Luristan Bronzes

in archaeological terms, Central Zagros is known as "Cultural Luristan" including present-day provinces of Luristan and Ilam as well as southern parts of Hamedan and Kermanshah provinces. According to folklore, Cultural Luristan is consisted of Pish-i Kuh and Pusht-i Kuh separated by the mount Kabir Kuh located on the east and west of the mountain, respectively. Luristan is mainly known for a set of metal objects made of bronze, iron and silver found in the region since 1930s and soon became widespread in the antique markets, museums, and private collections worldwide and well-known as "Luristan Bronzes". Shortly after publication of first scholarly reports about the Bronzes of Luristan, illegal excavations sharply increased in Cultural Luristan and resulted to mass plundering of archaeological heritage of the region. Among first scholars that published their thoughts about the bronzes of Luristan are A. O. Pope, A. Godar, and Schaffer. Later on, several archaeological expeditions such as the Belgium archaeological team at Pusht-i Kuh and the American Holmes expedition at Pish-i Kuh conducted field investigation mainly in search of origin of the Luristan bronzes and in the hope of resolving their enigma. Recently, new data and material came from excavations at Sangtarashan, Baba Jilan, and Zagros graveyard providing invaluable insights into the archaeology pf Luristan Bronzes. However, questions such as the place and the technique of manufacturing, identity of manufacturers, their function, and so on are among unresolved mysteries of the Bronzes of Luristan that have to be addressed in future researches.

The name "Luristan standards" refers to a very large and enigmatic group of bronze objects (with an obvious symbolic i.e. cultic character) that date back to the Late Bronze and Iron Ages. They were found in the region of Luristan in western Iran, from where, in the last century, they would reach almost all major world museums and private collections.

Several historical, phonological, linguistic, genetic, archaeological and mythological evidences show that there were strong cultural relations between the people who lived in the west of Iran and north of Europe from about the 3rd millennium BC, so the proto-Germanic culture probably originated in the west of Iran and from about the 1st millennium BC there were migrations from this region to north of Italy, especially Tuscany, where we see strong genetic and phonological similarities and from this land and through the Hallstatt culture, Germanic culture was spread into the north of Europe.

Со називот „луристански стандарди“ се означува една мошне голема и загадочна група бронзени предмети (со очевиден симболички т.е. култен карактер) кои потекнуваат од доцното бронзено и од железното време. Пронајдени се во областа Луристан во западниот дел на денешен Иран од каде, во минатиот век, ќе доспеат во речиси сите позначајни светски музеи и приватни колекции.

Summary
The impetus for this study is an unusual detail from the famous fresco composition The Lamentation of Christ from the Church of Saint Panteleimon in the Nerezi Monastery near Skopje, North Macedonia. In this scene the dead Christ lies in a rhombic field formed by the legs of the Virgin Mary, which are spread in thighs, angled in knees, joined at feet and fully covered by her skirt. The study also includes the figure of Rachel, shown in a similar pose, in the scene of the Massacre of the Innocents of Bethlehem from Marko’s Monastery near Skopje, as well as several representations of Gaia in the compositions of The Last Judgment from several churches in Ohrid and some other Balkan regions. The aim of the article is to trace the character, origin and meaning of the specific pose in which a woman is depicted with her legs in the form of a rhombus. The study attempts to discover the meaning of this iconographic element by analyzing the two essential components of the pose ‒ the  semiotics of the female legs, especially the spread ones, on the one hand, and the symbolism of the rhombus on the other. Its character and origin are revealed through comparison of the aforementioned artistic representations with analogues from other cultures throughout the world, and across diverse historical periods, stretching from prehistory to contemporaneity. There, the female body is in various ways combined with the figure of the rhombus: supplemented by a rhombus, completely metamorphosed into a rhombus or shown with legs that themselves form a rhombus. The study also includes the variants of the previously introduced combinations in which the rhombus is alternated with a vesica piscis - a vertical ellipse with pointed poles as a more realistic symbol of the open vulva, which confirms the female connotations of the rhombus. Special emphasis is given to the Christian representations that include a similarily shaped mandorla, for which, within the frames of their own canonical interpretations, certain implicit meanings related to the female principle are also proposed.

