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Photo courtesy of Giorgio and Marilyn Kelly Buccellati

Much of what we do know about Urkesh comes from hundreds of seal impressions. But these bullae do not yield their information easily. Most of them are now almost-illegible fragments smaller than a fingernail. They must also be carefully separated from the earth in which they were found—a painstaking duty performed by the excavators at Tell Mozan’s excavation field house (author Marilyn Kelly-Buccellati examines sherds in the photo shown here).