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    1974 - Moorey

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    of 34
    ANCIENT BRONZES FROM LURISTAN P.R.S. MOOREY BRITISH MUSEUM PUBLICATIONS LTD. f PREFACE’ WITHIN a few years of their first discovery in quantity many of the bronzes which form the subject of.this essay became collectors’ pieces, greatly admired for their fine craftsmanship and exotic decoration. Increasing demand from western museums and collectors has steadily stimulated the local Lur tribesmen to exploit ever more intensively the ‘unexpected source of wealth which lay so easily to hand. First by chance, then through systematic search, cemetery after cemetery was ransacked for its bronze furnishings, which were widely distributed without any but the vaguest record of their source and archaeological context. Indeed, the phrase ‘Luristan Bronze’ was so valuable commercially that it was often unscrupulously used to describe bronze objects which -had little or no real connection with this Persian province. Any attempt to redress the balance by classifying the bronzes by type, setting them in their chronological range and reconstructing the society which made and used them is fraught with all the problems and uncertainties of a salvage operation. In the last ten years intensified fieldwork in Luristan and other parts of Persia, metallurgical research in laboratories and systematic study of the bronzes in public and private collections has brought some order into the very heterogeneous collection of objects described for the last forty years as ‘Luristan Bronzes’, but there is still much which is matter for debate. The essay which follows is an attempt to’ present current knowledge as concisely as possible with particular reference to the very representative collection of bronzes from Luristan now in the British Museum. Books listed in a short bibliography will enable the reader to follow up lines of inquiry only briefly explored here. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ‘The photographs were taken by the British Museum Photographic Service, and the maps were drawn by Mrs. Pat Clarke; thanks are also due to Mrs. C. Mendleson for assistance with the short check-list on pp. 45 ff ci rf ) LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS i Cover, motif. See Plate IX for details, vas Plate Ya, Bronze spike-butted axe-head wit 1 et a _ i ee blade springing from a lion's . Bronze crescentic axe-head with stylized li | ce eee sae with stylized lion on socket. (BM (Wa Brose Senge ed dirk inscribed for a royal officer of the TInd ' Bin Dyan abylonia, 1156-1025 B.c, (BM 123060; L. 4r2 Ud. Bronze flinge-bilted dirk inser n inscribed for Marduk-nadin-ahhe, Kis 1 of abl 1098-108 b,c. (BM 123061; 368m) eS eal a ne ae a decorated hilt, (BM. 123304; L. 43-2em.) _ | + Svs hit with winged pommel, originally on an ion blade (the o so-called ‘Lawrence Hilt), (BM 129378; L. 16-6 om.) IVa. Bronze wh it i oe etstone socket in the shape of a moufflon, (BM 122916; 4 IVb. Bronze, whi i / el a letstone socket in the shape of a boar. (BM 129395; L. TVc. Bronze whetstone i : ot E e ae of a caprid with a lion on its 2. B, vt with alain 7 : pe horse-bit with plain circular cheek-pieces. (BM 128731; W. n nee Dam. of check pices 45cm.) ae ! 5 it with i it ii - a = ee - | sheakpecs with animal-head terminals. , Va. Bronze cheek-pi i / iS 190681, W ce ot horse-bit decorated with an ibex head. (BM . Bronze cheek-piece for a h (8M 134927; W. 12.em,) Vila, Pair of cheek-pi ieces for it is it faces. (2M | 7 an cast as winged bulls with human VIL: Horse-bit wit i 123276; Wefocany Hees Ht a8 mythological monsters, (EM VIIIs. Bronze ed harn 122926; Diam. 63 VUIIb. Bronze harness-rj -amess-ring without spoke i = ; spokes, decorated with mouffl / - Stylized lions. (BM 123542; W. 8-9 cm.) mh mutton head ‘orse-bit in the shape of a horse and rider. ay ting decorated with stylized lions. (BM TX. Bronze finial in the form of a rampant ibex with a lion’s head and neck on each shoulder. (BM 123541; L. 18: em.) Xa, Bronze finial in the shape of a ‘master-of-animals’ with two faces and flanking cocks’ heads. (BM 1088x6; Ht. 17°8 em.) Xz, Bronze finial in the shape of a ‘master-of-animals’ with a single face. (BM 115514; Ht. 13 cm). . Xia. Bronze finial in the shape of rampant lions with lions du! their backs mounted on a bottle-shaped support. (BM 122929; Ht. 27-7 cm.) XIb. Bronze finial in the shape of rampant wild goats. (BM x22911; Ht. 8-9 cm.) X12. Anthropomorphic bronze tube. (BM 1323465 Ht. x6 em.) XIIb, Anthropomorphic bronze tube. (BM 130685; Ht. 13-6 cm.) XIle, Anthropomorphic tube with faces at one end only. (BM 123300; Ht. 96cm.) Xa. Base silver pin-head in the form of a ‘master-of-animals’ on an iron shank, (BM 132927; L. 22°5 cm.) XIITb. Base silver pin-head in the form of a ‘master-of:qnimals’ in a circular frame. (BM 123299; L. 8'5 m.). i XIITe, Bronze pin-head in the shape ofa stylized lion-head, originally on an iron pin, (BM 128783; Ht. 5-1 cm.) XIVa. Pin-head in the shape of a winged monster. (BM 128607; W. 7 cm.) XIVb. Broken bronze pin-head in the shape of stylized ‘trees’ framing rampant goats. (BM 128780; Ht, 8-2 cm.) XWVe. Bronze dise-shaped pin-head décorated with a female figure. (BM 132900; L. 24m.) I : XVb, Bronze disc-shaped pinhead decorated with a floral frieze. (BM 132025; L. 41-6 cm. HH XVI. Decorated bronze goblet. (BM 134685; Ht. 19 em.) XVII. Decorated bronze situla with lid. (BM 130905; Ht. 14-8 cm.) XVIII. Decorated cast-bronze vessel. (BM 139679; L. 14m.) XIX. Bronze spouted vessels. (BM. 128600; Ht. 14°6cm. BM 1286015 He. 11-5 cm.) XX. Decorated spouted vessel. (BM 132930; Ht. 8:9 cm.) 11 / THE work: ANNEALING: the process of heating to a red heat and then colin; the brittleness of copper and bronz: Teturns to a soft, workable conditior ‘Bhazine (hard soldering): the ‘meta solder, witha lower melt them. Carried ‘out at, or abor Casrinc: making artefacts usually of baked clay or Cuasmic: hammering design with linear “ENGRAVING: linear designs made with a si from the groove it cuts. A me of iron tools (see Lost-Wax Casting Raismne: of me that it appears in rel ‘SINKING (or hollowing): making a sheet-m down into a suitably ‘TRACING: linear designs made compresses, but does not m0 ji ENaRAvING), Wexpina: heating the ty point and then hammerin, not have been used in 12 ,, CONCISE TECHNICAL GLOSSARY / following terms are commonly used in studies of ancient Persian metal- e when hammered too much; the metal joining of metal surfaces by running a fusible ting-point than the metal to be soldered, between by running molten metal into a mould, in antiquity Stone, cut asa negative of the object desired. the metal down from the front to produce a low relief margins, sharp tool which removes the metal thod unlikely to have been used before the to cool; the clay mould is metal object finished wit ‘metal vessel by hammering from the outside. A disc anvil (stake) with unusually long arms which : making a sheet-1 etal is worked over a. cant tater the vessel being Repoussé: hammering ip from the back of a piece of sheet metal so front. etal vessel by hammering the metal cut into a block of wood. With a slightly blunt chisel which displaces and ve, the metal from the groove it makes (see also Pieces of metal to be joined to near their melting ig them together, Used to join pieces of iron; could intiquity to join copper or bronze. For further technical details see: H. H. Cocutan, Notes on the Prehistoric Metallurgy of Copper and Bronze in the Old World, Oxford, 1951. ; H. pas ‘Metalworking in the Ancient World’, American Journal of Archacolegy ii, 1949, PP. 93-125. ; HE. Wurrr, The Traditional Crafts of Persia, Cambridge, Mass., ss 13 1 ZARBAIJAN “i 2. Rezayeh 4 NO ay, . Gazvin-e “*24ND4Ray — .Damghan e@ TEHRAN KHURASAN : ‘eKashan & © KAMTARLA RUMISHGHAN } a Rees INTRODUCTION Tue Persian province of Luristan, occupying a central position on the country’s western frontier, is a region of open plains intersected. by the high, treeless ranges of the Zagros mountains. It is separated from Iraq by the formidable barrier of the Kebir Kiih which forces those who seek to enter Luristan from the west to come upstream from the south-east, or downstream from the north-west. The