For the Aegean Bronze Age gold finger rings immediately call to mind the many gold signet rings and impressions thereof on clay sealings from both Crete and the Greek mainland; such items continue to be found in new excavations. The numerous seal impressions demonstrate that the rings were primarily used for administrative purposes. These are excluded from the present study, which focuses instead on the non-sphragistic decorated finger rings that occur less frequently. It also encompasses rings from Cyprus that are somehow related to examples from the Aegean.
