Lorestān bronze

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A collection of Lorestān bronze artifacts including harnesses and disc headed pins in the Louvre Museum.
A collection of Lorestān bronze artifacts including harnesses and disc headed pins in the Louvre Museum.
Swords and axes from Lorestān; on exhibit at the Louvre Museum
Swords and axes from Lorestān; on exhibit at the Louvre Museum
Ancient Near East Portal

Lorestān bronze is a term referring to a set of Early Iron Age bronze artifacts of various individual forms which have been recovered from Lorestān and Kermanshah areas in west-central Iran. They include a great number of weapons, ornaments, tools, and ceremonial objects. It is not certain whether they were created by the Cimmerians or the ancient Persians-Medes.

Typical Lorestāni-style objects belong to the (Iranian) Iron Age (c. 1250-650 B.C.). The term "Lorestān bronze" is not normally used to refer to earlier bronze artifacts from Luristan, datable to a period between the fourth millennium B.C. and the (Iranian) Bronze Age (c. 2900-1250 B.C.), when bronze objects from Lorestān were similar to those found in Mesopotamia and on the Iranian plateau.

In 1930 a large quantity of canonical Lorestān bronze artifacts appeared on the Iranian and European antiquities markets as a result of plundering of tombs in this region. Since 1938 several scientific excavations were conducted by American, Danish, British, Belgian, and Iranian archaeologists on the graveyards with stone tombs in the northern Pish Kuh valleys and the southern Pusht Kuh of Lorestān.

[edit] Further reading

  • Fleming, S. J., V. C. Pigott, C. P. Swann, and S. K. Nash. Bronze in Luristan: Preliminary analytical evidence from copper/bronze artifacts excavated by the Belgian mission in Iran. Iranica Antiqua: 2005.
  • Ghirshman, R. Iran: from the earliest times to the Islamic conquest. Penguin Books: 1954.
  • Meier-Arendt, W. Bronzen and Keramik aus Luristan und anderen Gebieten Irans im Museum für Vor- and Frühgeschichte. Frankfurt am Main: 1984.
  • Moorey, P. R. S. Ancient Bronzes from Luristan. British Museum: London, 1974.
  • Muscarella, O. W. "Bronzes of Luristan." Encyclopedia Iranica. Colombia University Press: 2004.
  • Overlaet, B. "Luristan Metalwork in the Iron Age" Persia's Ancient Splendour: Mining, Handicraft and Archaeology. Deutsches Bergbau-Museum: Bochum, 2004.
  • Rickenbach, J. Magier mit Feuer und Erz, Bronzekunst der frühen Bergvölker in Luristan, Iran. Museum Rietberg: Zürich, 1992.
  • Zahlhaas, G. Luristan: Antike Bronzen aus dem Iran. Archäologische Staatssammlung München, Museum für Vor-und Frühgeschichte: München, 2002.

[edit] External links