Personal Impressions
In addition to Judah’s centrally administered system of stamped storage jars, other stamps were used by various individuals and authorities, as specific needs and circumstances arose. For example, in the late eighth century B.C.E., we find a number of “private” stamp impressions, which have two rows of writing, usually separated by a line, that include the person’s name and patronym, mostly without any decoration. The above example from Ramat Rahel bears the personal name Imnhm [son of] Ywbnh. In place alongside the familiar lmlk stamp impressions, similar jar impressions probably constituted an ad hoc system that operated in Judah for only a brief period of time, as the kingdom was bracing itself for the Assyrian military campaign of 701 B.C.E. led by Sennacherib.
Similarly, in the sixth century, following the Babylonian taking of Jerusalem, we find stamps impressed with the place name mwṣh (Moẓa). Only a few dozen such impressions are known, and the majority of these were found at the site of Mizpah (Tell en-Nasbeh), north of Jerusalem. These impressed storage jars most likely functioned to overcome supply problems of the Babylonian governor, who had been installed at Mizpah following Jerusalem’s destruction. Interestingly, only one mwṣh-stamped handle was found at Ramat Rahel, indicating that this system of impressions was short lived and likely not part of the central administrative system.