fragments of officialdom from fara

Fragments of Officialdom from FaraAuthor(s): R. J. MatthewsSource: Iraq, Vol. 53 (1991), pp. 1-15Published by: British Institute for the Study of IraqStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/4200331 .

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FRAGMENTS OF OFFICIALDOM FROM FARA

By R. J. MATTHEWS

Introduction

The site of Fara, ancient Shuruppak, lies approximately halfway between Nippur and

Uruk at the very core of the Sumerian urban heartland. The city was renowned as the home

of Utnapishtim who survived the flood and went to live in Dilmun where he was visited by

Gilgamesh. As was the case with so many Mesopotamian mounds excavated early this

century, Fara was investigated in a less than ideal manner. Almost thirty years passed between the first season of excavations by the Deutsche Orient-Gesellschaft in 1902-3 and its

publication (Heinrich 1931), while a second season by the University of Pennsylvania in 1931

received only brief coverage in print (Schmidt 1931). A great many of these inadequacies have been rectified with the recent publication of H. Martin's book on Fara (Martin 1988), the culmination of her earlier work on the site (Martin 1975; 1983), in which she has

presented and discussed a considerable amount of new information concerning these early excavations, particularly with regard to the provenances of artifacts. Martin has also

established the chronology of occupation at the site, with a foundation in the Jemdet Nasr

period, extensive Early Dynastic I-IIIa occupation, a fairly rapid decline thereafter and a

virtual abandonment at the end of the Ur III period (Martin 1983). In the present study of

Early Dynastic administration at Fara the extent to which I have made use of Dr. Martin's

work will be readily apparent. Additionally, this study is founded on a spell of research

carried out by the writer at the Vorderasiatische Museum of the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin

in July 1987 during which 1,015 Fara sealings were examined.

Method of study The purpose of this study is firstly to provide a detailed analysis of functional and

contextual aspects of clay sealings from Fara, and secondly to discuss the results thereby obtained within a wider framework of society and administration at Fara and contemporary Sumerian sites. Given the difficulties associated with identification of the ED II period in

Mesopotamia, I have chosen to treat the ED period, as attested at Fara, as consisting of two

phases, I and Ilia, without discussing the question at any length here.

The methodology of sealing analysis involves firstly the examination of reverse faces of

clay sealings in order to identify the items, be it store-room doors or containers of various

kinds, originally sealed by the lumps of clay which bear seal impressions on their obverse

faces. Pioneering work in this field was done by E. Fiandra (1975) and has been expanded

upon by several subsequent researchers (Charv?t 1988; Zettler 1987). Secondly, the

methodology involves searches for correlations between iconographie and functional aspects of sealings (as discussed in full in Matthews 1989).

Clay sealings from Fara

Along with the 840 Early Dynastic tablets from the site, the corpus of Fara clay sealings stands out as one of the most important, and neglected, sources of information on Sumerian

administrative practices. Martin has amply covered iconographie aspects of the Fara

sealings (Martin 1988, 64?81), while recognising the importance of studying sealing reverse

sides with a view to establishing their original functions. In the present study, emphasis is laid

upon the significance of a functional and contextual analysis of sealing reverses and, at the

same time, upon the value of correlating functional and iconographie information in order

to reconstruct Early Dynastic administrative practices. The vast majority of Fara sealings comes from the 1902-3 season, principally from two

provenances: a rubbish dump around trenches Id/le at the north-eastern edge of the mound, of at least ED I date, and a large house of ED Illa date in trenches XIIIf-i in the south-

eastern corner of the mound.



I R. J. MATTHEWS

Early Dynastic I evidence

Id/le dump : functional analysis

Large collections of clay sealings from ancient dumps are well known in Mesopotamia, for

example from the Seal Impression Strata at Ur (Legrain 1936), the Ash Tip at Abu Salabikh

(Matthews nd) and the 4C88 dump at Jemdet Nasr (Matthews 1990). At least 838 sealings were excavated from the Id/le dump (Martin 1988, 66) of which 404 can now be identified.

