LMLK Stamp Interpretation Tricks
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When attempting to identify & classify LMLK seal impressions, one encounters recurring anomalies & hindrances due to the clay, the handle shape, the stamp, the stamping execution, damage, & photography (both lighting & angle).  Here are some drastic examples of each:

Craters

Craters were formed by air pockets or debris that disintegrated in the kiln.  When photographing the impressions, special lighting techniques are used to bring out shallow inscriptions, but craters cause new distractions:
From the Bade Institute at the Pacific School of Religion (Nasbeh ID#:  X12, I, X64)
From the Bade Institute at the Pacific School of Religion (Nasbeh ID#:  M1447)

Patina

Over the course of time, ancient pottery developed a chemical growth (probably composed of lime) that in some ways resembles a moss or fungus.  Archaeologists usually remove this by brushing it carefully to prevent the destruction of critical little inscription remnants, & unprovenanced handles are usually left in the condition they were found:
From the private collection of Michael Welch (ID#33)
From the private collection in Redondo Beach (ID#41)

Leather

After forming the handles & attaching them to the jar, the potter allowed them to dry for a short time while in their plastic state before attempting to move them into the kiln for firing.  After this waiting period, the clay turns into a rigid-but-malleable state called "leather hard".  When attempting to stamp the handles, they resist force resulting in shallow impressions:
From the Bade Institute at the Pacific School of Religion (Nasbeh ID#:  AA18x, I, X25)
From the Bade Institute at the Pacific School of Religion (Nasbeh ID#:  AB15, I, X14)

Slush

When attempting to stamp a handle that is still wet, the clay can adhere to the seal when it is pulled away & create false lines resembling inscriptions:
From Arad, courtesy Israel Antiquities Authority (Reg. No. 115-1)
From the private collection of Michael Welch (ID#4)

Sliding

If the stamper's hand slips, the seal can slide & make the impression appear to be longer or wider than it truly is.  In the first example below, the left wing of the Z2D seal appears to be significantly longer than the right wing; the H2U slide in the second example is a bit more obvious:
From the private collection in Redondo Beach (ID#6)
From the private collection of Michael Welch (ID#92)

Stabbing

To overcome leather-hard handles, the stamper sometimes turned the seal on an angle & stabbed the clay with its edge to force an impression to appear.  This example was only stamped evenly once, then stabbed 3 times:
From "'Atiqot vol. 9-10" published by The Israel Exploration Society (Ashdod 253/83)

Speckles

Some handles have colored spots where an inscription may be expected.  In this example a Tau ("X") appears in the bottom-left register in the approximate place where one would appear in an M2D impression, although the surface of the handle is flat & a close-up examination of the mark reveals it to be more like a flattened "V":
From the private collection of Michael Welch (ID#75)

Shifting

Scholars usually refer to this trait as "double-stamping" or "multi-stamping".  Basically, the stamper pressed down more than once & made a slight shift of their hand so the impression creates a ghost/shadow image.  In most cases, it was probably due to a shaky hand or the stamper being in a hurry; in a few cases, the stamper deliberately made multiple impressions in attempt to make a better impression (as in the second photo below where one impression emphasized the top inscription & a secondary impression emphasized the bottom inscription).  In the first example below, a significant distance separates the dual impressions; in the second photo, they are almost completely overlapping; in the third photo, the shift creates the illusion of a malformed/non-linear 2-winged icon:
From the private collection of Michael Welch (ID#83)
Reproduced by permission of the Palestine Exploration Fund in London, England (from Jerusalem; #143)
From the private collection of Michael Welch (ID#82)

Twisting

If the stamper's hand rotates during the procedure, half of the impression may appear normal while the other half appears repeated (as in the first example below); but this may also create a non-repetitive impression where part of it appears to be out of place (as in the second example where the bottom-right inscription is significantly shifted to the left with an unusually large blank spot between it & the oval border):
From the private collection in Redondo Beach (ID#31)
From the private collection in Redondo Beach (ID#10)

Contours

Sometimes the potter formed ridges on the Type 484 handles.  If the stamper centered the impression on the crest of the ridge, the clay would go deep into the seal revealing details not seen on shallow impressions (as in the first example below); but if they stamped between the ridges, most of the icon would be missing (as in the second example):
From the private collection in Redondo Beach (ID#14)
From the private collection in Redondo Beach (ID#9)

Grits

Most of the clay inclusions seen in LMLK handles appear as very small white dots that don't usually interfere with the appearance of the seal impression.  That's because most of the large grits were filtered out when the clay was processed, but the process wasn't perfect.  In the first example below, a large grit shows up in the right wing of the icon; in the second example, a large grit appears where one would expect the head of the scarab to be:
From "Qedem:  Monographs of the Institute of Archaeology 41" by Donald T. Ariel & Yair Shoham, distributed by The Israel Exploration Society (#31)
At the University of Pennsylvania Museum (Gibeon field # 523; stamp # 213; museum ID# 60-13-74)

Squashing

In a perfect impression, the ductus of each letter appears thin & slightly rounded; in some cases, they were flattened afterwards by either the seal (as in the first example below where the seal was shifted/twisted for a second depression over the right side but the left side remained crisp/clear); in the second example, the entire impression was squashed by something:
From the private collection in Redondo Beach (ID#31)
From the private collection in Redondo Beach (ID#20)

Weathering

Over the centuries, handles became eroded by many forms of debris that removed the outer layer of pottery slip & some of the subtle elements that could've helped identify the seal impressions:
From the Bade Institute at the Pacific School of Religion (Nasbeh ID#:  Room 440, I, X31)

Scooping

Sometimes the stamper must've wiggled the seal back & forth or pushed it laterally to help build up clay in the deeper trenches of the seal.  When this wasn't accomplished due to the hardness/scarcity of clay, it created a ridge of clay that highlighted the icon's outline.  In the first example below, the scooping created a clear outline of the entire icon; in the second example, the ridge appearing along the right side of the central part of the icon in conjunction with the photography shadows create an illusion of it being the left side of the icon:
From the private collection in Redondo Beach (ID#22)
From the private collection of Michael Welch (ID#90)

Shadows

As mentioned under the Craters & Scooping sections, photography lighting creates shadows to accentuate the oft-faint remnants of seal inscriptions, but it can also create illusions.  One of the most persistent LMLK illusions is that the top of the 2-winged icons depicted a left-facing bird:
At the University of Pennsylvania Museum (Gibeon field # 490; stamp # 193; museum ID# 60-13-55)
At the University of Pennsylvania Museum (Gibeon field # 500; stamp # 198; museum ID# 60-13-51)

Skewing

If the plane of the seal impression isn't placed parallel to the plane of the camera lens, the image appears distorted.  In some of the photos shown on this website, the images are cropped from an overall view of the handle that was positioned at an angle intentionally to illustrate the curvature of the handle.  In other cases, the photographer may not have had the tools to position the handle properly.  In the first example below, the bottom register of the seal was closer to the lens making it appear larger than the top register; in the second example, the wings appear to be on a diagonal relative to the central part of the icon.
From PEQ 7-1941 published by The Palestine Exploration Fund (#6-10)
From the Bade Institute at the Pacific School of Religion (Nasbeh ID#:  M396, S357, "N")

Combinations

Here's an impression with multiple problems!  How many different types can you identify?
From the private collection in Redondo Beach (ID#2)

"By faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that the things which are seen were not made of things which are visible."--Hebrews 11:3
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 This page was created on June 30, 2003, & last updated on June 30, 2003