natural routes of entry from Iraq to the highland basins of Persia skirt its northern and southern fringes. Within the province the warm, low-lying pastures of the west (Garmsir) are separated from the cooler, higher plains of the east (Sardsir), by the Kith-i-Sefid, which offers passage through its central ranges for seasonally migrating tribes. The plains,! watered by the Saimarrah and Kashgan rivers and their tributaries, have long supported a hardy, independent people relying on simple agriculture and husbandry, primarily horse breeding, for their livelihood. The region is.a natural fortress: an ideal refuge for recalcitrant and turbulent tribesmen. In antiquity the rich cities of the Mesopotamian plain to the west were persistently raided and plundered by these marauding highlanders, sometimes acting indepen- dently, at others in the employ of Mesopotamian or Elamite kings. Although bronze objects typical of the exotic style now associated with Luristan first reached museums in We Europe in the middle of the last century (Plates Xa, 5) with the ct le of antiquities from the Near East) their real origin long remaied a puzzle, ‘They were then usually attributed to Cappadocia or al . The extensive and syste= matic robbery of the cemeteries of Luristatt By local tribesmen, suddenly made aware of their commercial potential, Imlust have begun: sometime in the nineteen-twenties for, by 1929, when Ernst Herzfeld first drew attention to the new Persian discoveries; and definitely identified the source of the bronzes, major collections had already been formed by dealers in Paris and New York. Virtually all the bronzes came without certain provenance from plun- dered cemeteries of stone-built cist or gallery:graves varying considerably in date, but predominantly of the earlier first millennium B.c. Exception- ally, as at Dum Surkh and Tang-i-Hamamlan, bronzes were anciently deposited in shrines, again in quantity. Any attempt at precision in de~ fining the main areas from which the distinctive Luristan bronzes have been plundered in the past forty\years is for the moment impossible and, Diss c 7] i i i L - as so much has already been stolen, likely to remain one of the most obscure aspects of the whole subject. The primary source may provision- ally be defined as an area running from the region of Iam in the west to Nihaygnd in the east. It is more difficult to be precise about limits to north ‘and south, ‘There is little evidence so far for major finds south of the Kashgan river; the northern limit seems to be in the region of the modern Baghdad-Hamadan road, with exceptional finds reported from further north, Recent excavations on settlement sites in the Hulailan plain and cemeteries around Ilam, as:well as earlier excavations at Kamtarlan and /(Chigha Sabz, Tepe Giyan, and Tepe Djamshidi, indicate, as is only to be expected, the existence of a local metal industry throughout Luristan from at least the later fourth millennium B.c. So long as a relatively Testricted production of simple personal ornaments, tools, weapons, and sheet-metal vessels, normally undecorated, was the total extent of this industry, Luristan was no different from many areas of the Near East in antiquity within reasonable reach of the necessary raw materials. It is the comparatively sudden appearance of an immensely varied and richly decorated range of cast bronzework, including certain types of object unknown elsewhere, which sets Luristan apart. Excavations in the shrine at Dum Surkh, important single finds at Baba Jan in eastern and at Chinan in westerti Luiristan, and comparative evidence from outside Persia indicate that the greatest Prosperity of Luristan’s bronze industry ‘may be dated from the ninth to the seventh centuries B.c. It is contem- Porary with the earliest production of iron objects in the region. So far controlled excavations have only revealed contemporary cemeteries, like ise in the region of Ilam explored by Vanden Berghe, which generally lack elaborately decorated bronzes, though graves are often well equipped ups metal weapons, personal ornaments, and utensils, normally plain. an ‘he bronzes most characteristic of this phase in Luristan’s metal — are characterized by a particularly rich and often highly stylized sty of cast-bronze decoration in which animals play the main part, but eee in which the natural features of man and beast are often an ly mixed, have an important subsidiary role. Its most notable 7 re = — the decorated whetstone handles (Chapter I), various pieces ad mee (Chapter 11), certain ritual objects (Chapter III), and 7 ‘imme, sborate pins (Chapter IV). It will become clear that, despite 7 se variety; of detail arising generally from the fact that each casting by the lost-wax process is unique, there is an essential homo- Hee m all the decoration, Technically distinct from these cast-bronze sie but linked to them in many ways by style and iconography are a I ee range of sheet-metal objects (Chapters V-VI), considerably more widely distributed in west Persia than the typical cast bronzes of Luristan. The rather sudden, and very remarkable, change in the character of Luristan’s industry has generally been attributed to invaders from outside the region. As, in the absence of written records, they cannot certainly be named, they have been variously identified. It was first suggested that the change was stimulated by Kassites driven into the Zagros a tains in the twelfth century B.C. after the collapse of the Kassite political supre- macy in Iraq. There are a number of objections to this theory. ‘The material cultures of Iraq and Luristan in the relevant periods have little in common. Although a people known to the Assyrians and later a geographers as ‘Kassites’ were probably to be found in some part ao Luristan it may not be assumed, in the absence of other evidence to them, that they had any direct connection with the earlier rulers of Iraq. ‘There is no evidence that the Kassites were persecuted or systematically expelled from Iraq. Indeed it seems, to judge from the cared of Kassite personal names, that they remained a distinct, if increasingly less influential, element in the population well into the first millennium, A more popular theory has seen the sudden expahsion of Laisa’ industry as the direct result of nomadic intrusions into, the province ia the north as part of the very complex series of migrations which followe the entry of the Iranians into western Persia after ¢, 1200 B.C. Here a archaeological evidence as yet lends little support. The very fact that his industry did not develop further north, closer to mines res e Caspian, suggests that its distinctive-character owed little or nothing to intrusive Iranians, who had a bronze industry of their own, perhaps in part represented by the so-called ‘Amlash Bronzes’: None of the pottery most closely associated with the Iraniays|in the earlier stages of | fe Penetration has yet been found in Luris a . Even less convincing - identification of the creators of this industry with the Cimmerians. Thefe is no evidence that the Cimmerians, best known for their activities 1 Armenia and eastern Turkey in the laterjeighth and cary seventh centuries B.C, ever penetrated into Luristan as a recognizable group. If they rea ce so far south then it was in close association with the other Soa Dae from whom, archaeologically at least, they are indistinguishable an until the Luristan bronze industry was already in decline. = onze In seeking an explanation for the marked change in iabinal ae Production, three of its characteristics are particularly orn 4 a Presence of objects unknown outside the region, the strong : es Babylonian and Elamite imagery in the decorated bronzes and the ws range of the local smith’s re; ire. a . If its creators were Kassites, Iranians, or Cimmerians, it is strange that none of | the most distinctive cast-bronze objects have yet been found, nor even their prototypes identified, outside the central Zagros. It has been authoritatively argued that the prevalence of horse-trappings and port- - objects, indicates a people wholly nomadic. It seems unlikely, however, ita people with such a way of life would require, let alone support for some considerable period of time, a production of bronzework so varied as that of Luristan, not to mention pioneering the general production of iron tools and ‘weapons, That some of the industry’s patrons led a nomadic cutence is virtually Certain, since seasonal transhumance has long been , ie life among the region’s pastoralists; that they all did "Tepe Parnas ae A the Occupants of the contemporary cemetery ‘B? at reer y be taken as a guide, then the owners of the fine bronze- Meares ayaa ‘were members of a warrior aristocracy, distinguished, itand theme oe by the possession of a horse and the means to equip the larger, es for hunting or war. They were the leading members of pe faa eee in the western plains or the smallér horse-breedin a e higher eastern plains dependent on agriculture, * Yor their eee i perhaps control of the north-south trade route, their anonyariy, Present state of knowledge it is best to respect whee itamay now be asked, did these people come to enjoy an industry se cag 4 laird millennium B.c. that they could support Bedevessena? 