This paper deals with a unique stone object found at the Early Bronze Age site of Tel Yaqush in the Central Jordan Valley. The object is understood by the authors to be a cylinder-seal amulet with incised geometric motifs, locally produced by a non-specialist craftsman in imitation of specialized seals of local glyptic tradition. The paper presents the object as part of the emerging local glyptic tradition of the period and discusses its significance to the understanding of social and cultural trends as related to the EB I–II chronological horizon in the region. The attempt to imitate a specialized object used to impress pottery vessels from a centralized ceramic production centre elicits a profound discussion on the concept of imitation and its social roots. It may be studied and interpreted using a network approach, which provides a good analytical tool to explore the village of Yaqush and its interactions within EB I–II southern Levantine social systems. Yaqush’s singular object and its specific archaeological context, serve as a basis to explore the occurrences of the 31st–30th centuries BCE and discuss relations between the Jordan Valley communities, and the way they are maintained by cultural transmission through objects and practices in this period.

本文介绍了在约旦河谷中部 Tel Yaqush 早期青铜时代遗址发现的独特石器。作者认为该物品是一个带有切割几何图案的圆柱印章护身符，由非专业工匠模仿当地传统的特殊印章在当地生产。该论文将这个对象作为该时期新兴的当地字形传统的一部分进行介绍，并讨论了它对理解与该地区 EB I-II 年代地平线相关的社会和文化趋势的重要性。试图模仿集中陶瓷生产中心用于压印陶器的专门物体，引发了对模仿概念及其社会根源的深刻讨论。可以使用网络方法对其进行研究和解释，它提供了一个很好的分析工具来探索 Yaqush 村及其在 EB I-II 南部黎凡特社会系统中的相互作用。Yaqush 的单一物体及其特定的考古背景，作为探索公元前 31 至 30 世纪发生的事件和讨论约旦河谷社区之间的关系，以及这一时期通过物体和实践进行文化传播的方式的基础。