Their seal impressions are characterised by Martin as spanning Jemdet Nasr to ED II in date

(Martin 1988, 67). For the purposes of this paper we will consider the dump to be essentially of ED I date.

O O

DO?QOC

Fig. 1. Operation of door peg sealing.

Of the 404 sealings 83 are of indeterminable function due to their fragmentary nature. Of

the remaining 321, 283, or 88-17%, had originally been applied to door pegs, thus securing store-room doors in a manner well understood since Fiandra's work (1975) and illustrated in

Fig. 1. A close examination of the door peg sealings reveals two distinct groups of door peg

types. Ninety-three door peg sealings have come from pegs with a distinctive profile,

averaging 3-49 cm in diameter at the middle, flaring at both head and base, and with a very

smooth, featureless texture suggestive of stone or polished wood (Fig. 2: 1). Many of these

sealings may have been applied, sequentially, to the same door peg. A smaller group of 21

sealings have straighter, narrower peg impressions averaging 2*83 cm in diameter, many with markings of vegetable matter such as palm frond mid-ribs or reeds (Fig. 2: 2).

Only 28, or 8-72%, of the 321 functionally identifiable sealings have come from

containers. Pot and leather bag sealings (Fig. 3: 1-2) are best represented, with eight and

seven sealings respectively. Ten of the 321 sealings are flat tongues of clay with single cylinder

rollings, probably test or sample rollings of seals.

The functional distribution of the Id/le dump sealings, then, indicates a high degree of

door sealing, and a low degree of container sealing, in the building or buildings from which



FRAGMENTS OF OFFICIALDOM FROM FARA

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rt

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4 R. J. MATTHEWS

the dump took its fill. Closely similar functional distributions of large sealing groups are

attested in the material from the Seal Impression Strata at Ur (Matthews 1989) and the Ash

Tip at Abu Salabikh (Matthews nd), where door sealing predominates to a similar extent. In

all three cases we can envisage the sealings arriving in the dump by means of periodic

clearings out of rubbish from a nearby building. In the cases of the Seal Impression Strata at

Ur and the Ash Tip at Abu Salabikh other artifacts associated with the sealings encourage the view that the rubbish originated from buildings of a supra-domestic function, probably

temples. Beyond the presence of 14 unidentifiable tablets, however, almost nothing is known

of artifacts associated with the Id/le dump sealings (Martin 1988, 82), which renders

precarious any identification of the original architectural context of the dump's contents as

temple, palace or private household.

Id/le dump: obverse/reverse correlations

The 404 sealings known to have come from the dump bear 70 different seal impressions, all from cylinder seals, with no stamp impressions in evidence. Indeed, no stamp seal

impressions at all are known from Fara despite the finding of 19 stamp seals in both the

German and American excavations (Martin 1988, 69). This presence of stamp seals coupled with a complete absence of their impressions is only one of several unexplained aspects of

early sealing practices in general. Stamp seals and their impressions are, however, found at

EDI Ur (Legrain 1936) and ED III Abu Salabikh (Postgate 1980, 92). Of the 70 different seal impressions featured on the 404 Id/le dump sealings, 27 are found

on more than one sealing. Several of these groups of sealings with duplicated seal impressions are now examined as an opportunity to test the proposition that particular seals were

consistently used for specific purposes.

Id/le duplicate group 1

Eighty-seven sealings share the seal impression illustrated in Fig. 4: 1, classified by Martin

as "elegant style" (Martin 1988, 73). Fifteen are functionally unidentifiable. The remaining 72 are, without exception, from door pegs with no container sealings attested. Strikingly demonstrated here is the absolutely exclusive use on door pegs of the cylinder seal depicted in Fig. 4: 1. It is safe to affirm that the seal in question was very much native to Fara, as the

Fig. 4. Id/le dump seal impressions. Martin 1988 nos. 256, 250, 554, 24. Scale 1:1.