Keywords: rhombus, Medieval corporeality, semiotics of legs, female genitals, vesica piscis, mandorla, Byzantine iconology, Virgin Mary, Gaia, St. Panteleimon ‒ Nerezi Monastery (North Macedonia)

Резиме

Повод за ово истраживање је једна необична појединост на чувеној фресци Оплакивање Христа у цркви Светог Пантелејмона у манастиру Нерези код Скопља (Северна Македонија). У овој сцени мртви Христос лежи у пољу у облику ромба који формирају ноге Богородице, с раширеним коленима, спојеним сто- палима и у потпуности покривене њеном хаљином. У истраживање су укључени и фигура Рахеле, приказане у сличној пози, у сцени Покољ витлејемске деце у Марковом манастиру код Скопља, и неколико представа Гее у композицији Страшног суда. Циљ чланка јесте да се одреде карактер, порекло и значење специфичне позе у којој се жена приказује с раширеним бедрима и коленима, те спојеним стопалима, при чему њене ноге обликују фигуру ромба. Начињен је покушај да се открије значење овог иконографског елемента посредством анализе две главне компоненте ове позе – семиотике женских ногу, посебно раширених, с једне стране, и симболике ромба, с друге. До његовог карактера и порекла се долази поређењем поменутих ликовних представа с аналогијама присутним у другим културама које потичу из разних делова света и из разних периода, од праисторије до савременог фолклора. На њима се тело жене на раз- не начине комбинује с ромбом: допуњава се ромбом, у целини је трансформисано ромбом или је приказано с ногама које чине облик ромба. У рад су укључене варијанте поменутих комбинација у којима се ромб замењује с фигуром vesica piscis (рибљег мехура), у облику вертикалне елипсе са зашиљеним половима, што је реалистичнији симбол отворене вулве, што потврђује феминина значења ромба. Посебно су наглашене хришћанске представе које укључују мандорлу с истим обликом, за коју су предложена извесна имплицитна значења везана за женско начело, у оквирима њихових канонских интерпретација.

Кључне речи: ромб, средњовековна телесност, семиотика ногу, женске гениталије, vesica piscis, мандорла, византијска иконологија, Богородица, Геа, Свети Пантелејмон – Манастир Нерези (Сверена Македонија)

This is a Persian article which has been published in Iran, it firstly talks about different evidences which show that Indo-Europeans, specifically proto-Germanic people, lived in Iran from about the 4th millennium BC, then about ancient inscriptions which have been found in Iran and are believed to be from the 3rd and 2nd millennium BC, it proves at least Susa inscriptions of Puzur Inshushinak are in proto-Germanic or Old Gothic language.

The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Art Collection (UWMAC) holds a group of supposed Luristan bronzes with limited provenances. The lack of provenance, archaeological or otherwise, coupled with the prevalence of forged Luristan bronzes across private and public collections introduced questions of authenticity regarding the UWMAC's collection of bronzes. To address these questions, the typical art historical and visual analyses were conducted to supplement the chemical compositional analysis done using inductively-coupled plasma mass spectrometry. Of the three artifacts successfully sampled and tested, the Ibex Whetstone Handle (1985.002.38) was determined to be iron while the Master of Animals Finial for Standard (1985.002.48) and Hair Ornament (1985.002.45) were bronze. The Master of Animals Finial conformed closely to the canon of Luristan bronzes while the Hair Ornament had few comparanda from either excavated artifacts or those found via art markets. Most likely, the UWMAC "Luristan bronzes" have a mix of authenticities.

