This study, focusing on six selected examples of classical seal impressions from the Early Elamite Period in two prominent centers of Shush and Malyan, seeks to uncover the interrelations between visual language, institutional structures, and ritual worldviews of the period. Despite their small size and simple physical nature, these seals function as multilayered visual documents, containing highly detailed representations of administrative processes, bureaucratic order, and the legitimating ideology of governance. We applied a three-tier Panofskian analytical framework comprising (1) a pre-iconographic description of the scene’s details and compositional arrangements, (2) an iconographic analysis of conventional and culturally encoded meanings, and (3) an iconological interpretation of the historical, social, and economic contexts. We combined this framework with Barthes’ semiotics and Peirce’s triadic model to identify and decode the sign system embedded in these works. Seal impressions from the Early Elamite Period (late 4th–early 3rd millennium BCE) are essential to understanding the social, economic, and ideological systems of the first Iranian states. Beyond identifying ownership or sealing goods, the seals conveyed multilayered visual messages shaped by local traditions and Mesopotamian influences. One notable motif is anthropomorphic animals in human or ritual roles, which served as part of a symbolic language of power that bridged myth and administration. Viewed through visual semiotics and Panofsky’s three-level framework, these images operated as “social agents” linking aesthetic form to political and economic networks, stabilizing bureaucratic order, and legitimizing authority. Despite their significance, these seals have rarely been analyzed for both semiotic content and functional role. Prior studies emphasize classification and style, with limited attention to ideological meanings in anthropomorphic animal imagery. This study addresses that gap, showing how such depictions conveyed institutional and political messages, reinforcing social and power structures. The research integrates three complementary analytical lenses to enable a multilayered, interdisciplinary reading of classical seal impressions from the Early Elamite Period. First, a semiotic approach grounded in Peirce’s typology of signs (icon, index, symbol) and triadic relations (sign, object, interpretant) is used to decode meaning and analyze processes of symbolic encoding, supplemented by Barthes’ concepts of intertextuality and cultural codes to uncover hidden ideological narratives. Second, Panofsky’s classical iconographic method comprises three steps: pre-iconographic description, iconographic analysis, and iconological interpretation. This method identifies recurring motifs and thematic patterns. The third step is to interpret these patterns within the framework of the interactions between art, bureaucracy, and ideology. Together, these approaches guide the investigation of two core research questions. First, why did the motif of anthropomorphic animals serving as scribes emerge in the Early Elamite period? How are these depictions related to the administrative, social, and ideological structures of that era? The study employs a three-stage process: Pre-iconographic: direct description of scenes without interpretation, recording elements such as storage facilities, containers, anthropomorphic figures, tools, and composition. Iconographic: linking recorded elements to recognized subjects or historical motifs, comparing anthropomorphic scribes to known administrative roles, and associating repeated forms with surplus management, supported by archaeological, textual, and visual evidence. Iconological: interpreting more profound meanings and ideological frameworks, showing how images relate to political legitimacy, social hierarchy, and resource control. Anthropomorphic scribes are read as symbols merging executive authority with mythic power. These stages are complemented by both textual reading, focusing on the image itself as a “visual text,” and contextual reading, which situates the image within its broader cultural and comparative framework. Each operates at a surface level (recording explicit meaning) and a deep level (revealing hidden symbolic, mythological, and power structures). Integrating these procedures with Barthes’ and Peirce’s semiotic models enables the transition from simple description to rich interpretive analysis, elucidating the cultural and ideological significance of Early Elamite administrative imagery.
Seal No. 1: This Early Elamite seal depicts a complex scene of storage management, record keeping, and organization. Two anthropomorphic wild cattle sit facing each other, separated by elongated counting rods, surrounded by symbolic elements such as storage jars, a framed rectangle (archive), a goat scribe, a circle between horns (central authority), and abstract granary forms. Iconographically, wild cattle symbolize fertility and economic stability, while the goat suggests oversight and agility. Iconologically, the scene fuses administrative and mythic power: animals perform bureaucratic roles, legitimizing order through natural symbols. Peircean analysis reveals icons (stylized animals), indices (storage symbols, counting rods), and culturally embedded symbols.
Seal No. 2: Engraved on a tablet from Shush, this seal shows two anthropomorphic wild cattle seated in ritual posture, holding counting tools, with a jar of liquid between them and a goat observer in the background. Iconographically, cattle represent power and resource abundance; their opposed, formal posture signals administrative cooperation. The goat bridges mythic and administrative spheres. Iconologically, the scene reinforces bureaucratic authority through animal symbolism, with icons, indices, and symbols interlinked in a coherent network.
Seal No. 3: Two anthropomorphic lionesses, one holding a tablet and the other observing, face a wild cattle scribe. Above the smaller lioness is a basket-like dome, symbolizing stored goods; around the cattle are counting marks and abstract granaries. Lions convey legitimacy, dominance, and protection; the cattle represent productive authority. Together they depict integrated administrative control over resources. The scene is both an iconographic record of bureaucratic activity and a symbolic statement of cosmic economic order.
Seal No. 4: Depicts a lion and wild cattle facing each other, each anthropomorphic. The lion holds a rectangular tablet, symbolizing authority and record keeping; the cattle hold three writing tools, marking its role as scribe. The face-to-face composition conveys formal interaction between political and bureaucratic authority. Iconologically, the unity of royal and administrative power is expressed, with clear Peircean icon–index–symbol mapping.
Seal No. 5: From Malyan’s Building ABC, this seal uses strict framing to divide the scene into two square compartments. One shows a goat scribe with stylus and tablet; the other, powerful wild cattle and a smaller grazing animal near a plant symbol. A Maltese crosFs separates the frames. The composition reflects livestock accounting and pastoral resource management. Iconologically, the partitioned design mirrors bureaucratic classification practices, combining animal symbols with spatial organization as visual indices of control.
Seal No. 6: Unique for its anthropomorphic hare, the seal shows the hare reaching toward a tablet, flanked by a stepped motif (classification) and a radiating circular form (storeroom). The hare symbolizes trust and administrative diligence. Iconologically, the trio of elements compresses the process of receiving, recording, and safeguarding resources. Under Peirce’s model, all major elements operate as icons; the tablet and container as indices; and the hare’s cultural connotation as a symbol of legitimacy and order. The study of six classical seal impressions from the Early Elamite Period in Shush and Malyan shows that these small artifacts embed a complex system of signs and narratives spanning three interconnected realms: myth ritual, administrative economic, and power legitimation. Through carefully composed scenes, anthropomorphic animals—wild ox, lioness, goat, and hare—retain natural attributes while performing human tasks such as writing, auditing, and supervising resources. Their integration with key visual markers (styluses, tablets, counting rods, storage vessels, and plants) created a visual language that directly reflected economic functions while symbolically expressing order, authority, and legitimacy. Each animal type played a distinct communicative role within this system. From a semiotic perspective, the imagery operates on multiple levels: as icons of natural power, indices of administrative functions, and symbols of cultural and ideological values. Stylistic simplification and geometric framing were deliberate strategies for clarity and durability of message. In essence, Early Elamite seals were multilayered visual documents, functional tools, and symbolic carriers that united bureaucratic practice with mythic and ideological narratives, preserving cultural memory and expressing the intertwined networks of power, belief, and economic necessity in the primitive states of Iran.