1 The material is in all probability bone. However, because there are no absolutely clear/certain diagnostic features, the possibility that it is paste cannot be entirely ruled out (O. Krzyszkowska, personal communication). Against the identification of the material as paste speaks the good preservation of the piece’s body despite the fact that it was exposed for a long time. Paste is usually softer than bone and one would expect for it to have dissolved or at least corroded even more from exposure to the elements. Ivory and stone, on the other hand, can be ruled out. For the use of hand tools to engrave Minoan seals, see Evely 1993: 150-152 with fig. 64; Anastasiadou 2011: 38-43.

2 For the Group of White Pieces, see Pini 1990a; Sbonias 1995: 113-118; Krzyszkowska 2005: 72-74; Sbonias in Vasilakis & Branigan 2010: 207-210,216-217. For the material used in this group, see also Hughes-Brock 1989: 87-89; Pini 1989: 108-110; 2000: 111-112. The group is part of Yule’s broader Prepalatial Border/Leaf Complex (Yule 1980: 209-210). For seals that are stylistically close to White Pieces but are cut in bone or steatite, see Sbonias 1995: 114 with n. 223.

3 Other more distant parallels are encountered on two seals cut in white paste and a six-sided prism cut in bone: CMS VI no. 11 displays a two-armed whirl instead of an S-whirl; V Suppl. 1A nos. 208 and 308 (bone), which are reported to have been found in Moni Odigitria, carry two-armed whirls/S-whirls in elongated seal faces.

4 Pini (1990a: 125) first dated the group to MM IA but has since suggested a dating to EM III/LM IA (personal communication). The CMS Seal Database in Arachne, therefore, also suggests an EM III/LM IA date for the group. However, Sbonias (1995: 118) convincingly proposes a later dating based on a collective view of the contexts in which such seals have been found. The recent examination of the Prepalatial seal contexts from the Moni Odigitria cemetery by the same author supports this later dating (Sbonias in Vasilakis & Branigan 2010: 208-210).

5 For the find place of CMS VI no. 14, see Anastasiadou 2016: 174 n. 90. CMS II, 2 no. 207 comes from ‘Prassa Pediados’. These seals may be connected with Archanes because the motifs on them show certain stylistic and iconographical traits of, or close to, the ‘Archanes Script’ Group (for this group, see Sbonias 1995: 107-113). Other MM I steatite three-sided gables with semi-circular seal faces are the following pieces which have no provenance: CMS II, 2 no. 310; XI no. 140; XII no. 63.

6 For Late Minoan soft stone glyptic see also, Müller 1995; Pini 1995a; 1995b; Krzyszkowska 2005: 147-148, 212-214; Pini 2010.

7 The soft stone pendant from Zone 3 (Sissi III: 77) is excluded from this discussion because it does not have, at least in its preserved state, a seal face.

8 Seals are known from LM III contexts, so it is certain that seals were produced in this period (for LM III seals, see Krzyszkowska 2005: 193-195; Anastasiadou 2015: 267-276).

9 For Early and Middle Minoan seals from the Petras cemetery, see Krzyszkowska 2012. For the seals from Mochlos, see Seager 1912: 17-92, 108-111; CMS II, 1: 561 and nos. 471-478; II, 2: 355 and nos. 249-255; V: 11 and nos. 24-25; V Suppl. 1A: 31 and no. 60; V Suppl. 1B: 315-316 and nos. 332-333.

10 Compare Müller in CMS II, 6: 378, 398, Table 7: mit vierseitig pyramidenförmiger Rückseite; II, 8: 78, 91 Table 8: mit pyramidoider Rückseite. The backside of the Sissi object is, however, not very well-defined and one could even suggest that it has a roughly conical shape or that it is simply curved. Therefore, Hallager’s (1996; 121-122) terminology is used here, who refers to all noduli with rounded (as opposed to flat) back as dome-shaped noduli. For general information on noduli, see Hallager 1996: 121-133; Krzyszkowska 2005: 101-103, 161-163. For a more detailed typology of noduli, see Müller in CMS II, 6: 360-362, 397-398 Tables 6-7; II, 8: 74-80, 91-92, Tables 8-9.

11 For a sealing from a clear EM II context, see Warren 1972: 226-227 no. 134 (Myrtos); see also CMSV Suppl. 3 no. 345 (Mochlos) from a possibly EM I-EM III context (CMS V Suppl. 3: 514). For the use of seals in EM II, see Hallager 2000, 97-99; Schoep 2004, 283-286; Krzyszkowska 2005, 77-78. For the use of seals in the Prepalatial period in general, see Vlasaki & Hallager 1995; Pini 1990b: 34-37; Perna 1999; Schoep 2004: 283-288; Krzyszkowska 2005: 77-78; Relaki 2009: 362-366.

12 Krzyszkowska 2005: 102, suggests that the context of the earliest nodulus is MM IA (also Krzyszkowska 2005: 78 with n. 51). She refers to a nodulus found in a sounding under the Palace of Malia published in Hue & Pelon 1992: 31-32 fig. 33, which, however, is clearly found in an EM II/EM III context (Hue & Pelon 1992: 29-31), later specified as EM IIB (Pelon 1993: 524). There is no clear consensus as to the date of the context of this sealing in the various publications dealing with Prepalatial sealings. Together with Krzyszkowska, Vlasaki & Hallager (1995: 253, Table 1: ??, Malia, Below Palace) and Perna (1999: 64-65) date the context of the piece to the late Prepalatial period whereas Schoep (2004: 284-285 with Table 23.1) and, following her, Relaki (2009: 364, 366 no. 15) suggest an EM IIB date. Schoep’s dating is based on the date of the EM IIB building in which it was found while the remaining authors do not give further reasons for the late dating. Since the excavators clearly note that the piece was found in an EM IIB context, this dating is followed here.

13 Group of the White Pieces or related: CMS II. 1 no. 302; V Suppl. 1A nos. 217, 220; X no. 40. ‘Archanes Script’ Group: VI no. 13. For the ‘Archanes Script’ Group, see Sbonias 1995: 107-113.

14 The first potential trace for administration was a clay fragment with a possible Linear B inscription found in a destruction layer along the western façade of Building CD in 2011 (Sissi III: 24). It is not quite clear, but the clay lump may have been pressed against a basket or other container of perishable material.

15 I owe this insight to Charlotte Langohr whom I thank here.

16 I owe this insight to Maria Kostoula (University of Heidelberg) who has a rich hands-on experience with Early Helladic sealings and very kindly discussed this material with me.

17 Suggestion made by Maria Kostoula (personal communication).