The "package" was securely tied up by several strings, the impres-
sions of which are seen on the reverse.6 This clay bar came from a cupboard

1 J. Weingarten, "The sealing structures of Minoan Crete: MM II Phaistos to the destruction of the
Palace of Knossos. Part I: The evidence until the LM IB destructions." OJA 5 (1986), 280.
2 J. Weingarten, "Some unusual Minoan Clay Nodules" Kadmos 25 (1986), 1-21.
3 Weingarten (supra n.1), 283.
4 Excavation no. GSE 83-TC 001, Mus.no. KH 1563; E. Hallager, The Master Impression (SIMA

59), Göteborg 1985, 14-15, [CMS V, Suppl. 1A, no. 142; Hallager 1996 I, 202 and fig. 75].
5 This clay bar (Excavation no. GSE 73-TC 037, Mus.no. KH 1559), is illustrated and briefly des-

cribed in Hallager (supra n.4), ll-12, fig 2, and E. Hallager, "The Greek-Swedish Excavations at
Khania" in Proceedings of the 5th International Cretological Congress, Vol.1, Heraklion 1985,
144 and fig. 6, [CMS V, Suppl. 1A, nr. 128-137; Hallager 1996 I, 202-203, fig. 75].
6 It is probable that most of one side of the sealed object was covered by the clay (to judge from

the bent edges). [In Hallager 1996 I, 103 it is argued that the clay bar sealed a large parchment
document].

5
Fig. 2. The clay stopper in the spout of a Minoan flask. Note the broken rim of the
spout. Only when the plaster of paris with which we had restored the spout was remo-
ved, did the stopper fit.

in our House I, Room D, which also revealed several other interesting seal-
ings.7
One of them showed evidence that objects continued to be sealed, as indi-
cated by a clay stopper (Fig. 9b)8 belonging to a Minoan flask with a broken
rim (Fig. 2).9 That it really sealed the flask although no stringholes were seen
is not only indicated by the seal impressions but also by the thickness of the
fracture along the edge (which also broke one of the seal impressions!), indi-

7 Among others the two of the "unusual clay nodules" (cf. n.2) [noduli], briefly mentioned in E.

Hallager, "The Roundel in the Minoan Administrative System" in Problems in Greek Prehistory,
E.B. French & K. Wardle (eds.), Bristol 1988, 110, n.8. One with the imprint of a jumping bull is
illustrated in M.-L., Winbladh, "Svensk-grekiska utgrävningar på Kreta," (Riksantikvarie-ämbetet
och Statens Historiske Museer, Årsbok 1978-79), with an English summary, Stockholm 1979, 67.
[One nodulus is GSE 76-TC 003, Mus.no. 1561, cf. CMS V, Suppl. 1A, nr. 145, the other is GSE
76-TC 004, Mus.no. 1562, cf. CMS V, Suppl. 1A, Nr. 140.]
8 Excavation no. GSE 76-TC 001; Mus.no. 1560. [CMS V, Suppl. 1A, nr. 138.]
9 Excavation no. GSE 73-P 0753.

6
 a b

Fig. 3. Two more clay stoppers with seal impressions. Left 73-TC 055 and right 77-TC
099. On both are clearly seen impressions from strings (a kind of bast) and the impres-
sions from seals. Both were found in contexts later than LM I.

cating that the clay lump had enveloped tightly both the remaining part of the
rim and the handles.
We have two more clay stoppers with seal impressions (Fig. 3).10 They are
of a slightly different type, in that the clay had not only surrounded the rim of
the spout, but was further secured by a string being wound four times over the
stopper before more clay and the seal impressions were added. Those two
stoppers, however, come from LM IIIA:2/IIIB:1 contexts and may not have
been part of the LM I deposits.
If we return to House I, Room D, we shall also find evidence that the
Minoans sealed or secured the contents of containers with clay – but without
using a seal! In 1976 we found two curved triangular pieces of terracotta,11
which had been placed – perhaps with a thin piece of intestine below – on the
flat rim of a small stone vase12 measuring ca. 11 cms in diameter (Fig. 4). The
stone vase, found in 1973, had fallen from a cupboard in Room D.13 Neither

