Page 401 - עידן האימפריות

phenomenon, raises a surprising conclusion: While impression of stamps on
jar handles was already known throughout the Ancient Near East during the
prehistorical period, and in relatively large numbers in the Second and First
Millennia BCE, in most cases it reflects a short-term act and a functionally
focused system.
In all these cases, the impression of the seals on the body of the jar or on
its handles can be understood as a local phenomenon which is limited in time
and with limited distribution in a specific territorial unit. It does not reflect
the activity of an organized administrative system which operated over a long
period of time, and in all these early systems there is no continuity in the use
of the same set of seals over time.
At the end of the 8th century BCE, the stamp impressions in Judah
became – for the first time in history – a widespread administrative
phenomenon, which provide evidence of the use of an abundance of similar
seals at a given time, of numerous impressions with each seal, widespread
distribution of the stamped handles within a specific territory, and mainly
– of the administrative continuity of the use of these stamp impressions of
numerous types which continue each other and evolve from each other over
a period of about 600 years. The administrative system which is based on the
stamp impressions on jar handles can be defined as a Judean evolution of a
known and familiar phenomenon, which characterizes the economy and the
administration in Judah from the end of the 8th century to the second half of
the 2nd century BCE.
There is nothing new in the administrative system which focuses on jars
with stamp impressions. All the characteristics of this system are known
in the Ancient Near East, in numerous and diverse places, and during long
periods of time. The innovation is in the scope, diversity, continuity, and
consecutiveness of the administration of jars in Judah during a time period of
about 600 years, which is exactly identical to the period in which Judah was
a vassal kingdom and a province under the rule of the mighty empires which
governed the entire Ancient East. Therefore, this fact is extremely significant
for understanding the history of the Kingdom of Judah under the rule of the
Assyrian, Egyptian, and Babylonian empires, and later on for the history of
the Province of Judah under the rule of Babylon, Persia, and the Ptolemaic
and Seleucid dynasties.
The first types of stamp impressions which were probably used in Judah

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