Mittani culture (1550-1260 BC) stone cylinder seal with impression. Cylinder seal- a small, barrel-shaped stone object with a hole down the center and an incised design or cuneiform inscription. It was originally rolled on clay when soft to indicate ownership or to authenticate a document and was used chiefly in Mesopotamia from the late 4th to the 1st millennium BC. REFERENCE: Mitanni or Mittani (c. 1550–1260 BC),[a] earlier called Ḫabigalbat in old Babylonian texts, c. 1600 BC;[1] Ḫanigalbat or Ḫani-Rabbat in Assyrian records,[b] or Naharin in Egyptian and some Akkadian texts, was a Hurrian-speaking state in northern Syria and southeast Anatolia (modern-day Turkey)[2] with Indo-Aryan linguistic and political influences.[c] Since no histories, royal annals or chronicles have yet been found in its excavated sites, knowledge about Mitanni is sparse compared to the other powers in the area, and dependent on what its neighbours commented in their texts. The Hurrians were in the region as of the late 3rd millennium BC.[3] A king of Urkesh with a Hurrian name, Tupkish, was found on a clay sealing dated c. 2300 BC at Tell Mozan.[4][5] The first recorded inscription of their language was of Tish-atal (c. 21st century BC), king of Urkesh.[6] Later on, Hurrians made up the main population of Mitanni, which was firstly known as Ḫabigalbat, at Babylonia, in two texts of the late Old Babylonian period,[1] during the reign of Ammi-Saduqa, (c. 1638–1618 BC), in low middle chronology. The Mitanni Empire was a strong regional power limited by the Hittites to the north, Egyptians to the west, Kassites to the south, and later by the Assyrians to the east. At its maximum extent Mitanni ranged as far west as Kizzuwatna by the Taurus Mountains, Tunip in the south, Arraphe in the east, and north to Lake Van.[7] Their sphere of influence is shown in Hurrian place names, personal names and the spread through Syria and the Levant of a distinct pottery type, Nuzi ware.[8] Description: Circa 1400 B.C. Cylinder with hatched borders, three standing birds facing back towards a standing figure, palm tree behind; supplied with a museum-quality impression. Weight: 1.8 grams, Length: 23 mm = 1 inch. Provenance: From a late Warwickshire numismatic collector, his collection formed from the early 1980s.