-- Dilmun revisited: excavations at Saar, Bahrain -- Harriet Crawford
This is an addendum to: 1. Itihāsa.Dilmun armourers, آهن ګران āhan-garān 'thunderbolt makers' of Sarasvati Civiliztion, Indus Script Meluhha hypertexts, Part 1 to 3 https://tinyurl.com/y7vsvtdm
2. Sanauli gold & four types of bronze anthropomorphs of Sarasvati Civilization are professional calling cards, Indus Script metalwork dhamma samjñā responsibility signifiers https://tinyurl.com/y9uext8
3.Anthropomorphs as Indus Script hypertexts, professional calling cards and Copper Hoard Cultures of Ancient India https://tinyurl.com/y7qc7t73
This monograph posits that stamp seals from Saar, Bahrain are Indus Script hypertexts to signify metalwork catalogues, wealth-accounting ledgers and that the Assur, metalsmiths of India are also the 3rd millennium BCE artisans and seafaring merchants of Dilmun.
Morphological development of the Dilmun stamp seal: a. 2050 BCE; b. 1900 BCE and c. 1700 BCE.
The gold anthropomorph discovered at Sanauli seems to wear a cap of the style shown from 1) Ancient Near East on Statue of Gudea (Louvre AO 13. Photo courtesy of the De´partement des antiquite´s orientales, Muse´e duLouvre) and 2) Head of a Neo-Sumerian prince from Uruk (c. 2100BCE) (Amiet, L’Art antique du Proche-Orient: no. 387).See:
https://www.academia.edu/21395362/Dilmun_stamp_seals_and_the_royal_cap Dilmunstampsealsandtheroyalcap
FLEMMING HØJLUND Moesgaard Museum, Denmark. I suggest that the Sanauli gold anthropomorph signifies an Assur expert in metallurgy and suggests a connection between the Assur metalsmiths par excellence of Ancient northern India and Ashur of Ancient Near East.
Flemming Hojlund suggests that the shape of the Dilmun stamp seal compares with the shape of royal cap of Gudea and a Neo-Sumerian prince of Uruk. Flemming Hojlund argues in this article that the specific shape of the stamp seals used around 2000 BCE in eastern Arabia (ancient
Dilmun) was charged with a meaning that can be retrieved when viewed within a culturally and historicallyspecific situation as an insignia of royalty.
Map with known natural distribution of softstone (adapted from David-Cuny, H, 2012, Introduction in: H. David-Cuny and I. Azpeitia (eds.) Failaka Seals catalogue Vol. 1, Al-Khidr, 13-27, Kuwaiti City, National Council for Culture, Arts and Letters, p. 19)
“One of the biggest surprises of the excavations at Saar has been the enormous amount of glyptic material present. We have now more than 80 round stamp seals made of chlorite steatite and 300-400 fragments of seal impressions, all in the local Early Dilmun style…The seals were apparently mainly used for economic purposes, implying that much of the Saar population was actively engaged in the exchange of goods, and perhaps in their manufacture. Because all the seals and seal impressions are in the native Early Dilmun style, it also shows that most of the commerce for which we have evidence was taking place within the Dilmun polity itself. The limited range of foreign goods for which we have evidence were probably redistributed from their port of entry.” -- Harriet Crawford (1997, ibid.)
The following two stamp seals cited by Crawford as early seals from Saar are decihered as Indus Script hypertexts, metalwork catalogues, wealth-accounting ledgers.