10 The one, excavation no. GSE 77-TC 099; Mus.no. KH 1564 [CMS V, Suppl.1A, Nr. 149], was
found during the excavation of the LM IIIA:2/IIIB:1 building, Room C (northern part) and the
second, excavation no. GSE 73, TC 55; Mus.no. 1655 [CMS V, Suppl. 1A, Nr. 147-148], was
found in a rubbish pit dug into the destruction level above House I, Room D.
11 Excavation nos. GSE 76-TC 005 and 007.
12 Excavation no. GSE 73-S 039.
13 Tzedakis, Y., in AD Chron 29 (1973-74), pl. 686b; Hallager (supra n.5), 144, fig.5.

7
Fig. 4. Two frag-
ments of clay seal-
ings were found to
fit exactly the rim
of a small spouted
stone vase. The
stone vase may ori-
ginally have been
covered with a
piece of leather or
intestine. The small
handles and/or
knobs immediately
below the rim
could have been
useful in holding
the string which
may have been
secured in the clay
sealing.

of the two sealing fragments bore traces of seal impressions. It is, however,
surmised that a string around the spout and the opposite handle had passed
through the clay to make it a real "sealing".
Excavating the ruins of the destroyed LM I buildings in the Square we
came in 1984 upon two other fragments of sealings. Both appear to have sea-
led pithoi. One of them14 had stood upright on the outer edge of a "square-rim"
pithos,and bore the imprints of very rough basketry and clear imprints of fin-
gers from smoothing the clay on the outside (Fig. 5). The other one15 is som-
ewhat different in that it sealed a pithos with another type of rim (Fig. 6). Here

14 Excavation no. GSE 84-TC 065. It was found among the ruins from one of the LM I houses
bordering the Square, actually just below the earliest of the LM II layers in the reused street in the
plateia. For this see E. Hallager & Y. Tzedakis, "The Greek-Swedish Excavations at Kastelli, Kha-
nia 1984, AAA 18 (1985), 17-18. In Fig. 4 the sealing stands on pithos fragment 84-P 1822 coming
from the same context as the sealing.
15 Excavation no. GSE 84-TC 057, which was also found in the ruins of the LM I houses which

had bordered the square (see further above, n.14). In Fig. 5 the fragment has been placed on the
rim fragment of a pithos GSE 84-P 2011A which was found in the same general context as the
sealing.

8
Fig. 5. Clay sealing 84-TC 065 which had stood upright on the outer edge of a pithos
coming from the same context as the sealing. Approximate diameter of pithos and seal-
ing 50 cms.

Fig. 6. The clay sealing 84-TC 057 which had stood along the inner edge of a pithos
pressed against a mat. In this case both pithos (approximate diameter: 50 cms) and
sealing were found in the same general context.

9
 a b

c d
Fig. 7. Top left: unstamped clay nodule 87-TC 003 and top right: stamped nodule 84-
TC 046 of similar shape. Below is seen the imprint of the knot (and the small holes from
the loose ends of the string) over which the nodule was pressed.

10
the flat side of the sealing is the broader and the smoothing of the clay is found
on the upper part of the sealing. The lid was probably a spirally constructed
mat sewn with strips of palm leaves around the edge, as the impressions in the
clay seem to show. [A few parallels to this type of sealing is found among the
MM II Phaistos sealings.].
Here, then, are found two examples of a sealing procedure where pithoi
were sealed with clay, but where the use of a seal was apparently not needed
to secure the integrity of the contents. Against this it may perhaps be argued
that – as with the sealing on the stone vase – they were not complete, and that
one or more seal impressions may have been present on the missing fragments
– or that the use of clay in the examples given was just a practical precaution
to keep whatever covered the vase or object in place. Furthermore, impres-
sions of strings – which would have indicated that the clay was really inten-
ded to seal the pithoi and the stone vase – were not found in any of the three
examples.
But that a sealing procedure without the use of seals was ordinarily practi-
ced in Khania seems strongly indicated by a small clay nodule16 discovered
during the excavation in 1987. It had been incorporated as a pebble in a peb-
ble-floor of the IIIB:2 period, which gives the terminus ante quem. Shape, clay
and fabric, however, strongly recalls another clay nodule with a seal impres-
sion, probably of LM I date (Fig. 7a,b).17 The exact date of the nodule found
in 1987 must remain uncertain, but it was clearly used to seal something,
because in the hole which can be seen on its surface was found the imprint of
a knot from a string, and it can be seen how the loose ends from the string had
made small holes in the clay (Fig. 7c,d). Clearly this small clay object had the
same practical function as Weingarten's nodules type 6 to 11, which all secure
a string. And, as is the case with the ordinary nodules, we cannot be sure what
was being sealed by this object.
Apart from the above examples, the GSE has provided definite evidence
that identical objects were secured in an identical way but that seals were rare-
ly used; and here we may return to our House I, Room D, where three more
clay stoppers were found. None of those bore seal impressions, and the vases

