A characteristic style in narration is the use of a procession of animals to denote a professional group. The grouping may connote a smithy-shop of a guild --pasāramu.

Tell AsmarCylinder seal modern impression [elephant, rhinoceros and gharial (alligator) on the upper register] bibliography and image source: Frankfort, Henri: Stratified Cylinder Seals from the Diyala Region. Oriental Institute Publications 72. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, no. 642. Museum Number: IM14674 3.4 cm. high. Glazed steatite. ca. 2250 - 2200 BCE. ibha 'elephant' Rebus: ib 'iron'. kāṇḍā 'rhinoceros' Rebus: khāṇḍa ‘tools, pots and pans, and metal-ware’. karā 'crocodile' Rebus: khar 'blacksmith' (Kashmiri)

See: http://bharatkalyan97.blogspot.in/2013/06/ancient-near-east-art-indus-writing.html

Ancient near East lapidary guilds graduate into bronze-age metalware The note explains the hieroglyphs on the tablet showing a procession of standard-bearers as the standard of the civilization.

Quadrupeds exiting the mund (or mudhif) are pasaramu, pasalamu ‘an animal, a beast, a brute, quadruped’ (Telugu) పసరము [ pasaramu ] or పసలము pasaramu. [Tel.] n. A beast, an animal. గోమహిషహాతి.

Rebus: pasra = a smithy, place where a black-smith works, to work as a blacksmith; kamar pasra = a smithy; pasrao lagao akata se ban:? Has the blacksmith begun to work? pasraedae = the blacksmith is at his work (Santali.lex.) pasra meṛed, pasāra meṛed = syn. of koṭe meṛed = forged iron, in contrast to dul meṛed, cast iron (Mundari.lex.) పసారము [ pasāramu ] or పసారు pasārdmu. [Tel.] n. A shop. అంగడి. Allograph: pacar = a wedge driven ino a wooden pin, wedge etc. to tighten it (Santali.lex.) Allograph: pajhar 'eagle'.

Late Uruk and Jemdet Nasr seal; ca. 3200-3000 BC; serpentine; cat.1; boar and bull in procession; terminal: plant; heavily pitted surface beyond plant.

Late Uruk and Jemdet Nasr seal; ca. 3200-3000 (?) BC; marble; cat.3; loop bore; an antelope with two tigerss, one with head turned. kola 'tiger' Rebus: kol 'working in iron'. tagara 'antelope' Rebus: tagara 'tin'. krammara 'head turned back' Rebus: kamar 'smith, artisan'.

Cylinder seal and impression: cattle herd at the cowshed. White limestone, Mesopotamia, Uruk Period (4100 BC–3000 BC). Louvre Museum.

Bronze dish found by Layard at Nimrud: circular objects are decorated by consecutive chains of animals following each other round in a circle. A similar theme occurs on the famous silver vase of Entemena. In the innermost circle, a troop of gazelles (similar to the ones depicted on cylinder seals) march along in file; the middle register has a variety of animals, all marching in the same direction as the gazelles. A one-horned bull, a winged griffin, an ibex and a gazelle, are followed by two bulls who are being attacked by lions, and a griffin, a one-horned bull, and a gazelle, who are all respectively being attacked by leopards. In the outermost zone there is a stately procession of realistically conceived one-horned bulls marching in the opposite direction to the animals parading in the two inner circles. The dish has a handle. (Percy S.P.Handcock, 1912, Mesopotamian Archaeology, London, Macmillan and Co., p. 256).

Cylinder seal and impression: cattle herd in a wheat field. Limestone, Mesopotamia, Uruk Period (4100 BC–3000 BC). kuṇḍa n. ʻclumpʼ (Sanskrit) A phonetic determinant of the young bull kõdā खोंड [ khōṇḍa ] m 'A young bull, a bullcalf'. (Marathi) read rebus: kũderā m. ʻone who works a lathe'. Alternative: The cob is kolmo ‘seeding, rice-plant’(Munda) rebus: kolami ‘smithy’; (Telugu)

A Toda temple in Muthunadu Mund near Ooty, India. For example, on a cylinder seal from Uruk, a professional group of workers in a smithy are shown as a procession of young bull calves and other quadrupeds emerging out of the smithy.

