The Tiny Stones That Tell Big Stories

On an agate stone just under 1 ½ inches long, a warrior vanquishes his enemy, plunging a sword into his neck while lunging over the body of a fallen opponent.

The carving is rendered with such incredible precision that only under magnification do the minute details emerge: the bracelets on the victorious warrior’s left wrist, the muscles sculpted into the fighters’ legs, the ornate handles of the swords.

The Pylos Combat Agate, as it has become known, is one of over 50 sealstones found in the grave of the Griffin Warrior—a tomb excavated near the Palace of Nestor at Pylos (located on the southwest coast of Greece), which sheltered the remains of a Mycenaean leader who lived around 1450 BCE. During the Late Bronze Age (1700–1070 BCE), the Mycenaean civilization thrived in mainland Greece. Art and artifacts discovered in burials throughout Messenia from this period are on display in the new Getty Villa Museum exhibition The Kingdom of Pylos: Warrior-Princes of Ancient Greece.

Dozens of sealstones are on view in the show, and some demonstrate an astonishing level of skill. What exactly are sealstones, and what was their purpose in prehistoric societies? How might they have been crafted without modern electric tools and magnification? Scholars and jewelers are working together to find the answers.

What is a sealstone?

A sealstone is a stone of varying quality—anything from softer steatite to a semiprecious hard stone such as carnelian or jasper—that features a design carved in intaglio (incised into the surface). Sealstones have existed in the Near East since the late seventh millennium (6500–6000 BCE).

“We have evidence of seal use since the Early Neolithic period (around 7,000 BCE) in the Aegean, although they were probably used as pintaders (carved stamps) for stamping bread or decorating textiles,” says Nikolas Papadimitriou, archaeologist and director of the Paul and Alexandra Canellopoulos Museum in Athens.

These stones were also used for other purposes. One important function was administrative. The stones could be pressed into clay, leaving behind an impression of the design. This seal then served as a “tag” for products like wine or oil or to shut a jug or container. In the ancient Near East, sealstones and cylinder seals marked clay documents and were also used as personal insignia, ornaments, and amulets.

Evidence suggests that on the island of Crete, where the Minoan civilization flourished from around 1900 to 1200 BCE, sealstones were most commonly employed for economic and commercial purposes. “The importance of seals, especially on Crete, seems to coincide with growing urbanization and complex societies,” notes Hana Sugioka, graduate intern in the Museum’s Department of Antiquities. “Until these civilizations had bureaucratic administrations, there was no need for seals to register the movement of raw materials and finished goods.”

As beautifully engraved gems, sealstones were also prized personal ornaments. They are frequently found in elite burials throughout the region of Messenia, suggesting that they were meaningful to individuals. These were objects of prestige and nearly all are carved from semiprecious stones, some traded from distant overseas sources. Amethyst, for instance, was imported from Egypt. Many sealstones were embellished with gold caps, further enhancing their inherent value.

We don’t know why the Griffin Warrior was buried with over 50 sealstones, but there are different theories. He may have collected them as a show of his wealth or taken them from enemies he defeated. The array of semiprecious stones in his grave would have made a beautiful and colorful last impression.

What kinds of designs were featured—and who carved them?

Virtually none of the approximately 10,000 preserved Aegean sealstones known today are exactly alike. Most feature unique designs inscribed on different types of stones with a variety of styles and carving techniques. While sealstones often acted as an identifier, representing whoever wore or commissioned them, some feature repeating motifs. About 40 percent of all sealstones depict animals, including bulls, lions, and mythical creatures. Some bear geometric or floral patterns.

To judge from the quality of the engravings, hardstone carvers were highly skilled artisans. Art historians have attempted to identify individual hands or workshops, based on the renderings of pictorial elements, such as animals’ hooves and human limbs. The most impressive examples were likely produced in several major centers in Crete.

“Those tiny details often are consistent, but we don't know the artisans' identities,” Sugioka points out. “How they were able to engrave figures in such detail on small, curved surfaces has also been a mystery.”

Re-creating an ancient technique

Two researchers, Papadimitriou and Akis Goumas, are seeking to solve that mystery. Goumas is a jeweler based in Athens who has found himself drawn to the world of ancient jewelry and glyptic—the art of carving seals and gemstones. He and Papadimitriou partnered on studying Aegean sealstones. They found that engraving softer stones, like steatite, is relatively easy to do using freehand tools such as tiny metal saws, obsidian blades, and flint drills. But engraving hard stones like agate requires a much more complicated process. In 2018, they began creating an instrument that could cut hard stones, replicating the way they may have been engraved in antiquity—a challenging feat considering no tools for this purpose have survived from the Aegean Bronze Age.

“My work is to start with tool marks that remain on ancient sealstones, and from the tool marks, I have to guess the shape of the tool, make the tool, engrave a stone, and then put the ancient and new stone together under the microscope to see if they are similar,” Goumas says. “If they are close, we guess that maybe the tool is like this.”

Goumas and Papadimitriou will present a demonstration of the tool they built (now in its fifth iteration) at the Getty Villa on Sunday, November 16. Through much trial and error, they developed a wooden lathe reminiscent of a horizontal spindle. It features a pointed metal tool that the craftsperson rotates with one hand while holding the gem against the sharp end with the other hand to engrave it. Earlier versions required two people to operate them, but this made the engraving process even longer.

Emery powder is applied to the tip of the tool, with olive oil as a lubricant, to form an abrasive. While this is necessary to engrave the stone, it also creates a paste that completely obscures the surface, making it impossible to see the design while carving.

“When Akis engraves things, he cannot see,” Papadimitriou explains. “It’s mostly the sound that tells him that something is going well or going wrong. He also touches the surface to decide if it’s going well or not. It is a multisensorial thing.”

When using his tool, Goumas carves lines, circles, and dots, which are the basic shapes ancient artisans used to form more complex motifs. However, as a beginner, Goumas isn’t able to replicate exact designs—a testament to how much time and practice it must have taken ancient craftspeople to make an intricate sealstone. The level of detail raises questions about the engravers themselves. Did they need to have very small hands, and thus were very young? Were they able to work in pairs, or did they need to be able to work alone without relying on another person’s skill? These questions remain unanswered.

“One way of researching these things is by reverting to ethnography, because until recently, there were craftspeople in India and Afghanistan who were using this horizontal lathe technique,” Papadimitriou says, “and you cannot imagine how efficient they were in carving, in a very simple way, very hard stones.”

There is only so much a tool can do, Goumas adds. The other important variable is the skill of the artisans themselves. “There is not just one tool—there are two tools,” Goumas emphasizes. “One is yourself, and the other is the tool. You make the rhythm, you hold the gemstone, and then you let the tool work. It’s a collaboration.”

Sealstones get their moment

Is Goumas and Papadimitriou’s tool similar to what was used to create the Pylos Combat Agate? It’s impossible to say, according to Goumas. But for him, the process of developing the tool is what really teaches him how a craftsperson may have produced these stunning works.

“We do it to try to understand these ancient people, to understand this craftsmanship and how they thought,” Goumas says. “This is what I want to explain to the people who come to our presentation at the Villa. We try to understand and explain the way they might have done it.”

The Kingdom of Pylos exhibition will mark the first time many of the sealstones discovered in the Griffin Warrior’s grave will be on display outside Greece and the first time that scholars and the public alike will be able see what artists could accomplish over 3,500 years ago.

The Kingdom of Pylos: Warrior-Princes of Ancient Greece has been co-organized by the J. Paul Getty Museum and the Hellenic Ministry of Culture.