FRAGMENTS OF OFFICIALDOM FROM FARA 0

door pegs must have been, and that there is every justification in typifying its iconography as

the "Fara style" (Martin 1988, 72). Furthermore, the owner of this seal clearly had an

important role to play concerning door opening and closing. Such an official had control

over a storage facility of some sort and was not involved in the sealing of portable goods in

containers. It is likely that the goods stored in the rooms of the building from which the Id/

le dump originated were unsealed goods, possibly quantities of some bulk commodity, such

as grain. It is worth looking in more detail at these door peg sealings in duplicate group 1, in terms

of their peg and string impressions. The peg impressions have an average central diameter of

3-46 cm. Almost all the impressions show a type 1 peg with flared top and base, with a very smooth texture suggestive of stone or polished wood. It is probable that many, or all, of

these sealings had been applied to the same peg over a period of time.

The evidence of the string impressions reinforces the picture of uniformity of function

within the group. In all detectable cases, the string fibre is of hair, probably goat.

Furthermore, in all 44 instances where the string spin direction can be determined, the string is Z-spun with no occurrences of S-spun string. Other string dimensions show similar

regularity. In sum, the 87 sealings of Id/le dump duplicate group 1 form a very coherent,

homogeneous assemblage, with peg and string impressions supporting the idea that the seal

impressed on all these sealings was employed by an official exclusively for door peg sealing. It is further suggested that many of these sealings had been applied to the same peg,

reflecting multiple openings and closings of a single storage room.


There are 60 sealings which share the seal impression illustrated in Fig. 4: 2, again of the

"elegant style". Of the 49 functionally identifiable sealings 40, or 81-63%, are from door

pegs, eight, or 16-33%, from containers, and one is a test rolling strip. Thus, although door

peg sealing predominates in this group, it is not the sole function of the seal in question. A

noteworthy proportion consists of container sealings, principally from leather bags. The door pegs attested by the reverse impressions are, as with duplicate group 1,

extremely uniform, showing a type 1 peg with an average central diameter of 3-52 cm, with

flared top and base, and smooth texture. Again the string impressions reinforce the

uniformity, with 20 instances of Z-spun string and only one of S-spun. Given the similarities

between the peg and string impressions on sealings from duplicate groups 1 and 2, it may be

the case that sealings from both groups were used to seal the same store-room, indicating that more than one official had control over a particular room, or that one official possessed more than one seal.


An interesting group is formed by the nine sealings which bear impressions of the seal

shown in Fig. 4: 3, a boating and banqueting scene. Five of the group come from door pegs, with impressions of flared peg profiles and Z-spun string. There are three container sealings, one each from a split-reed matting bundle, a wooden box and a leather bag. The official in

possession of this seal thus had some involvement in the movement of sealed goods as well as

in the control of access to storage space.


There are five sealings which have the impression shown in Fig. 4: 4, an animal and tree

design perhaps of Jemdet Nasr date (Martin 1988, 69), therefore predating the many

"elegant style" sealings discussed above. Four of this group are from door pegs, while one is

functionally unidentifiable. It is noteworthy that the door pegs attested on the peg sealings

differ from the flared, smooth pegs of the "elegant style" sealings. Here the peg impressions have straight profiles with an average diameter of 4-0 cm. The texture is faintly bumpy, but

the peg material is hard to identify. They may be wooden or baked clay pegs.



Corpus

404 sealings

R. J. MATTHEWS

Doors

283 sealings

Containers

28 sealings 100

75-

Per

50-

cent

25-

Impression category:

Hero & JN design animal

Deity or banquet

Mise, animal Pictographic

Type:

Fig. 5. Id/le dump function and iconography.



FRAGMENTS OF OFFICIALDOM FROM FARA /

IdIle dump: functional types and iconography The above study of duplicate groups has revealed considerable consistency of sealing

function for specific seals. Another approach is to correlate a functional typology against an

iconographie typology, as depicted in Fig. 5. Here we see that on door sealings, seals of

iconographie type 2, with hero and animal scenes, predominate over all other types of seal

impression. On container sealings type 2 seals are still in the majority, but there is a far more

even distribution of iconographie types, with a substantially greater representation of design seals and deity/banquet scene seals. It thus transpires that door sealing is closely correlated

with specific iconography, while container sealing involves a greater multiplicity of

iconography, a distinction which is likely to reflect, on the one hand, the manifold nature of

the sources of container sealings prior to their arrival at the Id/le dump and, on the other

hand, the site specific nature of the door sealings from that same dump.

