Administrative Documents

Examining administrative artefacts from the Proto-Elamite period in Susa through a phenomenological lens allows historians and archaeologists to contextualize these documents not only as dormant material culture but also as dynamic instruments in negotiating economic control, political authority, and institutional identity. This article draws on newly reevaluated evidence of clay sealing strips housed in the National Museum of Iran, interpreted initially as “wall sealings” by Holly Pittman. It reconsiders their function in light of comparative frameworks developed by Adelheid Otto for Middle Bronze Age Syria. By situating these items within the broader conceptual field of “administrative writing”, here extended to include physical sealing devices as protoarchival media, this study examines the thematic frameworks, authorial stances, and intended audiences embedded in both the ancient administrative practices and the modern scholarly discourse. Rather than occupying a marginal position in archaeological literature, these sealing strips emerge as powerful heuristic tools for understanding the evolution of bureaucratic management in early Iranian state formations.