16 Excavation no. GSE 87-TC 003. [Forthcoming in GSE III.].

17This sealing [GSE 84-TC 046; Mus.no. 1565, cf. CMS V, Suppl. 1A, Nr. 146] was actually
found in an LM II context, but may very well have belonged to the destruction level in House IV.

11
 a b

d
c

Fig. 8. Four clay stoppers (from upper left to lower right: 76-TC 002, 77-TC 039, 78-
TC 017, and 76-TC 011) which functioned as lids rather than sealings. c. is also seen
in Fig. 11 where the small irregularity along the rim is clearly seen to fit the broken
part of the spout. Also a. has an impression of an irregular rim which must also have
been broken while the vase was still in use. Secure LM IB contexts.

they sealed were not found in the room.18 A small stopper19 (Fig. 8d) was
found in a conical cup and might originally have covered the spout of a small
stirrup jar, one of which was found in a neighboring room. The two remaining
clay stoppers20 (Figs. 8a and 9d) could have been placed in larger vessels with
an oval spout – probably flasks or smaller amphorae.
Two of the three stoppers from Room D (Fig. 8a,d) could not have sealed
the vases, but must have functioned as "lids" for the spouts. The third stopper,

18 Why unsealed stoppers were found in this cupboard without their containers cannot be secure-
ly answered. One explanation may be that the room had been looted before being set on fire and
that the containers were removed without their stoppers. Another conjectural hypothesis may be
that the stoppers were intentionally collected and stored in the cupboard, thus very strongly recal-
ling the situation in Room 25 at Phaistos.
19 Excavation no. GSE 76-TC 011.
20 Excavation nos. GSE 76-TC 002 and GSE 77-TC 100. The last one was actually found in a pit

which had been partially dug into the destruction debris, but its position makes it likely that it
belonged to the cupboard of room D or to the north corner of the storeroom E.

12
 a
b

c d

Fig. 9. Four clay stoppers (from upper left to lower right: TC-77 112, 76-TC 001, 80-
TC 036, and 77-TC 100) which functioned as true sealings, as is indicated by impres-
sions of strings (a. and c.), massive fractures (b. and d.) and in the case of b. also by
seal impressions.

however, (Fig. 9d) had so massive fractures at the side that one must suppose
that the clay had been packed tightly around the broken edge and in this way
functioned as a true "sealing".
Another clay stopper without seal impressions, but whose function as a
true sealing is proved by the string impressions (Fig. 9a), was found in House
I, Room M. It is a stopper of small size21 and could have sealed a small juglet
of a type found in several of the neighboring rooms. One further stopper (Fig.
8b) can be ascribed to Room M. It fitted the spout of an impressive stirrup jar
(Fig. 10).22 This stopper functioned only as a lid in the spout.

21Excavation no. GSE 77-TC 112.

22The stopper has excavation no. GSE 77-TC 039 and the stirrup jar ( illustrated in color in Win-
bladh (supra n.7), frontispiece and p.65) has the excavation no. GSE 77-P 0851.

13
Fig. 10. Clay stopper 77-TC 039 (Fig. 8b) fitting the spout of a large stirrup jar from
House I, Room M. Here both spout and stopper are complete.