Early Dynastic I society and administration

In reviewing the question of the nature of social structure and administration at Fara we

can begin by considering the sealing evidence, as presented above, in the light of other types of material evidence, and their associations, from the site. For the ED I period, during which

the Id/le dump accumulated, little supportive evidence can be had from Fara itself. A

handful of archaic, i.e. pre-ED III, tablets were found in the course of both German and

American excavations, including at least 14 from the Id/le dump, but they are too poorly

provenanced and published to be of any assistance (Martin 1988, 82). The IIIa-c building, of sprawling plan (Martin 1988, Fig. 28), contained artifacts

exclusively of Jemdet Nasr to ED I date, including imitation shell core beads, but there is

uncertainty about the dating of the architecture. In any case, no tablets and very few sealings were found in this structure, which has been interpreted as a probable temple (Martin 1988,

127). Despite the paucity of excavated Jemdet Nasr and EDI structures at Fara, surface

finds indicate that it was at this time that the city reached its greatest spread, attaining to at

least 70 hectares (Martin 1983, 26). The large dump in Id/le, with its substantial collection

of clay sealings, is likely to be evidence of extensive, perhaps public, administration of a now

undefinable nature. We should note that no fewer than 70 different seals are impressed on the

Id/le dump sealings, so that if these sealings originate from one building they are evidence of

a very sizable corps of administrative officials functioning within that building, with most of

them having control over access to storerooms.

The picture of ED I society and administration is not greatly enhanced by recourse to

other Sumerian sites. The only significant corpus of ED I tablets comes from the Seal

Impression Strata at Ur, again an association of archaic tablets with large quantities of

sealings in a dump which has been interpreted as originating from a temple (Legrain 1936).

Analysis of the Ur texts, which relate to agricultural production, indicates that the

administration and economy of ED I Ur were dominated by a single centralised institution

with extensive redistributive powers (Charv?t 1979; Wright 1969). The fact that many of

the Seal Impression Strata sealings associated with the tablets bear symbols representing the

names of at least ten Sumerian cities reveals the participation of Ur in some wider

relationship, whether defensive (Jacobsen 1957, 109), social (Charv?t 1979, 16) or economic

(Wright 1969, 32). It is in any case remarkable that at this time the site of Ur covered

only some 20 hectares (Wright 1969, 33)?contemporary Uruk, for example, reaching 400 hectares (Adams and Nissen 1972)?and we may surmise that whatever the institution

was which controlled ED I society and administration at Ur it was important enough of

itself to propel the city into the top league of Early Dynastic Sumerian cities, and to lay the

political foundations for the immense wealth and prestige of the city attested by the Royal

Cemetery a few centuries later.

Despite the undoubted importance of the ED I period in the history of early

Mesopotamian urbanism, remains of this period have not been extensively excavated

(although recently restarted excavations at al-Hiba promise to redress the balance). A small

area of ED I architecture, the Early House Stratum, was uncovered in the Y sounding at



8 R. J. MATTHEWS

Kish, and there are indications that the Kish chariot burials may also date to ED I (Algaze 1983-4, 150). The Early House Stratum buildings appear largely domestic in function

although some of the larger sets of rooms may belong to more communal structures. In a

sounding at Eridu there are suggestions of an ED I palace underlying the ED III building

(Safar et al. 1981, 304), while on the West Mound at Abu Salabikh four large enclosures

provide evidence of an ED I city quarter perhaps consisting of substantial households

(Postgate 1980, 99). ED I temples are known at Nippur (Wilson 1986) and at Khafaje and

Tell Asmar in the Diyala region (Delougaz and Lloyd 1942). Away from the Sumerian

heartland, ED I developments reflect the apparent tensions of the times, with the construc-

tion of imposing circular structures, probably for defensive purposes, in the Hamrin region at Gubba (Fujii 1981), Razuk (Gibson 1981) and Madhhur (Roaf 1982) and, slightly later, in northern Mesopotamia too, at Tell al-Raqa'i (Curvers and Schwartz 1990).