Prakritam. Hemachandra Desinamamala, p.71, p.78 http://dli.serc.iisc.ernet.in/handle/2015/352261The 'body' of man hieroglyph is ligatured with a series of diacritical marks to signify hypertexts of metalwork processes. This ligaturing results in 48 hypertext signs shown below (1977 Mahadevan ASI concordance).Helmsman, supercargo (metal)
Helmsman, supercargo (metal)
Seal 1: A pair of crossed bulls are fused ligatures on the standard of a seal. पोळा [ pōḷā ] 'zebu' rebus: पोळा [ pōḷā ] '
A person standing with a staff is a ḍāṅro 'blacksmith': meḍ 'body' rebus: mẽṛhẽt, meḍ 'iron' (Munda.Ho.); med 'copper' (Slavic languages). ḍakka2 ʻ stick ʼ. 2. *ḍaṅga -- 1 . [Cf. other variants for ʻ stick ʼ: ṭaṅka -- 3 , *ṭiṅkara -- , *ṭhiṅga -- 1 , *ḍikka -- 1 (*ḍiṅka -- )]
1. S. ḍ̠aku m. ʻ stick put up to keep a door shut ʼ, ḍ̠akaru ʻ stick, straw ʼ; P. ḍakkā m. ʻ straw ʼ, ḍakkrā m. ʻ bit (of anything) ʼ; N. ḍã̄klo ʻ stalk, stem ʼ.2. Pk. ḍaṅgā -- f. ʻ stick ʼ; A. ḍāṅ ʻ thick stick ʼ; B. ḍāṅ ʻ pole for hanging things on ʼ; Or. ḍāṅga ʻ stick ʼ; H. ḍã̄g f. ʻ club ʼ (→ P. ḍã̄g f. ʻ stick ʼ; K. ḍã̄g m. ʻ club, mace ʼ); G. ḍã̄g f., ˚gɔ, ḍãgorɔ m., ˚rũ n. ʻ stick ʼ; M. ḍãgarṇẽ n. ʻ short thick stick ʼ, ḍã̄gḷī f. ʻ small branch ʼ, ḍã̄gśī f.*ḍakka -- Seal 2: A pair of standing persons, next to a ram. miṇḍāl 'markhor' (Tōrwālī) meḍho a ram, a sheep (Gujarati)(CDIAL 10120) Rebus: mẽṛhẽt, meḍ 'iron' (Munda.Ho.) koṭe meṛed = forged iron, in contrast to dul meṛed, cast iron (Mundari) Rebus: meḍho 'one who helps a merchant'
Hemacandra deśīnāmamālāHypertext, A pair of standing persons: dula 'pair' rebus: dul 'metal casting' PLUS meḍ 'body' rebus: mẽṛhẽt, meḍ 'iron' (Munda.Ho.); med 'copper' (Slavic languages).
OP. koṭhārī f. ʻ crucible ʼ(CDIAL 3546) Rebus: koṭhār 'treasury, warehouse'. mēḍh 'pole star' rebus: mēḍ 'iron' med 'copper' (Slavic) .medhā 'dhana,yajna'.
Sign1 is an Indus Script hieroglyph. A duplication of this sign is a hypertext in Indus Script cipher to signify dula 'pair' rebus: dul 'metal casting', i.e. a metalcasting artisan.A pair of 'men' shown on many Persian Gulf or Dilmun seals are often viewed as signifiers of an underlying language which is different from the underlying Meluhha language of Indus Script inscriptions.
A pair of 'men' occurs on Indus Script inscriptions. Together with reduplication of pictrographs as mirror images, the signifiers of a pair of 'men' pictograph are read rebus as related to metal casting, cire perdue technique of casting in particular, which is reduplication metallurgical process.
The key words and expressions of Meluhha language are seen in the following glosses:
A pair of 'men' occurs on Indus Script inscriptions. Together with reduplication of pictrographs as mirror images, the signifiers of a pair of 'men' pictograph are read rebus as related to metal casting, cire perdue technique of casting in particular, which is reduplication metallurgical process.
The key words and expressions of Meluhha language are seen in the following glosses:
The key rebus reading of a pair of 'men' pictographs is: meḍ 'body' rebus: meḍ 'iron' PLUS dula 'pair' rebus: dul 'metal casting'. Thus, dul meḍ 'cast iron'.
PLUS ranku 'antelope' rebus: ranku 'tin'. Thus, tin metalcasting.
ranku 'antelope' rebus: ranku 'tin' PLUS mē̃d, mēd 'body' rebus: mē̃d, mēd 'iron', med 'copper' (Slavic).
ḍhangra ‘bull’ Rebus: ṭhakkura m. ʻ idol, deity; dhangar 'blacksmith'Mth.ṭhākur ʻblacksmith' 
PLUS dhangra 'bull' rebus: dhangar 'blacksmith'A pair of persons also occurs on Indus Script Corpora examples:
m0480a 
m0480
Text of m0480aTree and other hieroglyphs, Harappa tablet h0480a baTa'rimless pot' bhaTa 'worshipper' rebus: bhaTa 'furnace' PLUS kuṭi 'tree' rebus kuṭhi 'smelter' (Endless knot is: mēḍhā 'twist' rebus med 'iron' med '
Kalibangan cylinder seal signifies tree. Kalibangan065 Cylinder seal impression. Note the scarf of the person ligatured to a tiger.
dhaṭu m. (also dhaṭhu) m. ‘scarf’ (WPah.) (CDIAL 6707)
Rebus: dhātu ‘mineral (Pali).