'e elaborate than that which had served their So sane 28 Levitan Was overshadowed politically and economically re dinghy vigorons zation in the plains of Khuzistan with was no opporeinity for eh Prising ‘metal industry of its own, there the end of the pal eT a development. Political changes towards Nebuchadnezoar at ‘nnium B.C. radically altered the situation. Political power of ‘lam ig of Babylonia (124-1103 B.C.) crippled the mare continued its so Whilst his successors for the next century of north. For about three jection and interfered in its dependencies to the potamian records and oe thereafter Elam disappears from Meso- from Luristan for an ere are no local texts. The most tangible evidence ieee increased Babylonian presence is a series of ‘weapons : cuneiform with the names of various Babylonian kings, and their officers, ape from the effly twelfth to the mid-tenth century 8. (Plate No | i ition wit inforced by sehen with Elam’s metal industry, perhaps even re- gee Elamite smiths, the bronze workers of Luristan were 20 free to develop a style congenial to their local patrons, now reasserting themselves in the political vacuum left by the eclipse of Elam. Babylonian political influence, which seems to fade after the middle of the tenth century anyway, was never as strong as that of Elam. ‘The decline of the Luristan metal industry, some time in the later seventh century B.C., was probably due to the increasing political unity of the Medes and Persians. By cutting off the lines of supply from mjn¢s to the north and east and by supporting smiths of their own, they slowly strangled Luristan’s industry. At the same time the aristocracy of Luri- stan, patrons of its industry, suffered economically far more at this time from these intrusive Iranian tribes that they ever lad from the more sporadic attacks of the Babylonians and Assyrians, whose penetration into their mountain strongholds was never very damaging. The well-known dependence of the early Achaemenian kings on foreign artisans, including metalworkers, in the later sixth century B.C. may indicate that the work- shops of western Persia had suffered a setback so severe that they had never recovered. \\ \ \\ Dy) I. WEAPONS AND TOOLS BRONZE weapons are the commonest component of all collections of | Luristan bronzes, but tools which might be used by the smith, carpenter, or farmer are very rare. The circumstances of their discovery explain | this discrepancy. In the cemeteries from which the bronzes were plun- dered even the poorest male graves appear to have contained a few simple | pons; the richest were amply stocked with them. Workmen’s tools normally found, not in graves, but on settlement sites or in scrap almo: associated with sheet-metal cauldrons. Many of the axe-blades from the blade set at such an angle Practical purposes. It must Specially for deposit iti Stave that it would have" been useless for all @ symbolic significance Possible that some, if not all, of the Tepresented a deity, among the Hurrians and Hittites, It is the shaft the daggers and soords, seported without context from Lutistan, which Te very important, if skeletal, guide to the history and affiliations re sttt’s bronze industry from c. 2s00 B.c—the date of the earliest te Be etiee—to the tenth century B.c. They alone may be curely dated by comparison with similar weapons from controlled Excavations elsewhere in the Near East. This in itself is significant for it shows, in contrast with the earli ‘his in t for i bronzeworkers shared a earlier first millennium B.c., that Luristan’s ; mmon repertory at this time with their col- fae e Le sce hed urban civilizations to the south and west. ‘i are many fools cose might well have been! and weapons reported from Luristan wl POSibly even Nowiy seic® duting this time in Elam, Mesopotamia, or serving the Hursian-g yria, This could reflect the activities of smiths 2 speaking peoples who spread westwards across much 2 ards, and'then not commonly in the Near East. The only tool generally | reported from Luristan is a fork with short socket and two long prongs, | most certainly used as a spit for cooking meat set on the prongs. Such | objects were found in cemetery ‘B’ at Tepe Sialk, east of Luristan, | Luristan have never been ground down for vuse and many of the axe-heads, particularly those with spiked butts, have be assumed that such weapons were made | es or shrines as votives; those with inscriptions in some cases attest this. The elaborately decorated axes no doubt had | for their creators which now eludes us, It is | most elaborately decorated iron swords | as seems to have been the case with similar objects | hole axes, adzes, and pick-axes, and to a lesser extent ’ made separately from the blade and sul of the Near East from the later third millennium B.C. Trade in copper and tin from Persia, along a northern route into Assyria and Syria, may also have encouraged contacts between smiths in the regions through which it assed. . P ‘Yet despite this striking parity of forms over a wide area, the earliest signs of divergent metalworking traditions in Luristan are siesdy e parent and may be ascribed primarily ‘té Elamite influence. C fe traced zoomorphic ornament on tools and weapons, sO ea Luristan, is rare elsewhere, save in Elam. Here, by at least the ie , millennium B.c., it was customary to decorate metal objects, ‘often es parade or votive use, in this way. Some adzes, a few axes and a series of cudgel-heads or maces with crudely cast animals or human a relief on the surface from Luristan illustrate the diffusion of this ee northwards in the earlier second millennium B.c. The two oa decorated axe most distinctive of Luristan’s industry at its most prolific in the earlier first millennium B.c. were immediately inspired by Elam, though the ultimate origin may be Mesopotamian or Syrian. _ The various spike-butted axes include examples, almost cau Sete the earliest, inscribed for King Shilhak-Inshushinak of Elam (st a century) and King Nebuchadnezzar I of Babylonia (1124-1103 B.« BB But neither bears the elaborate plastic ornament ea . develop in the subsequent three centuries in Luristan. Sp! a Meee tipped with bird, animal, or human heads, or cast entirely as le hounds; blades sprang from a lion’s jaw (Plate Ia); more rare ve a telief decoration on the blade. Bronze adzes and Pees emis butts and zoomorphic decoration, some with iron blades, aH paler at this time. Characteristic as this class of axe inf does not ee distinctive decorative style and technical ingemity of its m 8 at vel as a series of crescentic axes (Plate Ib). These, shhde from “a var es B.C., have a bronze lion-mask at the junction of i: and shaft-hole, of iron, and a lion couchant cast on the butt. | / . . Until the later second millennium B.c. the’ daggers, ey in ee consisted of simple, tanged- copper or bronze blades hie ae which was normally of some organic material, and has hy aie perished, or very occasionally of metal, when it eee ‘ype of the fourteenth century 8.c. Luristan adopted from a Siar dagger in which hilt and blade were cast as one, with ee ia take inlaid plaques of wood, bone, or metal. The bone inlays Cut so as to give the hilt a winged or were often exactly copied entirely 1 ‘ear’ pommel. ‘These inlaid hilts bronze with the hilt sometimes ibsequently cast on to it. It is not 23 * Luristan. The: Speatheads are more customary for these weapons to be elaborately decorated like the axes, but some have inscriptions and designs traced on the hilt or upper blade. From the tenth century B.c, bronze hilts were cast on to iron blades and increasingly the standard shapes of bronze daggers were faithfully copied in iron. A magnificent silver hilt (the so-called Lawrence Hilt), originally | cast onto an iron blade (Plate III), has a winged pommel and richly | traced decoration. comparable to that found on decorated sheet-bronze | objects from Luristan, ¢. 