There remains, then, almost everything to learn about ED I society at Fara and beyond. For now we can say that a prominent feature of the ED I period in the Sumerian heartland, and probably beyond, was the importance of centralised institutions with extensive

administrative functions such as are attested by the sealings, and few tablets, from the Id/le

dump.

0 5 10m

Fig. 6. XIIIf-i house plan.

Early Dynastic III evidence

XHIf?i house: functional analysis Of the at least 243 sealings established by Martin (1988, 66) as coming from this house,

whose plan is shown in Fig. 6, we can identify 125. From Heinrich's plan (Heinrich 1931, PI. 12) it appears that most of these sealings were found in the central courtyard of the house, which is dated by its tablets to ED Ilia. Martin has pointed out (1988, 94) that were it not

for the shared provenance of these sealings one would not assume them, on stylistic grounds, to be contemporary, as a great range of glyptic styles is present. Given the low height to

which walls of the XIIIf-i house survived (well illustrated in Andrae 1903, Fig. 6), we may

justly wonder whether some of the sealings in fact were excavated from sub-floor layers

predating the occupation of the house. For the present, however, we accept the assumption that these sealings do relate to the lifespan of the XIIIf-i house.

Of the 70 functionally identifiable sealings 53, or 75-72%, are from door pegs, 14, or

20-00%, from containers, and 3 are test rollings. This functional make-up reflects a more

heterogeneous range of administrative activities than is attested by the Id/le dump sealing



FRAGMENTS OF OFFICIALDOM FROM FARA y

evidence, and suggests that the residents of the XlIIf?i house had responsibility for the

receipt and storage of sealed goods in sealed rooms.

Both types of door peg are again attested, one with flared top and base, central diameter

averaging 3-80 cm, and smooth texture (Fig. 7: 1), the other straight with grain marks from

palm frond mid-ribs or large reeds averaging 2-55 cm in diameter. Amongst the container

sealings it is notable that the only type found in significant numbers, ten in all, had sealed

split-reed matting bundles, illustrated in Fig. 7: 2, which are likely to have contained bulky commodities such as textiles.

XIIIf-i house: obverse/reverse correlations

The 125 sealings known to have come from the XIIIf-i house bear 20 different seal

impressions, all from cylinders, and all taken to be of ED Ilia date, therefore postdating the

Id/le dump sealings examined above. There are seven duplicate groups amongst the 20 seal

impressions, four of which are analysed below.

XIIIf-i duplicate group 1

Thirty-six sealings have the seal impression shown in Fig. 8: 1. Of the 20 sealings of

identifiable function 17, or 85-00%, are from door pegs, and 3, or 15-00%, from containers.

The high proportion of door sealings indicates that the seal, of ED Illa Anzud Sud style, is

sealing reverse

sealing reverse

Fig. 7. XIIIf-i house door peg and reed mat sealing.



10 R. J. MATTHEWS

(' >?

Fig. 8. XIIIf-i house seal impressions. Martin 1988 nos. 454, 539, 84, 441. Scale 1:1.

very much local to Fara. Both types of door peg are attested, and several of the sealings have

level bases with fine striations indicating adhesion to a flat wooden surface into which the

peg had been affixed. In all cases the string is of a coarse hair carelessly, yet distinctively, twined. The three container sealings, one each from a split-reed matting bundle, a wooden

box and a pot, reveal a limited amount of movement of sealed goods under the control of the

official in possession of the seal shown in Fig. 8: 1, whose principal concern was the sealing of

at least two doors in the XIIIf-i house.


Forty-seven sealings have the seal impression shown in Fig. 8: 4, again of ED Illa Anzud

Sud style (Martin 1988, 78). Of the 23 functionally identifiable sealings 17, or 73-91% are

from door pegs and 6, or 26-09%, from containers. Only type 1 pegs are attested. All six

container sealings come from split-reed matting bundles which may have held bulky items, such as textiles or hides, sealed and stored in a room itself sealed by the same official.


