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Yousefi Zoshk R, Beik Mohammadi K, Afshari H, Etemadifar D. (2025). Revisiting the Origins of Stamp Seal Tradition in the Susa A Period: The Role and Influence of Zagros Traditions in the Administrative Developments of the Susiana Lowlands in the Late Fifth Millennium BCE. Athar. 46(109), 7-32. doi:10.22034/Athar.1997
URL: http://athar.richt.ir/article-2-1997-en.html

Abstract
This article revisits the origins of the stamp seal tradition during the Susa A period, with a particular focus on its potential antecedents in the highland regions of the Central Zagros. While the culture of Susa A (late fifth to early fourth millennium BCE) has often been examined within the historical context of the Susiana lowlands, this study underscores the significant role of highland traditions, especially regarding stamp seals. Through a comparative analysis of designs and motifs from prominent highland sites alongside those from Susa, the research identifies formal and iconographic continuities suggesting either a highland origin or a strong interregional relationship. The shared presence of composite structures, anthropomorphic and zoomorphic themes, and distinctive stylistic traits supports the argument that the Susa A stamp seal tradition emerged not exclusively from an indigenous Susiana lowland culture, but from a broader sphere of cultural and artistic interaction with the Zagros highlands. This perspective reshapes the understanding of cultural dynamics in southwestern Iran and challenges prevailing models that emphasize innovation or cultural diffusion primarily from the Susiana lowlands.
Keywords: Stamp Seal Tradition, Susa A, Zagros, Susiana, Highlands,  Administrative Developments.

Introduction
Susa ranks among the world’s oldest continuously inhabited sites. Despite more than a century of archaeological excavations, particularly those conducted by French missions in the late 19th and early 20th centuries questions about its earliest developmental stages persist. The Susa A period marks a transformative cultural phase in southwest Iran, characterized by distinctive pottery types, specialized administrative techniques, and a rich repertoire of stamp seals. Traditional scholarship has often interpreted the seal tradition of this period as a lowland phenomenon, either emerging indigenously within Susiana or shaped by Mesopotamian traditions. This article challenges that prevailing narrative by presenting evidence of technological and stylistic parallels with the highland regions of the Central Zagros, long regarded in historical discourse as peripheral.
This study adopts a comparative approach grounded in cultural transfer theory, interregional interaction models, and frontier dynamics. Rather than adhering to the conventional one directional, diffusionist perspective that positions the lowlands as the sole center of innovation, it embraces a network model in which highland societies function as active agents in shaping shared cultural symbols and administrative technologies. Methodologically, the research operates on three analytical levels: 1. Form and Style Analysis – Comparative examination of stamp seals from Susa A and key highland sites, assessing shape, dimensions, image composition, engraving techniques, tool mark signatures, and stylistic tendencies ranging from abstraction to naturalism. 2. Iconographic Classification – Detailed categorization and analysis of motifs, including animal figures (quadrupeds, composite creatures, birds), anthropomorphic forms (depicted clothed or nude, solitary or in groups), geometric fillers, and symbolic elements such as abstract signs and rosettes. Special attention is given to narrative scenes, animal combat, human–animal interaction potentially imbued with mythological significance. 3. Network Reconstruction – Integration of stylistic and technical data to trace artisan mobility, identify shared workshops across regions, and detect cross cultural borrowings within the broader framework of artistic and technical exchange.
Through this integrated methodology, the study reconstructs the complex artistic and administrative networks of the late fifth millennium BCE, highlighting the reciprocal cultural contributions between the Central Zagros highlands and the Susiana lowlands.

Susa in the Late Fifth Millennium BCE
By the late fifth millennium BCE, Susa exhibits clear signs of complex social and political organization. Excavations reveal those administrative technologies, particularly the use of seals played a central role in regulating goods and enforcing institutional control. While monumental architecture in earlier centers such as Chogha Mish primarily served ceremonial or communal purposes, the Susa A period is distinguished by large scale, hierarchically organized buildings featuring elevated platforms and funerary or ritual structures, reflecting concentrated political authority. A comparative analysis between Chogha Mish during the Late Middle Susiana phase and Susa A highlights profound cultural and structural differences, challenging the notion of uninterrupted continuity between the two centers. Architecturally, Chogha Mish is defined by inward focused monumentality without clear evidence of centralized governance, whereas Susa A demonstrates pronounced political–ritual centrality expressed through expansive, hierarchically arranged spaces. In ceramics, the contrast is equally striking: Chogha Mish produced pottery with distinctive decorative styles and varied scales of production, in contrast to the standardized, mass produced wares of Susa A, designed to meet the requirements of intensive administrative systems. Economically, the rich repertoire of seals in Susa A reflects a formalized bureaucratic apparatus regulating trade and distribution, a mechanism only minimally present in Chogha Mish. Collectively, these distinctions suggest that the cultural transformation between the two sites may have been shaped by intervening highland influences rather than solely by endogenous lowland development.
The corpus of more than 261 stamp seals and seal impressions from Susa A, extensively documented by scholars such as Amiet (1979), provides compelling evidence of deep connections with the Zagros highlands. Amiet interprets the anthropomorphic imagery in these seals as emblematic of political authority, while comparative analysis shows striking stylistic and iconographic correspondences between Susa A and highland specimens. Technically, both regions employed identical engraving tools, achieved comparable carving depths, and maintained similar production quality. Iconographically, the recurrence of geometric arrangements, distinctive anthropomorphic stances, and specific animal compositions is common to both traditions. Furthermore, the presence of highland motifs and techniques within Susa contexts suggests either the mobility of artisans between highland and lowland zones or the circulation of finished seals through established exchange networks, underscoring the role of interregional interaction in shaping the stamp seal tradition of Susa A.