750-650 B.C, None of the bronze weapons are long enough to be called swords (i. over about 20 inches in length), but there is a very remarkable series of || devorated iron swords from Luristan made sometime during the ninth | to eighth centuries B.c, in a closely associated group of workshops. Both in form and technique they derive directly from bronze prototypes and illustrate in detail the genesis of a new technology for a metal much less tractable than copper or bronze (Plate IIc), Considerably more evidence is required from controlled excavations before it will be possible to establish a detailed chronology for the | thousands of undecorated bronze spearheads and arrowheads reported from | e ofte socketed than tanged; the arrow- heads were invariably tanged until the introduction, in the lates eighth century B.C., of the socketed, trilobe arrowhead. Various bronze thdceheads and cudgels, apart from the elaborate votive objects already mentioned, have close els in Elam and Meso- Potamia, only rarely beari iy Bronze requires major importance s ne might be cut in a variety of ways, but it was generally _ Just perforated at the top and fitted with a simple metal ring, for suspension oa enue Near East, hones had richly decorated bronze handles. Bats vith snilr oomomphic decoration ec hon oe y century onwards in Elam, again no doubt the source of inspira- tion for Luristan, and Babylonia, oe eal and imaginary, particularly various capridae, and semi- of the Lag res, alone ¢ in combination, make these handles a microcosm “stan smiths? repertory of motifs (Plate Iv). 24 II. HORSE-HARNESS ‘THE earliest history of the domesticated horse in Persia is still obscpre, though it may well have been used there before its first appearance in Iraq and Turkey late in the third millennium B.c. Although ia ridden at this time, they were much more commonly used, parti laly after c. 1600 B.C,, to draw light chariots in war, hunting, and cig. < animal was normally ridden bare-back, controlled only by . whip a simple cords passed round the neck; but in a war-chariot where spec control; and manczuvrability were so important, more elaborate. hamessing with metal-bits was indispensable. The earliest known bronze horse it from the Near East date to the late fifteenth or early fourteen! centry B.C. At this time the Hurrians, under their Mitannian eee masters of horse-training and they may well have invented it. / eat a objects, primarily for military use, they never completely ate i of rope with horn, antler, bone, or wooden cheek-pieces, which:temain the commonest type of horse-harness. . It is possible ae bronze horse-bits of this period have bee pore from Luristan (Plate Va), but generally speaking the metal hore appings from this region date to the earlier first millennium B.C. Att pa Assyrian palace reliefs make clear, cavalry was rapidly replacing sicay as the main mobile force in most Near Eastern armies. Through ae Late Ascyrian period(c. ro00-612 pc) horses for the Aserin ares came to the administrative centres of their Empi ¢ through’ eer es ea Spoil or tribute, from the plains of western Persia/where oa orn It is. not surprising then that the bronzeworke! of nist pal have exercised their skill in decorating horse-trappings in 2 ees Paralleled elsewhere at the time. The horse-bits from a a 3 common ancestry with those from countries to the west, sche in their rich decoration and in a preponderance of ee ae as mouthpieces. In graves they were often placed under the ead pores head, but they should not for this reason, following modern L a ovina logy, be known as ‘head-rests’. There is more evidence than . aay allowed, in signs of wear on the bits themselves, that many ioe decorated bits were actually used, if only as parade harness, an‘ just votives specially made for the grave, — . the Virtually al the check: pieces are\ provided with two loops for ic s the ‘cheek-straps of the headstall and central hole through which pas 25 Diss D + TIL, Bar-shape ends of the mouth-piece, terminating in a third ring or loop for the reins. Spikes were often placed on the inside of the decorated cheek-pieces to reinforce their action against a horse’s jaw. Five main types of horse-bit, classified by Dr. Potratz on the shape of their cheek-pieces, have com- ~| monly been reported from Luristan: I. Openwork, rectangular cheek-pieces, sometimes with an animal’s head at the front end of the upper edge, suggesting that the rest of the cheek-piece was conceived as a very stylized rendering of the recumbent animal’s body (Plate VIa). Such bits, undecorated, were in use in Assyria a the ninth century B.c., but had passed out of fashion by the later (T cighth century 8.c. Those from Luisten, where an example was excavated at Tang-i-Hamamlan, are contemporary. Il. Circular cheek-pieces appear on the earliest horse-bits from the Near East, but were not in use after the late second millennium B.c. Whether or not such cheek-pieces were used later in Luristan is still | Uncertain; it is certain that the wheel-shaped objects sometimes said to be cheek-pieces are in fact harness-rings (pp. 27 ff). Ul. a cheek-pieces, most commonly on a jointed mouth- Piece 1n contrast to the other groups where the rigid mouth-piece is normal. Similar bits were found in the graves of cemetery ‘B? at ‘Tepe Sialk, in- dicating that they weré robably in use in Luristan from at least the ninth to seventh centuries B.C. Close copies in iron are also known in both regions, but only in Luristan are the ends of the bronze cheek-pieces Sometimes cast as aniral-heads (Plate Vs). IV. Cheek-pieces shaped as aV, _ animal or bird, usually Assyrian reliefs, but at Delphi. They are In ‘Luristan, on the ¢. 850-650 B.c, V. Cheek-piecs inthe form of flat plaques cast as animals, real or imagi- nary, or combinations of men and monsters (Plates VI-VII). These ai very cee of Luristan and reported from the region in great ea Cates was to © ancient Near Eastern ‘master-of-animals’, for esque Europe. come ‘Daniel in the Lions’ Den’ in the art of Roman 3r Iv/ PINS, PERSONAL ORNAMENTS, AND TOILET ARTICLES ‘THE bronze pins found in Luristan su: variety of form, and decoration, and in range of date. Although elabo- rately decorated bronze pins werd made elsewhere in the Near East from Tater fourth millennium onwards, they are comparatively rare. No- where, at any time, are they as numerous or as various as in Luristan during the eatlier first millennium B.c. They were not only used in fasten- ing garments and in dressing the hair, but also to secure the finials to their mounts and, when the head was richly decorated, as icons in their own right. Many pins were found in the shrine more elaborate ones had served as votive gifts inserted in the walls. The simpler pins, as in Greek Sanctuaries, may have been dedicated with clothes, for Elam and its northern dependencies were famous for their textiles, Bronze pins, sometimes with Pierced shanks, their heads cast as domes, Sones, or spheres, thei? shanks decorated with mouldings or simple, traced linear Patterns, have a long history in Luristan beginning in the third ‘um and persisting into the seventh century B.c. when Sibulae (safety-pins) grad Pins with their heads cas itpass even the weapons in quantity, lually superseded them as garment fasteners. t in the shape of flowers or fruit, primarily the Te gets mouflon, horses, frog, and lions, shown either complete in ees ate set Of Luristan’ of as a flat Hion-mask with curvilinear jun ee XIII). A few of these pins have remarkable zoomorphic areas = ae the forefeet of a lion may be fused to become a ate eee the ‘on appears to threaten. Imaginary monsters origin, vith the head on baited Interest is