There are four sealings with the seal impression shown in Fig. 8: 3, a geometric design. A

wide functional range is reflected with two door peg sealings, one from split-reed matting and one test rolling. As with other duplicate groups from the XIIIf-i house, this group is

evidence for an official having control over portable goods as well as over room access.


A small group of five sealings share the seal impression shown in Fig. 8: 2, a distinctive

banqueting scene in two registers. Of the five pieces two are from split-reed matting bundles, one from a basket (one of only two basket sealings in the entire Fara corpus) formed of palm



FRAGMENTS OF OFFICIALDOM FROM FARA 1 1

leaflets, and two are probably from door pegs. The indications are that the holder of this seal

was concerned more with portable goods than with store-rooms, a fact that may well be

connected with the distinctive iconography of the seal. Rathje's hypothesis (1977) that Ur

banqueting seals were used by a court elite may indicate that Fara banqueting scene sealings sealed prestigious commodities moving between a large household and some other

institution.

In sum, the XIIIf-i house duplicate groups show much less of a correlation between

function and specific seal impressions than was demonstrated for the Id/le dump groups, with little exclusive use of specific seals for door peg sealing, suggesting multiplicity of

bureaucratic function for the official or officials using the XIIIf-i house.

XIIIf-i house: functional types and iconography

By correlating an iconographie typology, with four types, against a functional typology

(Fig. 9), it can be seen that there is no close relationship. Iconographie type 2, the Anzud

Sud style, is consistently dominant across the functional range. Even the rare iconographie

type 3, the elongated "master of animals" style, of which there are only three provenanced

sealings, includes both a door and a container sealing. These results further enhance the

picture of multiplicity of function for particular seal-bearing officials, almost certainly householders, in ED Illa Fara.

Early Dynastic III society and administration

By ED III times there is considerably more evidence, textual and archaeological, upon which to base theories concerning the nature of Sumerian society, although the principally administrative content of ED III texts means that we are still barely out of proto-history. Some of the most informative evidence comes from Fara itself, as we have intended to show

with the detailed sealings analyses presented above. The significance of the 840 ED III

tablets from Fara has long been recognised, but it is only with Martin's work on their

provenances (Martin 1975) that their true worth has been realised. The distribution of the

tablets across several locations is of interest in itself, but it is unfortunate that so few other

artifacts can be securely provenanced. The more important tablet provenances include; the

Tablet House in XVh, perhaps a specialised large institution dealing in up to 9,660 donkeys and 1,200 men; the XVa?d house with two courtyards and texts revealing ownership of 250

acres of land; the IXa-c house which yielded exclusively lexical and literary texts; the

XVIIc-d house, a large building with many small rooms, with tablets concerning up to

6,580 workers including some from other cities, such as Uruk, Adab, Nippur, Lagash, Umma and Kish; and the XIIIf-i house, where tablets were found principally in an office

suite of three rooms near the front door (Martin 1988, 93). The provenance distribution of

the tablets across at least 25 locations has suggested the existence of separate economic units, or households, with a family nucleus controlling semi-free workers (Martin 1975, 178). A

prosopographical study, however, has led to the view that, although deposited separately, the Fara tablets originated from one large organisation which controlled almost all the

economy, perhaps allotting archive divisions on the basis of city quarters (Pomponio 1983). Another study, this time of the individual Anzud Sud, whose name features on both tablets

and sealings from the XIIIf-i house, sees a dual role for Fara citizens, firstly within a family, household framework, and secondly within the wider Fara community (Charv?t 1986). The

sealing evidence from the XIIIf-i house, discussed above, supports the view of Fara

householders as executing administrative tasks within their own homes, sealing commodities

within store-rooms. It cannot be excluded, however, that some or all of this activity may have been undertaken as part of the wider functioning of a larger institution. The fact that 20

different seal impressions, presumably representing 20 officials, are attested on the XIIIf-i

house sealings may indicate that use of the store-rooms was not restricted to inhabitants of

the house. Tablets from the house, however, make no direct reference to an external

institution, such as a temple (Edzard 1979).