این نوشتار تلاش دارد با نگاهی بر زیورهای بازمانده از لرستان باستان به گونه‌شناسی این هنر ارزشمند بپردازد. مهم‌ترین اهداف این پژوهش چنین است:
بررسی تکنیک‌های¬ ساخت و تزیین زیورهای لرستان.
دسته‌بندی زیورهای لرستان برپایه شکل، جنس و کاربرد.
پژوهشگران این دست‌ساخته‌ها را حاصل هنر بومی منطقه می‌دانند که در فرآیندی دراز و با درآمیختن تجربه محلی با هنر فرهنگ‌های همجوار (آشور، بابل، ایلام، میتانی و اورارتو) و هنر اقوام مهاجری چون کاسیان، گوتیان، لولوبیان، هوریان و سکاها شکل گرفته است.
زیورهای بررسی‌شده دستکم دوازده جنس گوناگون دارند: مفرغ، آهن، شیشه، عقیق، لاجورد، صدف، سنگ‌هاي گوناگون، خمیر شیشه، عاج، استخوان، طلا و نقره.
در بررسی این زیورها از دید فرم و کاربرد دستکم به دوازده گونه متفاوت بر می‌خوریم: سنجاق‌سر، دست‌بند، گردن‌بند، گوشواره، آویز، بازوبند یا پای‌آذین، انگشتر و مهر، پیشانی‌بند، سنجاق قفلی، دکمه، آینه و موبند.
گستره تاریخی آثار موزه‌ای بررسی‌شده، دوران برنز و آهن در ایران (هزاره سوم تا هزاره نخست پ.م) را در بر می‌گیرد. داده‌های پژوهش در یک بررسی کتابخانه‌ای و موزه‌ای گردآوری شده‌اند. روش پژوهش، مقایسه تطبیقی ساختار زیورها و گونه‌شناسی و دسته‌بندی آنها بوده است.

This article tries to look at the jewels of the ancient Luristan (nowadays Luristan province and some parts of Ilam and Kermanshah provinces) and to have a survey on this precious art and its typology. These jewels have been gathered by way of many scientific and unscientific excavations in last decades in ancient sites like Kalmakareh, Varkaboud, Kal Vali, Sorkh Dom, Kamtarlan (Kaftarlan), Chogha Sabz, Mir Vali, Dom Avizeh, Badavar, Chaman, Bardbal, Shurabeh, Piravand, Paigal and Kotal Kal Kal in Luristan, Ilam, and Kermanshah. These jewels often have been found in female graves.
Bronze Age in Iran contains years from 3000 to 1500 BC. Iron Age in Iran includes years from 1500 to 550 BC.
Our most important purposes are:
1. A survey on techniques of making and decorating in the Luristan jewelry.
2. Typology of the Luristan jewelry based on form, material, and usage.
Researchers believe these handmade artifacts to be native and territorial. Also, they think that these artifacts had formed in a long process and with the combination of native experiences with the art of adjacent cultures (Assyria, Babylon, Elamite, Mitanni, and Urartu), and the art of immigrant tribes like Kassite, Gutian, Lullubi, Hurrian and Scythian.
These jewels have at least twelve different materials, including: bronze, iron, glass, agate, azure, seashell, diverse stones, glass paste, ivory, bone, gold and silver.
Metallic items have been built with two techniques: molding and hammering.
Also these jewels have at least twelve dissimilar types and usages, including: Pins, bracelets, necklaces, earrings, pendants, cuffs or leg decorations, rings and seals, headbands, ouches, buttons, mirrors and fillets.
The studied items belong to the historical range of Bronze Age and Iron Age in Iran (from third since first millennium BC). We have traced these artifacts in the Iranian museums like National Museum of Iran, Reza Abbasi Museum and Falak ol Aflak museum, also in the world important museums like Louvre museum, Metropolitan museum of art, Boston museum, Cleveland museum, and Zurich museum, and in the private collections like David – Will collection, Ackerman - pope collection, Stora collection, and Mouza collection.
Research data have been gathered in a library and museum survey. The research method is a comparative analysis of forms and materials of jewels. We have tried to classify them, to have a total typology.
There are many different artistic decorations on these handmade artifacts. Patterns like: gods and goddesses, man, various kinds of animals (like snake, lion, goat, ram, deer, eagle, vulture, fish, bull, rooster, duck, gopat and shirdal, etc.) and plants (like lotus, pomegranate, tree of life, clover tetramerous, etc.), animals with human faces, hunting scenes and geometric motifs. These designs are sometimes too delicate and realistic, and sometimes abstract and mysterious.
They have buried these jewels with their owners as an ornament for life after death. But how can we interpret their motivations for making these artifacts? Maybe their need for fertility, hope for victory over the enemy, fear of the unknown life after death, or trying to ward off evil spirits.

The Lipchitz Collection contains about 200 artifacts from the ancient Near East. While most originate in Iran, a number are from Mesopotamia, the northern Levant, Anatolia, and the South Arabian Peninsula, the ancient cultural regions which roughly correspond to modern Iraq, Syria, Turkey, and Yemen respectively. The artifacts presented here cover most of the cultural and geographical regions mentioned above, and date from the mid-fourth to early first millennium CE.