a creature, of Elamite —— wings (Plate XT a). ‘€cul is . / i pera are the pins with large openwork heads set on ze shank. The smallest of these pins may have been of a goat, the body and tail of a lion, and at Dum Surkh, where the. 4 i \ i I , “astern art, A functional, but the larger heavy ones are votives, differing from the a only in form. Whether free-standing or eee ae reminiscent of those used on the finials. Once again itis essentially a ar of constant variation on a single theme: a heraldic group of oe varely ing a central device, usually a human or sub-human syed mor id a tree (Plate XIVb). When the frame is crescentic each oy Soaeibe. an animal-head threatening the central figure. Sana ¢ ee animals’ has the body of a man with the head, or heads, of a lio ae moufflon, reminiscent of the ‘nature-demons” who appear on pet mae Stamp-seals from western Persia and on certain Elamite mo: the later second millennium B.c. | ern Another type of pin from Luristan, ‘though it may ae ara origin, is again virtually unknown outside the region. I aoe ‘top of the shank is hammered out to form a flat disk ul = cara and repoussé designs. In the shrine at Dum Surkh i Yet again such Pins appear in the level dated to the eighth century B.C. e Pins were both functional and votive. There are two main types: iinple, often L. The head of the pin is treated as an open field and oe int Srudely executed, design is not necessarily dependent oo pee ‘uman figures and animals do not appear and most e hoe). Sist of geometric motifs, perhaps symbolic, and floral frieze ae Pins of this type were reported from the earliest clandestint in Luristan and probably came from graves. 7 lial TI. In this case the designs are composed of elaborate Soa) ana Dae human motifs, normally arranged round a central boss, Garyeaborately at a female face, more rarely as a lion’s head. These pins ar ‘They have been “corated, but very uneven in the quality of execution. d may primarily Particularly associated with the Dum Surkh shrine an ted cast-bronzé Ve Served as icons. Their relation with the richly devora eae P's, also found at Dum Surkh, may be closer than ap] eat it is possible ayhare the same iconographical range, allowing that © Og design elaborate compositions for chasing on sheet m lished fertility ya feasible for modelling in wax for casting. ears goat suggest qmbols like the pomegranate, the rosette, the snake, who may well be itt these pins were dedicated to a fertility goddess the Woman in many cases represented on the cent ara reine of these pin-heads, as on certain decorated “Ns. Near ‘et has a more explicit role than is usual ee these pin-heads, series of sheet-metal pendants, decorat te also repo, ted from Luristan. 33 Dass E ‘Museum, The sheet-metal bracelets from Luristan, decorated with simple chased or traced geometric designs, differ little from those in use over a wide area of Western Persia in the later second and earlier first millennium B.C., but the decorated cast-bronze bracelets are more individual. One type, - produced in the eighth to seventh centuries B.C., is very distinctive. The hoop is a heavy bronze‘casting made in two parts secured together with short pins passed through socket-and-tenon joints. The upper surface is decorated with animals, lion-masks, and sub-human creatures in low re- lief. Similar bracelets were also made in iron, Commonest ofall cast bracelets are those with plain, narrow hoops and terminals modelled either as animals, often just the heads, or birds. These ( fee the provincial variants of a fashion common to Assyria, Urartu, and north-west Persia in the earlier first millennium B.C. Indeed, it is only when stylistic traits distinctive of Luristan appear that it is possible to identify certainly the work of local smiths. Under the later Achaemenian Kings court jewellers were to Produce magnificent bracelets of gold and silver with animal terminals, like those of the Oxus Treasure in the British A number of personal omaments, among the bronzes from Luristan ‘were common: products throughout western Persia in the earlier first tailennium. At Persepolis on the great Ackaemenian reliefs both Medes and Persians may be seen wearing a twisted or plain torc, bracelets, and Neel a ca orcs and ear-rings in bronze were made in Luristan to simple standard designs for centuries. The same is also true of anklets, ably in ok, an with simple linens 2 Probably in pairs. These are open-ended, than personal ornaments, oe Fineerring, cast o: sheet meta, have variously shaped seals tore Fa s'gns which reflect the motifs cut on contemporary Simple bro en than they do the exotic imagery of Luristan’s smiths. have handles on the (on ith nesative geometric designs on the base, with a loop of ole Ree mating in bird or animal heads, normally style characteristic of Lane se The decoration is sometimes in the north-west Persia) or of the mirror from. Livi Tepe Si ? uristan, like those from cemetery ‘B’ at a oo je cat bronze discs with a short tang, once fitted into a dle. Much more Tarely they have a handle in the shape of a standing naked woman with her arms outstretched pete head and riveted to the base of the disc. Even more unusual are pl discs with a cast loop handle, with animal heads on the terminals, riveted to the back of the disc. This distinctive type of mirror came Luristan from the north. It is unknown in Elam and Mesopotamia VW 35 ! V. VESSELS ‘THE metal vessels from Luristan illustrate a fresh aspect of the local bronze industry. Although the Luristan smiths were primarily masters of casting, they were no less active, if less skilful and original, in working /sheet metal. Hammering and annealing was the only method by which sheet metal could be produced in antiquity, but even so the metal could be worked down from thick sheets cast in open moulds until it was remarkably smooth and thin, Most of the vessels from Luristan were made either by sinking or raising from a single sheet of metal. Handles and spouts of beaten metal were secured to the body of the vessel with Tivets, usually split, with domed sheet-metal heads. Certain seams were folded and hammered, sometimes perhaps sealed with an adhesive to make them absolutely watertight. The appearance of cast attachments, with a decided thickening of the body and a tendency to sculptural decora- tion in the Cast parts, is a development of the late ninth or eighth centuries Bc. and may have beéwingpited by metalwork from north-west Persia or Urartu (in the region of modern Armenia), Before considering these sheet-metal vessels in detail, attention must be called toa rare cast-bronze vessel in the British Museum (Plate XVIII). Its decoration associates it with the workshops producing horse-trappings and finials in the eighth and seventh centuries B.c. Cost of production and the technological expertis &xpertise required to make them robably be held to explain the virtual absen: ey a ice of cast vessels from the Luristan repertory, S ‘€s are not uncommon. The stylized lions and’ moufflon cast in low reli fi also regularly appear, Simple undecorated sheet. sneet-metal bowls and beakers were used in Luri- stan from at least the middle of the third millennium pc. Examples have been found in excavat at Bani Surmah, which span the p 7 : Same time in countries to the west and south- ramgnatedsiexatples have been reported trove Luristan bearing the milena pay ¢esopotamian rulers. Even in the earlier first ._"< Some of the commor jars have vty clo Femmonest forms of metal bowls and ja! 6 se parallels from excavations at Susa in Elam, Tepe Giyan, and Tepe Guran \ 6. 21 I resemble those used ft the 50-1000 B.c. In form these vessels closely 7 i number of Uruk in Babylonia, and Nimrud in Assyria. ee eee ae metal bowls from the region whose decoration ind See perhaps facture, normally in workshops under strong ee owls of Syrian in north-west Persia if not in Assyria itself, but including or Phoenician manufacture. 