Also in House IV two clay stoppers were found, both without seal impres-
sions. Parts of this house were thoroughly disturbed by modern wall foundati-
ons, whereby some of its content had been removed. It was, however, possi-
ble to fit one stopper (Fig. 8b) into a large stirrup jar (Fig. 11)23 which had fal-
len from the upper floor. In this case, as in several others where stoppers are
concerned, it was seen to fit a spout which was broken while the vase was still
in use. This too was a "lid" rather than a sealing. The other one,24 however,
appears to have been a true sealing, since a string hole passed through the
upper part on one side and a hole with the imprint from a knot was found on
the other (Fig. 9c).

Securely dated within the LM IB destruction level we have thus discovered 8

23 The stirrup jar has excavation no. GSE 78-P 0358, and the fitting stopper excavation no. GSE
78-TC 017.
24 Excavation no. GSE 80-TC 036.

14
Fig. 11. Clay stopper 78-TC 017 (Fig. 8c) fitting the broken spout of a large decorated
stirrup jar from House IV, Room B.

clay stoppers,25 four of which functioned only as reusable stoppers or lids (Fig.
8). The remaining four, however, appear to have been true sealings, as indi-
cated by the thickness of the fracture, the stringholes and/or the seal impres-
sions (Fig. 9). Further probable sealings, but without seal impressions, were
those from the pithoi and the small stone vase. True sealings, but of uncertain
date, are the unstamped clay nodule and the two stamped stoppers with string-
holes.
The examples given above provide evidence that different objects of
varying sizes continued to be sealed in the Late Minoan I period, but only one
of the stratified "sealings" provided evidence that the contents were secured by
a seal.

25Several of the stoppers, and especially clearly GSE 78-TC 017, had at the bottom, i.e. the part
inside the spout, clear imprints from being pressed against leather, clearly showing that a small
piece of leather covered the spout before the clay was pressed down into it. I am most grateful to
Dr. Enrica Fiandra who pointed this out to me.

15
 Why is it that we have in Khania found continued evidence of direct seal-
ing of objects, and why was the seal used in some cases and not in others? May
this reflect a difference between a household economy and a centralized eco-
nomy?26 May it be that seals were only needed on objects which had come
from somewhere else?27 or were intended to be send somewhere else? One
may speculate at length on these matters. But it is worthy of mention that the
finds from Khania may perhaps be considered supporting evidence for the
view that seals in LM I authenticate rather than prove storerooms or containers
intact.
However, in the absence – to the author's knowledge – of parallels, it may
be sufficient to conclude that in two individual households in the LM I town
settlement at Khania the practice of sealing objects with clay did continue –
and that it seemed to be the usual practice NOT to secure the contents with the
protection of a seal impression.

26 It may in this connection be worthy of note that actual seals were found in the destroyed LM I

buildings. One small seal of bone (GSE 73-MISC 014; Mus.no. K 28; [CMS V, Suppl 1A, Nr.
121]) was found in House I, Room D, and a lentoid (GSE 74-S 006; Mus.no. L 3181; [CMS V,
Suppl. 1A, Nr. 118]) was found on the floor of House I, Room K. Another one (GSE 8- S 067;
Mus.no. L 3190; [CMS V, Suppl. 1A, Nr. 116]) came from House IV, Room C and a third (GSE
84-S 042; Mus.no. L 3189; [CMS V, Suppl. 1A, Nr. 120]) was found in the ruins East of House I.
For the last two see Hallager & Tzedakis (supra n.14), 13, 19, fig. 5. One further seal stone (GSE
78-S 020; Mus.no. L 3186; [CMS V, Suppl. 1A, Nr. 119]) was found sealed between two floors
of House I, Room H; E. Hallager, and Y. Tzedakis, "The Greek-Swedish Excavations Kastelli,
Khania (1978 and 1979)," AAA 15 (1982), 25. The same phenomenon may be observed in the LM
II deposits in the Unexplored Manson at Knossos, which revealed seals as well as sealings without
a seal, cf. Popham, M., The Minoan Unexplored Manson (BSA, suppl. vol. 17), Oxford 1984, pl.
88a-e.
27 In this connection it seems worthy of note that the clay of the stopper which bore seal impres-

sions seems to be tempered differently from the others.

16