Iran is very rich in metal ores and has had an unbroken tradition of metalworking for at least 7000 years. At the end of the second millennium bc a number of regional cultures emerged within Iran, particularly in the north western and western parts of the country and these were particularly proficient in metalworking. Apart from a small number of stray accidental finds, the first occasion on which a significant number of such pieces entered Western collections-including the British Museum-was during the late 1920s. Almost all of these were acquired via the art market and lacked secure excavated provenances. This paper looks at two types of sword that have been scientifically examined with X-radiography, X-ray diffraction and X-ray fluorescence analysis. The results indicate that some swords with bronze hilts were certainly cast-on to bronze blades, but although some excavated examples show the casting of bronze hilts onto iron blades, many others circulating on the art market show unmistakable signs of having the corroded iron blades replaced by bronze blades from separate weapons of the same typological class. The results call into question some previous assumptions in the literature about swords of these types and underline the importance of using scientific techniques when analysing pieces purchased from the art market.

Аннотация В статье предлагается краткий исторический обзор развития древневосточных зооморфных изображений, несущих специфические знаки. Исследователь ставит задачу рассмотреть традиционные и новые черты в мотиве «знак-зооморфное существо» в луристанской и гиланской металлопластике, выявить художественные особенности и возможную семантику, проследить пути интеграции мотива в искусство древнеиранских регионов Луристана и Гилана.

The concept of identifying the macrocosm (the surrounding world) and the microcosm (the man) in relation to the principle of thought in binary oppositions creates a representation of an anthropomorphized cosmos in the archaic consciousness, in which the earth is a woman and the heaven a man. This mythic-symbolic structure, motivated among everything by human urge mechanisms, implies a mythic content regarding the sexual intercourse of these anthropomorphized cosmic elements. Moreover, such an action becomes a good model for explicating many other aspects of the universe existence: its genesis, development, dismemberment, ability to produce other elements (including creating human and other beings). Due to the universality of the factors that generate creation of these mythic-symbolic structures, different cultures around the world will invest a great amount of energy in them, resulting (often independently in various cultures) in myths of the ‘sacred marriage’ between the Heaven and the Earth, but also between other cosmic elements. In those myths the marriage takes place at the very beginning of world and time, being a prerequisite and a cause of all things. This study begins with a review of verbally manifested myths of hierogamy in cultures of the Old world and in the later ages, while some of the key aspects and functions of the ‘sacred marriage’ are being emphasized: (a) hierogamy as inception of the universe, as primordial chaos, as ancient era of felicity; (b) hierogamy for the purpose of agricultural activities, producing fire, legitimizing the ruler, death perceived as marriage with the Mother-Earth in a negative sense (as a cause of death) and in a positive sense (as a cause of resurrection). Given the relatively young age of the first written myths of hierogamy, the method of semiotic analysis of its pictorial representations creates new possibilities for a historical continuance of this phenomenon, finding its profound aspects and primary forms and even revealing the genesis of these myths. A great number of pictorial representations i.e. mythic pictures of hierogamy have been presented and analyzed in this paper, from the earliest Prehistoric times until the contemporary archaic cultures. They are divided in several groups and subgroups. Within the group of realistic anthropomorphic representations of hierogamy, the horizontal, vertically-symmetrical and crossed variances have been represented. Another subgroup encounters the cosmological context, especially emphasizing the examples shown on Early Slavic double plate fibulae. Partial i.e. separated hierogamy representations are classified in three combinations comprised of separate subcategories: a partial phallus and a partial vulva; a partial phallus and a female figure; a partial vulva and a male figure. Implicitly coded hierogamy representations are elaborated in a separate group, where the man and the woman are represented standing, sitting or lying one next to the other, with no explicit coitus representations. Instead, their genitals are symbolically represented through other parts of the body (arm, leg, mouth, armpit, nose, etc.), while the coitus itself is coded in different corresponding actions related to these organs (pointing, touching, trampling, beating, hurting and killing with weapons). Zoomorphized pictorial representations of hierogamy are divided as zoomorphic, zoo-anthropomorphic and zoomorphically partial. This category differentiates depending on whether the intercourse is between a man and a female animal, between a woman and a male animal or between anthropo-zoomorphic characters. A separate group consists of presentations where the coitus is performed above the animal or on a zoomorphized bed. Objectified pictorial hierogamy representations are only merely mentioned in this paper and coded in various objects, i.e. artefacts. Two geometric representations of the ‘sacred marriage’ are also included. In the first one, the sexes are represented with inversely oriented triangles which tangent or overlap (in a shape of a hexagram), while in the second they are represented with two rounded segments creating a circle (yin and yang).