7 loblets, One ae of vessel is more certainly Persian. ae aaron oe with rather concave sides, were often decorated a Bath design and Scenes in panels set within floral borders ee ‘fininy eee ne execution are generally rather poor. There is a cl a headed pins. Such decoration of these vessels and of some cruder = eed ue Vessels are provincial derivatives from the eee aera Of this form in gold and silver produced by the craftimen TC To the men buried in the cemetery at Marlik, close °c smiths adapted Shores, late in the second millennium 8.c. The Luri ni the northern form to their own tastes a few Gua i sulae beat 10 A group of vessels from Luristan commonly re curved handles relation to the ceremonial metal buckets with ‘These octi in Luistan Similarly described in archaeological literature. reece cylindrical in under strong Assyrian influence. The Luristan sit cave curve) taper t0 & Shape (some straight sided, some with a slight con velye to seventeen ton base, have no handle, and vary from sbovt het heres [ntimetres in height. Many are plain or very sara sore or less identical however, one richly decorated group. These are me onal be in form and in the arrangement of the decoration n of subjects, notably ‘ween guilloche and floral borders. A small Sect ting, and. war a7? animals, real and imaginary, scenes of ea number of inscribed chased on the surface with care and skill. A small mumOt ain “samples bearing the names of historical personages indi pac. and that Petiod of their production fell in the Tater ten f Babylonia at this time cit owners were Babylonians. The minot ar frag, The closest paral 1° Virtually unrepresented in the archaeology ©! si tale are to be found “ho the style and iconography of these evorated SOT ston, na few carved boundary-stones and rare cy! Ee XVII) is of some Situla of this kind in the British Museom his standard, but for icular interest not so much for its design, wi the style of the situlae, *lid said to belong to it. This is decorated not in ote etary 3c. Hf the tit the manner typical of Luristan from the ninth °° | stan to A ciation is accepted, then the lid must have cer yoni influence fita vessel made somewhere to the west eee ae a cast-bronze a iver. Of the sheet-metal vessels from are stands from "eted to their base. ‘There are also a few cast-bronze 7 /{ region, normally undecorated, which would have served to hold the situ- Jae and other vessels which could not have stood on their round bases. Itis the spouted vessels which best illustrate various aspects of a distinc- tively Persian tradition among the bronze vessels from Luristan. The form ; was long popular both in baked clay and metal. The earliest examples from the region, with a short spout drawn out from the lip at an angle of / 45° have exact parallels, both in Babylonia and Elam in the later third! millennium 8.c, (Plate XIX, right). Very similar vessels in baked clay | were found at Tepe Sialk, to the'east of Luristan, as early as level III, ; ¢/3f00 B.C, ._ A different form appears in Luristan, and in cemetery ‘B’ at Sialk both in baked clay and metal, in the earlier first millennium B.c. As it was used earlier south-west of the Caspian this type of vessel may have been intro- duced into Luristan from the north. These vessels have a rounded body with low, flat foot and vertical neck, varying in height. A spout, made__ Separately, is attached with large domed rivets (Plate XIX, left). The lower end of the spout is beaten out into a Pronounced globular swelling or pouch, generally decorated with chased linear patterns, occasionally transformed into a rotesque face. = Net of this ype wes found on the island of Samos off the Turkish, , logical context dated c. 750-600 B.c., by the excavator. Scare outed vessel, with cast affix in the form of a winged eee clasped on his chest, was found during French excava- Be. and mai 1913. It may be dated to the later seventh century baked clay figuri end of the vessel’s history in the region, As hollow gurines both of ae a women pouring libations from baat ik and Luristan they may all have served a ritual purpose, Tather than a domestic function, The large low alae liquid, perhaps the juice Conte ‘ So vital a part in later Zoroastrian ritual. others which see claborate, and often clumsy, vessels were : 4 moulding round the shntat we shes Plain bowls have a slight foot, lip, rather than riveted gonnoet 284 # spout usually drawn out from the decorated example in hope ore hese vessels, to judge by a finely services, The style of th/ At useum (Plate XX), were used in cult disc-headea pins and ffcoration on this vessel associates it with the Concern of the concluding ape eae alle 38 VI. MISCELLANEOUS SHEET-METAL OBJECTS pee Vessexs were but one aspect of sheet-metal production in Lai Sheet-metal bracelets and finge-rings have already been disci) a variety of belts and belt-fittings, quiver-plaques, “gi part cular discs of sheet metal commonly reported from the region are 0! ae interest. As with the vessels and bracelets it is decoration ee ae Which distinguishes these objects from others made Ce a ane When the objects are plain or very simply decorated Me to distinguish designs, it is rarely possible in the present state of knowle ge Persia, When them from the products of workshops elsewhere in West cy they are more elaborately decorated, on the other hand, oT aan More instructive. They reveal cultural affiliations to some hare two from those of the decorated cast bronzes. This is not to say thet do Tepresent distinct traditions of metalworking. They almost eo ea Rot. There are clear links in style and iconography with ot ia 20 fit Whilst both appeared together in the Dum Surkh ae sheet metal 48 there is greater scope for narrative designs 11 ter opportunity for than in preparing wax models for casting, there is grea prick he drew aa artisan to reveal, albeit unknowingly, the sources upon ‘or his designs, i -Jeather on Tn Aseyra, as also no doubt in Peri, guiers were mae oh sheet- 4 Wicker or wood framework, the surface someting for } ‘ metal plaques. On the quivers carved on Assyrianseiesfrom eT to Ashurbanipal (883-627 8.c.) by far the commone™ TS teen Of simple geometric or floral designs; such quiver a . Only on. und at Uruk in Babylonia and War Kabud in western f goats or ‘priests reliefs of Ashurnasirpal II do quivers bear scenes Bf ove the ing a tree and various ritual scenes set in resin syrian’ or ‘Baby™ ‘et. Quiver plaques of this type, decorated in = ‘seen, Such objects lonian’ style have been reported from western Lurise quiver plaques May have been the inspiration for a small Frou aodically from Luri- Sccorated in a distinctively Persian style reported spore TT cones Since excavations in the Dum Surkh shrine. eee of motifs and £2 these objects are exactly alike they use the same headed pins. LMS executed in the same style as the finest of astrian religious ‘Whether these scenes do in fat show aspects of Pe Practice in Persia is still a matter of lively debate. 39 ‘There are two main groups of decorated metal-belts from Luristan. ‘The first are usually of gold or silver, decorated with processions of figures normally carrying offerings. The figures on these belts and a num- ber of other sheet-metal objects, including the spouted vessel (Plate XX) and disc-headed terized by hair swe hem, and a facial type distinguished by prominent straight noses, large eyes, thin lips, and straggly beards, Identical human figures appear on carved ivories from Hasanlu and Ziwiyeh, sites to the north of Luristan, in the ninth to eighth centuries B.C. These belts were probably worn by Priests. / Formidable as the barrier of the Zagros may seem it never hindered @ vigorous trade between i Persia and the west. Metals, precious stones, notably lapis lazuli, and horses went to cities in Mesopotamia and beyond; what came in exchange is not ab Iways clear, but manufactured goods: fine metalwork, objects of iv : ory and faience, perhaps textiles, were Prominent among them. ‘Assyri is he later second millenniums.c. Finds in level 1 at Hasanlu, destroyed ¢, 800 B., and at Ziviyeh, as well as sites yet to be certainly identified in the same General area, indicate the extent to which local craftsmen knew and copied imported objects from Assyria and Syria c. 850-650 B.C. Political and diploma tenuous links of commerce. The designs on many of the disc-headed re Quiver Plaques, belts, and Vessels from Luristan reflect a blending of imagen, ASSviian themes ind motifs with local traditions cf style and imagery. The €xact course of this Process has yet to be charted. It seems lend that shrines like that at Dum Surkh were