Kur. xolā tail. Malt. qoli id.(DEDR 2135) The 'tail' atop the reed-structure banner glyph is a phonetic determinant for kole.l 'temple, smithy'. Alternative: pajhaṛ = to sprout from a root (Santali); Rebus: pasra‘smithy, forge’ (Santali)

m0702 Text 2206

Glyph 39, a glyph which compares with the Sumerian mudhif or Toda munda structure.

[Kannada. kōḍu] Tusk; யானைபன்றிகளின்தந்தம். மத்தயானையின்கோடும் (தேவா. 39, 1). Rebus: खोट [khōṭa] A lump or solid bit (as of phlegm, gore, curds, inspissated milk); any concretion or clot. (Marathi) Rebus: L. khoṭf. ʻ alloy, impurity ʼ, °ṭā ʻ alloyed ʼ, awāṇ. khoṭā ʻ forged ʼ; P. khoṭ m. ʻ base, alloy ʼ M.khoṭā ʻ alloyed ʼ, (CDIAL 3931)

kole.l = smithy (Ko.) Rebus: Kuwi (F.) kolhali to forge. Koḍ. kollë blacksmith. (DEDR 2133).

Reading 1: kole.l = smithy, temple in Kota village (Ko.) Rebus 1: Ta. kol working in iron, blacksmith; kollaṉ blacksmith. Ma. kollan blacksmith, artificer. Ka. kolime, kolume, kulame, kulime, kulume, kulme fire-pit, furnace; (Bell.; U.P.U.) konimi blacksmith; (Gowda) kolla id. Koḍ. kollë blacksmith. Te. kolimi furnace. Go. (SR.) kollusānā to mend implements; (Ph.) kolstānā, kulsānā to forge; (Tr.) kōlstānā to repair (of ploughshares); (SR.) kolmi smithy (Voc. 948). Kuwi (F.) kolhali to forge. (DEDR 2133). Rebus 2: Ko. kole·l smithy, temple in Kota village.To. kwala·l Kota smithy (DEDR 2133).

Reading 2: goṭ = the place where cattle are collected at mid-day (Santali); goṭh (Brj.)(CDIAL 4336). Goṣṭha (Skt.); cattle-shed (Or.) koḍ = a cow-pen; a cattlepen; a byre (G.) कोठी cattle-shed (Marathi) कोंडी [ kōṇḍī ] A pen or fold for cattle. गोठी [ gōṭhī ] f C (Dim. Of गोठा) A pen or fold for calves. (Marathi) Cattle Byres c.3200-3000 B.C. Late Uruk-Jemdet Nasr period. Magnesite. Cylinder seal. In the lower field of this seal appear three reed cattle byres. Each byre is surmounted by three reed pillars topped by rings, a motif that has been suggested as symbolizing a male god, perhaps Dumuzi. Within the huts calves or vessels appear alternately; from the sides come calves that drink out of a vessel between them. Above each pair of animals another small calf appears. A herd of enormous cattle moves in the upper field. Cattle and cattle byres in Southern Mesopotamia, c. 3500 BCE. Drawing of an impression from a Uruk period cylinder seal. (After Moorey, PRS, 1999, Ancient materials and industries: the archaeological evidence, Eisenbrauns.)

Text 1330 (appears with zebu glyph). Shown as exiting the kole.l 'smithy' are kol 'blaksmiths' and kũderā 'lathe-workers'.

The young bulls emerging from the smithy. kõdā खोंड[ khōṇḍa ]mA young bull, a bullcalf. (Marathi) Rebus 1: kọ̆nḍu or konḍu । कुण्डम् m. a hole dug in the ground for receiving consecrated fire (Kashmiri) Rebus 2: A. kundār, B. kũdār, °ri, Or. kundāru; H. kũderā m. ʻ one who works a lathe, one who scrapes ʼ, °rī f., kũdernā ʻ to scrape, plane, round on a lathe ʼ.(CDIAL 3297).

खांडा [ khāṇḍā ] m A jag, notch, or indentation (as upon the edge of a tool or weapon). Rebus: khāṇḍa ‘tools, pots and pans, and metal-ware’. kole.l = smithy (Ko.) Rebus: Kuwi (F.) kolhali to forge. Koḍ. kollë blacksmith. (DEDR 2133).

ayo 'fish' Rebus: ayas 'metal'.

kuṭila ‘bent’; rebus: kuṭila, katthīl = bronze (8 parts copper and 2 parts tin) [cf. āra-kūṭa, ‘brass’ (Skt.) (CDIAL 3230) kuṭi— in cmpd. ‘curve’ (Skt.)(CDIAL 3231).