kola 'tiger' Rebus: kol 'working in iron' kolhe 'smelter'
kuṭi ‘tree’ kuṭhi ‘smelter’ tagaraka ‘tabernae montana’ rebus: tagara ‘tin’ kolom ‘three’ rebus: kolimi‘smithy, forge’ dhatu ‘scarf’ rebus: dhatu ‘mineral, ore’ kola ‘woman’ kola ‘tiger’ rebus: kol ‘furnace, forge’kol ‘metal, working in iron’. Headdress of the woman: kūtī = bunch of twigs (Skt.)The bunch of twigs = kūdī, kūṭī (Samskrtam) kūdī (also written as kūṭī in manuscripts).[i] Rebus: kuṭhi 'smelting furnace‘; koṭe ‘forged metal’ (Santali) karat.i, karut.i, kerut.i fencing, school or gymnasium where wrestling and fencing are taught (Ta.); garad.i, garud.i fencing school (Ka.); garad.i, garod.i (Tu.); garid.i, garid.i_ id., fencing (Te.)(DEDR 1262). Rebus 1: करडा [ karaḍā] Hard from alloy--iron, silver &c. Rebus 2: khara_di_ = turner (Gujarati) Thus, the inscription reads: Tin smelter, iron smelter, furnace, forge, smithy PLUS hard metal alloy. The narrative of fencers with a woman in between: kola ‘woman’ rebus: kola, ‘metal’ PLUS karaḍā ‘hard alloy’ – thus, hard metal alloy.
[i] Occurs in the Atharvaveda(AV 5.19.12) and KauśikaSūtra (Bloomsfield's edn, xliv. cf. Bloomsfield,American Journal of Philology, 11, 355; 12,416; Roth, Festgruss anBohtlingk, 98) denotes it as a twig. This is identified as that of Badarī, the jujube tied to the body of the dead to efface their traces. (See Vedic Index, I, p. 177).
koDu 'horn' Rebus: koD 'workshop'
Hieroglyph: karã̄ n. pl. ʻ wristlets, bangles ʼ (Gujarati) Rebus: khAr 'blacksmith' kola 'woman' Rebus: kolhe 'smelter' kol 'working in iron' kolle 'blacksmith' kolimi 'smithy, forge'.
Sign 2 ciphertext is composed of Sign 1 and duplicated long line. Hypertext is:mē̃ḍ 'body' rebus: mē̃ḍ ‘iron’ (Mu.) PLUS dula 'duplicated, pair' rebus; dul 'metal casting'. Thus, the message is:dul mē̃ḍ koḍ 'iron metalcasting workshop'.
Text 2420 on m0304. This text shows a duplication of Sign 1 which occurs on both the lines of the text message.
Line 2 (bottom): 'body' glyph. mēd ‘body’ (Kur.)(DEDR 5099); meḍ ‘iron’ (Ho.)Line 1 (top):
'Body' glyph plus ligature of 'splinter' shown between the legs: mēd ‘body’ (Kur.)(DEDR 5099); meḍ ‘iron’ (Ho.) sal ‘splinter’; Rebus: sal ‘workshop’ (Santali) Thus, the ligatured glyph is read rebus as: meḍ sal 'iron (metal) workshop'.
Sign 216 (Mahadevan). ḍato ‘claws or pincers (chelae) of crabs’; ḍaṭom, ḍiṭom to seize with the claws or pincers, as crabs, scorpions; ḍaṭkop = to pinch, nip (only of crabs) (Santali) Rebus: dhatu ‘mineral’ (Santali) Vikalpa: erā ‘claws’; Rebus: era ‘copper’. Allograph: kamaṛkom = fig leaf (Santali.lex.) kamarmaṛā (Has.), kamaṛkom (Nag.); the petiole or stalk of a leaf (Mundari.lex.) kamat.ha = fig leaf, religiosa (Skt.)