served by craftsmen ie ° ee copper and bronze, but were much influenced by designs gn objects of precious metal, faience, or ivory imported from workshops ther to the north in Kurdistan or Azerbai from Babylonia Teaching ths ijan as well as direct imports which was likely to have ' rough western Luristan. It is a process 5 fi designs no} e Higures are more crudely rendered and the indigo bel "ganized. Scenes of hunting and war, perhaps the finials and ping with 22 "™ bY soldiers, include motifs found on Toolated rectangular (Prmet* Sst bronze heads, originally have bead fe Imes of sheet metal, some decorated, may shaped plaques wi th itted to fabric of leather belts. A number of ‘Jozenge- oth A concave underside probably formed a simple piece pt up at the back, long robes with tasselled girdle and / fan influence is already marked at Marlik’’ pin (Plate XVa) in the British Museum, are charac- ; tic activity at this time reinforced the more’ of body armour fixed to a belt which kept it in place on, e ibdomen. Some belts, whether of leather, fabric, or linked chains aes a ea secured by sheet-metal clasps. A strand of wire was See ann a long, narrow loop; the ends were turned Back a od and seponsel form two flat plaques decorated with a variety of ; ee designs, some similar to those used on belts completel ly loss 3 ee It is much more difficult to assign an appropriate a ae variety of discs, decorated and undecorated, from. ae partially Benerally referred to as shield-bosses, and .in oa aa the ange, when they have a prominent umbo in the centre a ee Gags Et this may be so; but others could equally well be a page belts or pieces of body armour according to size. ears Some soldiers wear a circular plaque on their chests Sa eaeey in the Straps. Ar least one of these plaques is decorated very eat eee Style of the situlae (Chapter V). A low central boss, eel marine and a surrounding flange without any suspension | ie est Persia Cymbal, though these are apparently commoner in ri in Lurj by than in Luristan. i 4 Dass EPILOGUE 1] FORGERIES Every student of the bronzes Teported from Luristan should be aware that an increasing number are of dubious authenticity, particularly tichly decorated pieces. Although the quantity of genuine bronzework, especially the common tools and Weapons, is definitely enormous, com- mercial pressures, both inside Persia and elsewhere, have steadily fostered a market in replicas and forgeries, These are often extremely difficult to distixfguish from genuine objects, particularly when so much has been found, but so litle from controlled excavations. The British Museum ‘The following main types of forgery are, current: 1. Inept Teproductions, mainly for the tourist or interior decorators’ market, in modern alloys, 2. Ancient sheet-metal vessels Aecorated with fragments of cannibalized finials Or pins soldered or Tiveted to the sides, 3. Linear designs—including inscri decorated ancient objects, ‘usu: dagger- and axe-blades. The later objects, iptions—traced or engraved on un- ally belts or vessels, but occasionally Subjects are sometimes copied from much 4 —— in which the sound parts of badly damaged ancient 7 eas sre conflated f9 make a single perfect object or fragments of ‘note ght Obieets, often different in date, are used to make a ris object of exotic form unknown in antiquity. 5 ae ne genuine original objects; these are fractionally smaller than orginal, if it can'be traced, and since they would heen a wv te a m two-piece or multiple moulds, would have apy on the original ancient object cast by the lost- 6. Oriei a cp fl ng wit ngage tendency for et qf fconography of ancient artefacts, There is a G5 ; to be bigger and more elaborate than the genuine ancient objects of the same type. se 2 SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY YIN ancilas GENERAL STUDIES OF ART, ARCHAEOLOGY, AND HISTOR’ IRAN HIRSHMAN, jest Tih jlamic Conquest, London, 1954. « RG , Tran, from the Earliest Times to the Ista Persia, from the ohn to Alexander the Great, London, 1964. A. Goparn, The Art of Iran, London, 1965. bronzes from Luri- E. Herzretp, /ran in the Ancient East, London, zou a Stan illustrated in this book are now in the Brit [useum) oo isore Times to the Present, ALU. Pope (ed), A Survey of Persian Art from Prehistoric Times to the 1938, volume j (text), iv (plates). je Ti 1965. E. Porapa, Ancient Iran: the Art of Pre-Islamic Times, London, 19 ¢ best and most recent concise survey.) 4 Vi BRONZES FROM LURISTAN i i Iwork in English. So far there is no general study of ancient Persian ee oxi, PLR. S, Mooney, Catalogue of the Ancient Bronzes int fuseum, ive F of avery 1971. (This comprehensive, and fully illustrated, cata ot ook a} collection presents in detail the arguments a ‘There are a number of important works in French’and German Cd : if OF the ancient bronze industry of Luristan: __Sr—st—t BR ey aus Larisan und Kirmansioh eh on tse ‘Matic study: ‘of groups among the Luristan rons ee! iples from cont cither of the inscriptions some bear ar of comparable ; ‘€xcavations, often outside Iran.) te (18 an TT? millénaire), 2 J. Desuaves, Zs Ouils de Bronze, de Padus ou Danuhe UT te weapons Volumes. Paris, 1960. (A corpus of bronze nd ‘with good commentary.) satica XVID, Pais, 43- (The first, A. Gopanp, Les Bronzes du Luristan (Arts Asiatica XVID), sects Still basic, book on these bronzes.) ; 1966, (This bookie JAH. Pomatz, Die Pferdetrensen des Alten i Re 4 very full discussion of the horse-bits from ts a tse sl C.F. A. Scanssren, Stratigraphic comparte et Chro mmulating, i often unorthoose au miloearey Oxfords 998, (Chapter vin Poristan, Superseded ot ost Sssay on the chronology of the bronzes from Lu wn of Luristan’s possi Caucasian Y Subsequent work, it remains the best discussio : rinted 1966. eal wien, Leiden, 1959. REPONE ie Leiden, the ‘Luristan wns Bene, Arehiologie de Tiron Crrenive bbliogrpby of valuable reference book contains Bronzes'up tothe date of publication) / B Diss F2 (French summary. Report Poth y Current archaeological ag a) L. Vanoen a, 4 IN Bencue, Het Archeologisch Onderzock is a ms ét rzock naar de Bronscults : eigen Pas Ka, Kaloai ener Kab (1965 en ea nee ch sum on the excavations of the important Belgium Luristan Expedition in he Lam region; their works sil occas | aeaea at Reliefbronzen i is il, Muni of the decorated situlaey see Pain Se EN ee! ; ; the Metal sa esearch in ran is relly reported in Jran, journal of ( SHORT CHECK-LIST OF LURISTAN BRONZES IN THE BRITISH MUSEUM AS a catalogue is not appropriate in a booklet of this kind, the following brief list has been drawn up to assist students wishing to know in more detail the range of the British Museum’s collection of ‘Luristan Bronzes’. Such list cannot hope to be final as matters of opinion rather than fact too often enter into definitions of what is or is not a ‘Luristan Bronze’. The bibliography is not intended to be comprehensive, though it is hoped that all published objects have been traced at least to the primary source. ABBREVIATIONS \ ‘ Afo Archiv fiir Orientforschung. i AMI Archéologische Mitteilungen aus Iran. \ By Berliner Jahrbuch. BMQ British Museum Quarterly. Deshayes J. Deshayes, Les Outils de Bronze, imillénaire), 2 vols., Paris, 1960. mn EE, Herzfeld, Iran in the Ancient East, 1940+ -H R. Maxwell Hyslop in Zrag, viii (1946), PP. 1% | Potratz J. A. H. sa ie Pferdetrensen des Alten Orient, 3966. SPA ‘A. U. Pope (ed.), A Survey of Persian Art, 1938. i * Acquired before 1925. | de Plndus au Danube, (IV* an IT? WEAPONS AND TOOLS (CHAPTER yn T-HOLE AXES \ i : BM 128617 ran, pl.xxvi, top, centre; BMQ, 33, pl 5 i603 Deshayes ‘0. 1405. BM 128683 _Trapeai gh 107, plex 1765 AML (1929-30) Ph he 3: BM 1286 AMIE, 1 (1929-30), Pl 1 lefts Deshayes, no, 1313 BM 13868) FRE 1 Seet,centr, lft; Desaes, mes S345 4) oa 130676 BMD: xvi, p12, ple tt; Deshayess NO. 1475: 12291 spike-butted axe. -s _ BM razo1s spike-butted axe; zoomorphic tenis 122931 SBM, vi pl. xxaxb, p. 80; Desbayess 9° ; BM 130703 spike-butted axe. «an bird on top ede B MQ, x5¥i, BM x32218 wriniature spike-butted axe with bir p. 98. 