12 R. J. MATTHEWS

Corpus

125 sealings 100

75-

Per

50-

cent

25-

Doors

53 sealings

Containers

14 sealings

Type:

Impression category:

Design Anzud Sud Master of animals Banquet

12 3 4

Fig. 9. XIIIf-i house function and iconography.




Our lack of knowledge of associated artifacts from the XIIIf-i house renders difficult any attempt at understanding the social layout of the house, such as has been carried out on ED III architecture in the Diyala region (Henrickson 1981; and even where full provenance knowledge is possessed, the difficulties in reconstructing social order from household artifact distributions are well addressed by Roaf 1989). The movement of textiles attested in the Anzud Sud tablets (Charv?t 1986, 48) may, however, be associated with the significant quantity of reed mat bundle sealings from the XIIIf-i house, bundles ideally suited for

wrapping textiles. The Anzud Sud tablets illustrate the wide-ranging economic activities of an apparently private individual at Fara (Charv?t 1986) and although doubts have been

expressed as to the existence of private entrepreneurship in the ED III period (Nissen 1987,

290), some ED III texts do seem to reflect economic activity of a distinctly private and

speculative nature (Powell 1973, 103). The inscribing of personal names, such as Anzud Sud, on cylinder seals is likely to be an affirmation of the role of the individual within Fara society in ED Ilia. At the other extreme, the texts from the XVIIc-d house, naming workers from several Sumerian cities, indicate the integration of Fara within a Sumerian city grouping likely to be a functional sequel to the ED I, and earlier, league attested by seal impressions from Ur, Uruk and Jemdet Nasr.

The Sumerian temple state theory has for some time now been viewed with extreme caution (Foster 1981). The basis for the theory, and its refutation, has been the huge corpus of largely unprovenanced ED III texts from Tello, part of the city-state of Lagash. Other

evidence, from Ur, has been taken to indicate an increasing secularisation of power through the course of the ED period (Charv?t 1982), while Japanese scholars, to the contrary, have

postulated a process of decreasing secularisation of power, at least at ED III Lagash, where texts are interpreted as showing a gradual loss of control by secular leaders over religious elements (Maekawa 1973-4; Yamamoto 1980; 1981). Another angle has been to emphasise the role of the household, in its various forms, in the everyday functioning of Mesopotamian society (Diakonoff 1963; Gelb 1965; 1979).

If we look at Fara for architectural corollaries of these theories, we must bear in mind that much of the site remains unexcavated. Although the Tablet House, the XVIIc-d house and the IIIa-c building all have elements suggestive of a supra-domestic role, there are no really clear-cut candidates at Fara for either a temple or, more particularly, a palace such as those in evidence at Kish (Moorey 1964; 1978), Tell al-Wilayah (Madhlum 1960), Eridu (Safar et al. 1981), Mari (Margueron 1982), the Area C building at al-Hiba (Hansen 1973) and now

probably on the South Mound at Abu Salabikh (Postgate 1990), all of ED III date. The Fara evidence, architectural and other, supports the view of discrete or semi-discrete households as being the fundamental unit of society and administration at ED III Fara, while larger-scale communal activities are attested by inter-city co-operation and by structures such as the immense silos, probably for grain storage, found at several points on the mound (Martin 1988, 42). The detailed sealing evidence presented above at least adds a new dimension to the vexing question of the nature of Sumerian society and administration.

Acknowledgements To Dr. H. Martin for permission to include copies of seal impression illustrations from her 1988 book; to Dr. L. Jakob-Rost and Dr. E. Klengel-Brandt for permission to study Fara sealings in the Vorderasiatische Museum, Berlin; to Mr. J. N. Postgate for supervising my Ph.D. thesis of which this article is a much-altered part; and to St. John's College, Cambridge for financial assistance with a visit to Berlin in 1987.

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