Minoan seals between corpus compilation and 3D forensic analysis. A multidisciplinary documentation of 900 unpublished seals from the Archaeological Museum at Heraklion

• Applicant: Professor Dr. Diamantis Panagiotopoulos
• Subject Area: Classical, Roman, Christian and Islamic Archaeology
• Term: from 2016 to 2020
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 314170379

Aegean Bronze Age seals in their multivalent social significance as amulets, prestige objects and administrative tools fulfilled their function(s) at the juncture of religion ideology, society and economy. In the past decades, this important class of objects, which still forms a prominent centre of scientific attention, has been documented in an exemplary manner in the course of the Corpus of the Minoan and Mycenaean Seals (CMS). The main objective of the proposed project is the systematic publication of 900 unpublished seals from the Archaeological Museum at Heraklion which mainly derive from recent excavations and could not be documented in the previous CMS volumes. The contextual, typological and material aspects of this multifaceted ensemble, which, in its vast majority, remains totally unknown, will be documented with forensic precision in a strictly consistent manner by the implementation of traditional and innovative methods. The compilation of this group within a new corpus volume will be supplemented by a first evaluation of its most salient aspects. Consequently, the envisaged research aims not only at the revival of the CMS series through the publication of a new supplementum volume but also at a new thematic and methodological orientation of this long-term project which shall be accomplished through the elaboration of a new scientific concept for the precise and comprehensive analysis of Bronze Age Aegean seals and sealings.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants
• International Connection: Israel
• Cooperation Partner: Professor Dr. Yuval Goren