Iconographic Typology
The iconographic repertoire of Susa A stamp seals comprises three principal motif groups, each reflecting shared traditions with the Zagros highlands alongside adaptations to the administrative realities of Susiana.
1. Geometric Motifs: Ranging from zigzags, chevrons, and intersecting grids to concentric circles and dotted patterns, these designs form the foundational visual vocabulary of both regions. In the highlands, geometric motifs were primarily linked to ritual contexts; in Susa, however, they evolved into layered compositions characterized by precise symmetry and enhanced visual depth, serving both ritual and bureaucratic purposes.
2. Animal Motifs: Depicting cattle, caprids, predators such as lions and leopards, birds, and occasionally composite mythological creatures, these motifs often present dynamic combat or pursuit scenes. Such imagery may encode symbolic narratives of human mastery over nature, divine sanction, or assertions of political authority.
3. Anthropomorphic Motifs: Less frequent yet significant, these portray human figures in styles shared with highland traditions, with Susa examples featuring more elaborate attire, complex staging, and possible representations of officials, deities, or heroic figures. These variations emphasize the bureaucratic and ceremonial dimensions of seal imagery.
Collectively, these motifs constitute a visual lexicon in which highland heritage was reinterpreted and expanded to address the evolving socio administrative needs of Susa. During the Susa A period, stamp seals were predominantly employed by officials vested with administrative authority, functioning as instruments to regulate the movement of goods into and out of offices or storerooms through marks of ownership, approval, and official validation. In highland contexts, seals often combined administrative and ritual functions; in Susa, they became firmly embedded in a centralized bureaucratic apparatus, reflecting a shift toward specialized economic governance. This trajectory suggests an initial shared symbolic vocabulary between highland and lowland traditions, followed by functional diversification and specialization within the lowland administrative sphere, while sustained artisan mobility and motif exchange preserved stylistic continuity across the two regions.

Challenging the Lowland Centric Model 
By foregrounding highland traditions in the evolution of Susa A’s stamp seal repertoire, this study directly challenges the diffusionist paradigm that conceives innovation as a one way stream flowing from economically dominant, politically centralized lowland centers toward supposedly peripheral highland zones. Instead, it proposes a model of genuine, bi directional cultural exchange in which the Zagros highlands emerge as active contributors, providing original iconographic motifs, distinctive engraving techniques, and potentially skilled artisans whose mobility facilitated the transfer of both technical knowledge and aesthetic values.
Within this framework, the genesis of Susa’s early bureaucratic culture is understood not as a purely local lowland invention, but as a composite creation forged through dynamic interaction between highland ritual–symbolic vocabularies and lowland administrative pragmatism. This reciprocal relationship produced a hybrid visual–functional system in which technical precision met symbolic richness, ensuring that Susa’s seals functioned both as instruments of governance and as carriers of layered cultural meanings drawn from an expansive interregional network.

Conclusions
This study redefines the stamp seal tradition of the Susa A period as a hybrid construct born from sustained, multidirectional contact between highland and lowland cultural spheres, dismantling the long standing notion that its origins lay solely within the Susiana plain. The evidence highlights deep roots in highland cultural milieus, where shared composite structural arrangements, rich anthropomorphic and zoomorphic themes, and distinctive stylistic traits emerged through mutual influence rather than simple peripheral borrowing. In Susa, these highland traditions were not merely adopted but transformed into more elaborate, technically precise designs tailored to the demands of rapid administrative expansion and the consolidation of political authority in the late fifth millennium BCE. Situating Susa A’s seal tradition within a broader highland–lowland network of cultural, technical, and symbolic exchange offers a more nuanced perspective on the socio political forces shaping early complex societies in southwest Iran. It reveals how reciprocal innovation across ecological and cultural boundaries generated the complex administrative and artistic systems that would become hallmarks of the later Elamite society.