The Corpus of Stamp Seals from the Southern Levant Database

Abstract

The Corpus of Stamp Seals from the Southern Levant (CSSL) database comprises some twelve thousand items from controlled excavations in Israel, Palestine, and Jordan, transforming and bringing to completion Othmar Keel’s pioneering vision to publish all seals and sealings from the region. The CSSL platform not only represents a newly available digital research tool for southern Levantine studies and related fields, but also aims at exploring innovative approaches to advance the digital study of glyptic more broadly. As the SNSF-funded Sinergia project Stamp Seals from the Southern Levant (SSSL) completes its goal, we ask: What comes next? This article provides an overview of the CSSL database; situates this new resource alongside other contemporary digital tools for the study of glyptic; and briefly reflects on the possibilities for more collaboration and integration across digital humanities projects.