Key words: sacred marriage, hierogamy, cosmogony, mythic picture, phallus, vulva, lingam-yoni, yin-yang, marital bed.

In this paper, an analysis is presented of some bronze vessels from recent excavations at the first millennium BC site of Sangtarashan in eastern Luristan, Iran, according to metallography (OM), ICP-OES and SEM-EDS methods to identify alloying as well as manufacturing processes. This study provides new evidence for a better understanding of the bronze archaeometallurgy during the Iron Age in Iran. It concludes that the artifacts contain homogenous and single phase tin bronze (Cu-Sn) alloy. The Sn content in the artifacts also allowed to apply mechanical operations on the vessels without causing brittleness. Apart from tin, other elements that are classified as trace elements were present, such as zinc, iron, lead, phosphorus and arsenic. Metallographic observations indicated that the microstructures of samples are typical worked grains, composed by the mechanical process for shaping vessels throughout a cycle of cold working and annealing.

The essay deals with a collection of 55 metal artefacts seized in 1983. The items belongs to the Soprintendenza Archeologica delle Marche, and they are currently at the Archaeological Museum in Florence, where treatments for their preservation have been carried out. In most cases, they can be assigned to the group of the so called “Luristan bronzes”.
All objects are in bronze, apart from one sword in iron. In some cases, it is clear that at least parts of the items are fakes (e.g., nn. 4, 29, 30, 43, 45, 47). However, in most cases items seem to be genuine and some of them are notheworty: in particular, the iron sword with human heads placed on the flat pommel (n. 2), the sword with bell shaped pommel (n.3), as well as the disc-headed pins (nn. 32, 33).

In this paper, an analysis is presented of some bronze vessels from recent excavations at the first millennium BC site of Sangtarashan in eastern Luristan, Iran, according to metallography (OM), ICP-OES and SEM-EDS methods to identify alloying as well as manufacturing processes. This study provides new evidence for a better understanding of the bronze archaeometallurgy during the Iron Age in Iran. It concludes that the artifacts contain homogenous and single phase tin bronze (Cu-Sn) alloy. The Sn content in the artifacts also allowed to apply mechanical operations on the vessels without causing brittleness. Apart from tin, other elements that are classified as trace elements were present, such as zinc, iron, lead, phosphorus and arsenic. Metallographic observations indicated that the microstructures of samples are typical worked grains, composed by the mechanical process for shaping vessels throughout a cycle of cold working and annealing.