Sign 229. sannī, sannhī = pincers, smith’s vice (P.) śannī f. ʻ small room in a house to keep sheep in ‘ (WPah.) Bshk. šan, Phal.šān ‘roof’ (Bshk.)(CDIAL 12326). seṇi (f.) [Class. Sk. śreṇi in meaning "guild"; Vedic= row] 1. a guild Vin iv.226; J i.267, 314; iv.43; Dāvs ii.124; their number was eighteen J vi.22, 427; VbhA 466. ˚ -- pamukha the head of a guild J ii.12 (text seni -- ). -- 2. a division of an army J vi.583; ratha -- ˚ J vi.81, 49; seṇimokkha the chief of an army J vi.371 (cp. senā and seniya). (Pali)
Sign 342. kaṇḍa kanka 'rim of jar' (Santali): karṇaka rim of jar’(Skt.) Rebus: karṇaka ‘scribe, accountant’ (Te.); gaṇaka id. (Skt.) (Santali) copper fire-altar scribe (account)(Skt.) Rebus: kaṇḍ ‘fire-altar’ (Santali) Thus, the 'rim of jar' ligatured glyph is read rebus: fire-altar (furnace) scribe (account) karNI 'supercargo' (Marathi)
Sign 344. Ligatured glyph: 'rim of jar' ligature + splinter (infixed); 'rim of jar' ligature is read rebus: kaṇḍa karṇaka 'furnace scribe (account)'.
sal stake, spike, splinter, thorn, difficulty (H.); Rebus: sal ‘workshop’ (Santali) *ஆலை³ ālai, n. < šālā. 1. Apartment, hall; சாலை. ஆலைசேர் வேள்வி (தேவா. 844. 7). 2. Elephant stable or stall; யானைக்கூடம். களிறு சேர்ந் தல்கிய வழுங்க லாலை (புறநா. 220, 3).ஆலைக்குழி ālai-k-kuḻi, n. < ஆலை¹ +. Receptacle for the juice underneath a sugar-cane press; கரும்பாலையிற் சாறேற்கும் அடிக்கலம்.*ஆலைத்தொட்டி ālai-t-toṭṭi, n. < id. +. Cauldron for boiling sugar-cane juice; கருப்பஞ் சாறு காய்ச்சும் சால்.ஆலைபாய்-தல் ālai-pāy-, v. intr. < id. +. 1. To work a sugar-cane mill; ஆலையாட்டுதல். ஆலைபாயோதை (சேதுபு. நாட்டு. 93). 2. To move, toss, as a ship; அலைவுறுதல். (R.) 3. To be undecided, vacillating; மனஞ் சுழலுதல். நெஞ்ச மாலைபாய்ந் துள்ள மழிகின்றேன் (அருட்பா,) Vikalpa: sal ‘splinter’; rebus: workshop (sal)’ ālai ‘workshop’ (Ta.) *ஆலை³ ālai, n. < šālā. 1. Apartment, hall; சாலை. ஆலைசேர் வேள்வி (தேவா. 844. 7). 2. Elephant stable or stall; யானைக்கூடம். களிறு சேர்ந் தல்கிய வழுங்க லாலை (புறநா. 220, 3).ஆலைக்குழி ālai-k-kuḻi, n. < ஆலை¹ +. Receptacle for the juice underneath a sugar-cane press; கரும்பாலையிற் சாறேற்கும் அடிக்கலம்.*ஆலைத்தொட்டி ālai-t-toṭṭi, n. < id. +. Cauldron for boiling sugar-cane juice; கருப்பஞ் சாறு காய்ச்சும் சால்.ஆலைபாய்-தல் ālai-pāy-, v. intr. < id. +. 1. To work a sugar-cane mill; ஆலையாட்டுதல். ஆலைபாயோதை (சேதுபு. நாட்டு. 93) Thus, together with the 'splinter' glyph, the entire ligature 'rim of jar + splinter/splice' is read rebus as: furnace scribe (account workshop). Sign 59. ayo, hako 'fish'; a~s = scales of fish (Santali); rebus: aya = iron (G.); ayah, ayas = metal (Skt.) Sign 342. kaṇḍa karṇaka 'rim of jar'; rebus: 'furnace scribe (account)'. Thus the inscription reads rebus: iron, iron (metal) workshop, copper (mineral) guild, fire-altar (furnace) scribe (account workshop), metal furnace scribe (account) As the decoding of m0304 seal demonstrates, the Indus hieroglyphs are the professional repertoire of an artisan (miners'/metalworkers') guild detailing the stone/mineral/metal resources/furnaces/smelters of workshops (smithy/forge/turners' shops).![]()
Gulf (Dilmun) style cylinder seals
L. Al-Gailani Werr
Proceedings of the Seminar for Arabian Studies
Vol. 16, Proceedings of the Nineteenth SEMINAR FOR ARABIAN STUDIES held at Oxford on 30th July - 1st August 1985 (1986), pp. 199-201 (3 pages)
Published by: Archaeopress Publishing Ltd.
https://www.jstor.org/stable/41223247
Tews, Sophie, 2011, Seals in Dilmun Society The use and value of Bronze Age seals from Saar, Bahrain
Early Dilmun seals from Saar by on Scribd
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