kanka 'rim of jar' Rebus: karṇika 'accountant'. kul -- karṇī m. ʻvillage accountantʼ (Marathi); karṇikan id. (Tamil)கணக்கு kaṇakku, n. cf. gaṇaka. [M. kaṇakku] 1. Number, account, reckoning, calculation, computation (Tamil)

There three reed decorations atop the mudhif (or, Toda mund). kã̄ḍ 1 काँड् । काण्डः m. the stalk or stem of a reed, grass, or the like, straw. In the compound with dan 5 (p. 221a, l. 13) the word is spelt kāḍ. Rebus: khāṇḍa ‘tools, pots and pans, and metal-ware’.

Sumerian mudhif facade, with uncut reed fonds and sheep entering, carved into a gypsum trough from Uruk, c. 3200 BCE. This trough was found at Uruk, the largest city so far known in southern Mesopotamia in the late prehistoric period (3300-3000 BC). The carving on the side shows a procession of sheep (a goat and a ram)

CARVED GYPSUM TROUGH FROM URUK. Two lambs exit a reed structure. A bundle of reeds (Inanna’s symbol) can be seen projecting from the hut and at the edges of the scene.
The British Museum. WA 120000, neg. 252077 Part of the right-hand scene is cast from the original fragment now in the Vorderasiatisches Museum, Berlin

Dr. L. Legrain, 1936, Ur excavations, Vol. III, Archaic Seal-impressions, Carnegie Foundation of New York. http://amar.hsclib.sunysb.edu/u?/amar,37238 kuṭhi ‘vagina’; rebus: kuṭhi‘smelting furnace bichā 'scorpion' (Assamese). Rebus: bica 'stone ore' as in meṛed-bica = iron stone ore, in contrast to bali-bica, iron sand ore (Mu.lex.) dul 'pair, likeness' Rebus: dul 'cast metal' (Santali) Thus the hieroglyphs connote a smelter for smelting and casting metal stone ore.

Fig. 96f: Failaka no. 260
Double antelope joined at the belly; in the Levant, similar doubling occurs for a lion.

Tell Abraq. Gold objects recovered.

pr̥ṣṭhá n. ʻ back, hinder part ʼ Rigveda; puṭṭhā m. ʻ buttock of an animal ʼ (Punjabi) Rebus: puṭhā, puṭṭhā m. ʻbuttock of an animal, leather cover of account bookʼ (Marathi) tagara 'antelope' Rebus: damgar 'merchant'. This may be an artistic rendering of a 'descendant' of a ancient (metals) merchant. See: http://bharatkalyan97.blogspot.in/2012/05/antithetical-antelopes-of-ancient-near.html Antithetical antelopes of Ancient Near East as hieroglyphs (Kalyanaraman 2012) Hieroglyph: Joined back-to-back: pusht ‘back’; rebus: pusht ‘ancestor’. pus̱ẖt bah pus̱ẖt ‘generation to generation.’

Tell Abraq. Bronze dagger. Contained 12 % tin. Charred wood at the base of the tang had fragments of Dalbergia Sissoo, commonly known as Pakistani rosewood. Sissoo was rare in the ancient Near East. http://amar.hsclib.sunysb.edu/u?/amar,124774 DT Potts, 1998, Ancient Magan, The secrets of Tell Abraq, Trident Press

AMAR: Archive of Mesopotamian Archaeological Site Reports

Potts, Daniel T., 2001, Excavations at Tepe Yahya, Iran, 1967-1975: the third millennium, Bulletin (American School of Prehistoric Research) ; no. 45. Contributors: Lamberg-Karlovsky, C. C., 1937- Pittman, Holly Kohl, Philip L., 1946- Cambridge, Mass.: Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, Harvard University.

Location of Tepe Yahya.

Source: CC Lamberg-Karlovsky, 1970, Excavations at Tepe Yahya, Iran 1967-1969 Progress Report 1, Harvard Univ., Cambridge

Tepe-yahya seal impression.

Tepe-yahya. Figure 9.6 Inscribed on a stone-axe. Two sides of a ceremonial chlorite axe head with incised design of an eagle or bird from the chlorite-rich level of the Tepe Yahya period IVB workshop (Trench BW, test trench 5, level 6A, approx. 13.4 cm in height).

Fig. 10.26 Catalogue No. 26 TY 13, fragmentary impression of classic style cylinder seal with seated feline facing left and two registers in front with small bovid and small feline.