5 i ‘PICK~AXES BM 128682 BM 128685 1» BM 128686/ / ADZE BM 128766 BM 128613 BM 128615 BM 128688 CRESCENTIC AXE-HEAD BM r2a1gr DAGGERS AND swoRDs BM 120938 BM 122932 BM 123058 BM 123060 BM 123061 BM 123298 BM 123315 BM 128618 Iran, pl. xxvit, centre, right; Deshayes, no. 1368. Tran, fig. 244, right, pl. xxvii, centre, 2nd right, Tran, p. 126, fig. 2430, pl. xxvit; Deshayes, no, 1380-1. Iraq, xi (1949), p. 105, pl. xaxv. 15. Tran, fig, 243, lower right, BMQ, xi, pl. xx. 1, p. 60. 7 Tran, BL xiv, ‘upper left, fig. 248, centre; BMQ, xi, pl. xx. 2, p. 60. Fron, pl xxv, upper right; BMQ, xi, pl. xx. 3, 60. Tran, fig. 248, top, left. BMQ,¥, p. x10, pl. va, let. (PL. 18) M-H: Type 32. BMQ.¥i, pl. xxxa; M-H: Type 356, MB: ype 41; BMO, vii, p. 2, MQ. vii, pl. xvi, pp, 44-53 Mel : Type 35; AfO 19, pp. 95. pg B. 550. PL Ma), Msi pl. ev pp. 44-53 MEH: Type 350: AO 19, pp.95 H. 3; Pope, SPA (1938), . MoH Type yaa 4 A998) Bl sse. (PL, Trap. fom ight; BMO, Type 37. _— xi, pl. 200. 6, p. 61; M-H: T2e, 2ownt, and from right; M-H: Type 38. ‘YPE 40a, Fran, pl. xxva, right, PL. Te, flanged bronze hilt, 4MQ, xii, pL xn, PP. 36-7: silver. (PI. III) 2MQ, xi, pl. om. 7, Tran, fig, 2 bottom, centre, i BM, vi, pl xxx, p, fo, 1 } ‘CUDGEL HEADS (?) BM 128716 AMI, x (1929-30), Pl. ¥, tight. Ls Victoria and Aibert Museum Loan. ‘MACEHEADS BM 128616 BMQ, xi, pl. xx. 45 Iran, pl. xxv top, centre. | | BM 12869r Tran, pl. xx, top right. j BM 128719 WHETSTONE SOCKETS a a. B vid with head turned back.» : EM ae fa form of an ‘bex with an animal on its back; BMQ, v, pl. Live. |. IVb) | BM 122916 inform of a moufflon; BMQ, vi, pl. xxxd. (Pl. TVa) BM 128792 in form of a lion’s head; Iran, fig. 253- BM 128793 inform ofaboa"shead LIV) BM 129395 in shape of boar; BAEQ, iy p16, phe tan BM 132058 in form of a ‘master-of-animals’ in exotic flanked by four stylized lions. \\ HORSE-HARNESS (CHAPTER 11) | ! \ 1. aa sts BMQ, xvii, p. 12, pl. ut; Potratz, pl. XLVI. 112. i | Group 2 BM 128731 Potratz, pl. L. 118. (Pl. Va) up 3 BM 122914 BMOQ, vi, pl. xxxe, P. 79- i BM 128770 Potratz, pl. LV. 129. vo! ‘i IM 130675, BMQ, xvii, pl. ut, p. 12. I Group 4 (no examples). | | ie Sroup 5 t ‘MOUFFLON CHEEK-PIECES BM 122930 BMQ, vi, pl. xx1K4, P. 79- i BM 123273 Potraty, fig. 642. ae CHEEK-PIECES ae MA IM 122928 BMQ, vi, p. 79, pl. XxIKe. t34se7 PMO. th cheek-piece. (Pl. Vib) MUTHICAL BEASTS AS CHEEK-PIECES 1, Vila) SBM 123272 ——-Potratz, p. 1575 ca Come it) 123276 Potratz, p. 150, 00. 2, . BMasoo7y BMD, an pp. 3-9, 7a. of winged huma-ficed bulls BM 134746 Bit with cheek-pieces in the BMQ, xxii, p. 57- FARNESS-RINGs : * Spoted wheels 122924-5 plain. 110) taz926-) BAO, vi, pl xan, p. Bo. PL VITA) 4 HARNESS-RINGS (cont.): BM 122917 BM 123542 | BM raagr8 ' BM 123301 BM 128726-7 BM 128606 2 Wace BM 128721 fl FINIALS 1. Rampant ibexes BM tazgir 2, Rampant ibex with BM 123541 *BM 115516 BM r22192 BM 122912 BM r22929 SBM 87216 “BM 108815 “BM 108817 BM TIgs1g | ; "BM rissis 3. Rampant stylized lions 4 ‘Master-of Animals? 2, Open rings with moufflon head and flanking lions BMQ, vi, pl. xxx, p. 80. BMQ, ix, pl. xxaxd, p. 94. (Pl. VITIS) ; , 3 Figure-of-¢ight with zoomorphic decoration BMQ, vi, p. 80. 4- ‘Bow-rings’ (probably buckles or harness-trappings) BM 132308 5. Sheet-metal ingles’ for horse-harness 6. Decoration for a horse-collar BMQ, xi, pl. xx. 2, p. 59. attributed to L ee Elamite of the later third millennium s.c. though BMQ, Xi, pl. xva, pp. 32-35 SPA, iv, pl. 26. FINIALS AND DECORATED TUBES (CHAPTER III) (Pl. x18) lionhead and neck on each shoulder nies ‘x, pl. soma, p. 94. (PL. IX) BMQ,v, pl. uava, bottom, BMQ.vi, pl xxxe. (PL. X12) 1 1. Xa) xs) ANTHROPOMORPHIC ‘TUBES BM 23300 L319 / BM 123057 PINS, PERSONAL 0: GROUP 1A: pin-heads BM 128705 BM 128706 yy, 48 LJ] BM 330085 Mae) BMigay8 Bug PpL ops, Laan ‘SUPPORT FoR 2h P. 98, PL. xLvinid. (PI. KITa) FINIAL AMENTS, ETC. (CHAPTER IV) “st as plain, geometric shapes , 88.272, ad fom sight BM 128707 Iran, fig. 272, and from right. BM 128708 Tran, fig. 272, 2nd from left. BM 128709 Tran, fig. 272, 3rd from left. ‘GROUP 1B: FLORAL HEADS No examples. GROUP IC: ZOOMORPHIC AND ANTHROPOMORPHIC HEADS ae | j : a iron pins. BM 128. winged ‘wild asses’ couchant; originally on ie = BM 128607 BMOQ, xi, pl XX. 4, p. $8—winged ‘dragon’; Iran, fig : 1, XTVa) , figure an BM 128608 2MO, ‘zi, pl. xx. 3, pp. 58-95 Jean, Big. 275: human figure crescent. —s oe BM 128783 Iran, fig. 275, top right: lion-mask originally (Pl. X12) BM 128786 stylized lion couchant. BM 128787 winged gazelle(?) BM 128788 roonflon (2) BM 128710 moufflon. : BM 128789 duck with head turned back along Spine ot om a lion-head. BM 130680 BMQ, zi pl MP. 122 ‘moufilon co | BM 13068: ized lion couchant. BM 130684 5MO, xvi, pl. mp, 12: human head. ama BM 132057 ‘winged ‘dragon’ head. :master-of-animals’. (UXT BM 13297 BMQ,xxvi, pl. xxvmne, p- 98: Mile Hon coubant BM 132928 BMQ, xxii, pl. xvuttb, p. ‘GROUP 11: OPEN-CAST HEADS i BM 123299 (PI. XIII) BM 128780 (PL. XIVs) : BM 128782 i GROUP 11: DISC-HEADED PINS I V4 BM r. PL. XVd) 1) \ BM 132900 ‘BMO, xxvi, pl. xvas, p.98. I ww \ I BRACELETS: CAST BRONZE 7 BM 130678 BMQ, xvi, pl. m. sitting-duck cae BM 122922 sitting-duck terminals. 7 I BM 122921 sleeping-duck terminals. os BM 128795 moufilon (?) terminals. BM 122923 moufilon (?) terminals. | BM 123543 BMQ, ix, p. 95- jeces; upper surface decorat BM 128772 heavy casting in two pieces; UPPe*.S RAR-RINGS BM 128797-8 ToRc BM 128771 twisted hoop. TOGGLE BM 123302 PENDANTS BM 128740-1 _double-spiral: BMQ, xi, pl. xx. 5; Zran, pl. xxx. Silver. BM 1221 moufilon, BM 128778 moufflon, BM x22199 /) horse, BM 128775°/ horse: Iran, pl. 2000, lower right. “BM 108814 horse. BM 1929-1-36, 18 horse. BM 128777 bull—Jran, pl. xc, top left. BM 128744 bullL—Jran, pl. soc, bottom, left. BM 128474 bull’s head. BM 128773-4 a male and a female figurine with suspension loops. (/ VESSELS (CHAPTER v) PLAIN VESSELS BM 128760; 128720; 1230555 131445; 132016 ‘SPOUTED VESSELS: EARLY ‘TYPE BM 128600 Tran, pl. xxv, lower right; BMQ, xi,fp. 6r, pl. xxtte; AMI, 1) 1929-30, pl. vi Gilweran), -(PLXIX right) BM 128804 Tran, fig. 226; AMI, 1, 1929-30, pl. vit (Gilweran). ‘LATER TYPE. BM rayo6a : BM 128601 2MQ,xi, pl. xaud; Iran, pl. xxv, lower, centre, (Pl, XIX left) BM 128603 2PMQ, x, pl xxub; Iran, pl x4v, top, bg, 16, lower seo BM 128756 Tang Bi. 6 ia, Bi 36, owe, ah BM 128757 - BM 132930 FMQ, xvi, pl. xxvina, p, 98 Decorated). (PI. XX) ‘CAST-BRONZE VESSEL BM 130679 SPA, iv, pl. 678; BMQ, XY, P. 59, pl. xxve (PI. XVII. Gan 228604! Iran, pl, xxv, owes lefts BMQ, xi, pl. xtc (Bujaurd), DECORATED GOBLET ‘ BM 134685 animal friezes. (PI. XVI) DECORATED SETULAE AND RELATED BOWL. BM 130905 * BY, 5 (196: imal fri mt ae Snore, Bs lists). 3°—G. 1. (Animal frieze). (P1XVII) 123325 » PI, § (2963), p. 45, 0. 6, pl. 6 (bowl). dere OF A DECORATED ‘Vesse, (@. 2000 8.6.) 1M. 128620 i » Xi, P. 60, fig. 15 Iran, fig. 229, pl. xx; Calmeyer, BY, (1966), p. 95, fg. 2b; AMI, 8 (1937), pp. 53-5. DECORATED BOWL (IND Ist DYN BM rago62 a IM, top, P. 45, SHEET-METAL oBjEcrs (CHAPTER v1) ‘BELT FRAGMENTS BM 128724 Tran, fig, 263, lower, 50 GIRDLE-CLASP . ia BM 128725 geometric decoration. QUIVER FRAGMENT (?) : BM 122919 decorated with a lion-mask. FUNCTION UNCERTAIN . BM 128728-9 Iran, fig. 255, right. | / \\ \\ 5 B Plate I a Bronze spike-butted axe-head (BM 130676) 'b Bronze crescentic axe-head (BM 122191); p. 23 A Plate II 4 Bronze dirk » Bronze dirk ¢ Tron sword (BM 123304); inscribed for an off dirk inscribed for Mard (BM 123061) B icer (BM luk-nadin- PD. 20, 24 123060) ahhe, King of Babylonia, ¢, 2098-1081 nc, jginally on 3 Plate III (a and n) Silver sword hilt, origin B blade (BM 129378)3 iron p24 jeces (BM ing na p. 26 c Plate IV a Bronze whetstone hand! » Bronze whetstone handl € Whetstone with bronze Hes moufflon (BM 122916) le; boar (BM raq3q3) handles eaprid with tion on its back (BM 122190); p. 24 ——S—t — ee 123272) bit (BM 12. os for a horse-bi ze cheekpieces f05 2 OG Plate VIT 4 Pair of bronze St (BM 12327 n Bronze Plate VIA Bronze chet *ck-piece for a horse-t B Bronze ch bit (BM 130681) teck-piece for a horse-bit; three-dimensional modelling (BM 134927); pp. 26-7 ee ee i Plate X A Bronze ‘masters 1 Bronze ‘master-of-ay of-ani mals’ fini in ils (BM 108816) nimals’ finials ( (BM 115514); pp. 29-30 ion finial on - re Hon finial Plate XT a Bronte caprid finial B Plate XII 4-¢ Anthropomotphic bronze tubes (BM 132346; 1306855 123300); pp. 30-1 he ‘inal’ pind

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