Αν και η υπόθεση της ύπαρξης ενός ιερού στη θέση Φίλια στο νομό Καρδίτσας ανάγεται στο 1926ι, η «επίσημη» ανακάλυψη του πανθεσσαλικού ιερού της Αθηνάς Ιτωνίας στη Φίλια χρονολογείται στο 1962, όταν ο Δ. Θεοχάρης πραγματοποίησε τις πρώτες ανασκαφές2• Ήδη αυτές οι ανασκαφές αποτέλεσαν αντίδραση στις λαθρανασκαφές, οι οποίες είχαν γνωρίσει μεγάλη αύξηση εκείνα τα χρόνια, πιο συγκεκριμένα από το 19603• Αυτό το φαινόμενο μάλλον εξηγεί και το γεγονός ότι τα ίδια ακριβώς χρόνια κυκλοφόρησαν στην αγορά τέχνης ομάδες ευρημάτων, τα οποία μοιάζουν πολύ με τα χαρακτηριστικά ευρήματα από τη Φίλια4• Παράλληλα με τις πρώτες ανασκαφές παραδόθηκαν και από ιδιώτες πολλά ευρήματα με προέλευση τη Φίλια. Σήμερα όλα αυτά τα ευρήματα, δηλαδή αυτά που προέρχονται από επίσημες ανασκαφές και αυτά που οφείλονται σε παραδόσεις ιδιωτών, βρίσκονται στο Αρχαιολογικό Μουσείο Βόλου. Και τα δύο αντικείμενα που παρουσιάζουμε στο παρόν άρθρο προέρχονται από παράδοση του ιδίου ιδιώτη, του Σ. Σοφού, και εισήλθαν στο Μουσείο Βόλου στις 28 Νοεμβρίου 1964 με αρ. ευρ. 5627. Η παράδοση του Σ. Σοφού * Το παρόν άρθρο είναι το αποτέλεσμα μιας μελέτης μερικών από τα πολλά χάλκινα ευρήματα από τη Φίλια. Θέλω να ευχαριστήσω θερμά τους συναδέλφους που μου επιτρέψανε την αυτοψία των ευρημάτων στα Μουσεία Βόλου και Οξφόρδης, πιο συγκεκριμένα τους Β. Αδρύμη-Σισμάνη (Προϊσταμένη, Ι Γ' ΕΠΚΑ, Βόλος), Μπ. Ιντζεσίλογλου (ΙΓ' ΕΠΚΑ, Βόλος), Β. Ροντήρη (ΙΓ' ΕΠΚΑ, Βόλος) και Μ. Vickers (Ashmolean Museum, Oxford). Θέλω να ευχαριστήσω επίσης την V. Di NapoH (Ελβετική Αρχαιολογική Σχολή στην Ελλάδα) για τη διόρθωση του ελληνικού κειμένου. ι. Ν. Γιαννόπουλος, ΑΕ 1925/26, 119 κ.ε., 203 κ.ε., για την ιστορία της έρευνας βλ. . 4. Π.χ. μια ομάδα μικρών χάλκινων αντικειμένων η οποία αγοράστηκε το 1963 από τη Ny Carlsberg Glypthothek της Κοπεγχάγης, βλ. johansen 1982. Christiansen 1992. Αυτά τα αντικείμενα αγοράστηκαν με προέλευση < < Βάσσαι» Πελοποννήσου, προέλευση που όμως δεν ταιριάζει με την ανάλυση των αντικειμένων. Ίσως η αληθινή προέλευση «Φίλια>> μετατράπηκε κάποια στιγμή σε «Φιγαλία», είτε για να κρυφθεί η αληθινή προέλευση είτε για να αυξάνεται η τιμή τους με μια πιο <<γνωστή» προέλευση. ·Αλλ η μία ομάδα βρίσκεται στο Ashmolean Museum της Οξφόρδης (AR 21, 1974-75, 35 αρ. 47) και μία τρίτη ομάδα σε ιδιωτική συλλογή στο Houston (ΗΠΑ): Hoffmann 1971.

In this paper, an analysis is presented of some bronze vessels from recent excavations at the first millennium BC site of Sangtarashan in eastern Luristan, Iran, according to metallography (OM), ICP-OES and SEM-EDS methods to identify alloying as well as manufacturing processes. This study provides new evidence for a better understanding of the bronze archaeometallurgy during the Iron Age in Iran. It concludes that the artifacts contain homogenous and single phase tin bronze (Cu-Sn) alloy. The Sn content in the artifacts also allowed to apply mechanical operations on the vessels without causing brittleness. Apart from tin, other elements that are classified as trace elements were present, such as zinc, iron, lead, phosphorus and arsenic. Metallographic observations indicated that the microstructures of samples are typical worked grains, composed by the mechanical process for shaping vessels throughout a cycle of cold working and annealing.

Abstract: In this paper we present a research about two bronze bowls housed in the Museo Arqueológico Nacional (Madrid). They come from two very different cultural contexts (Iran and Nubia respectively) and are dated in two different chronologies (1st and last quarter of the 1st millennium BC, respectively). However they display two common features: 1) They are part of a common typological evolution starting from an old Iranian prototype. 2) They have been found in both cases around 1000 km away from their places of manufacture-therefore indirectly documenting a long-distance trade across two different routes (one of them Iranian, the other one Nilotic) at two different chronologies (Iranian Iron Age II and Early Meroitic respectively).
Keywords: Lorestan. Tepe Hissar. Iranian Iron Age IIA / IIB. Herakleion. Argin. Meroitic I.
Resumen: En el presente trabajo estudiamos dos cuencos de bronce del Museo Arqueológico Nacional (Madrid) procedentes de dos contextos culturales muy distintos (Irán y Nubia) y fechados en dos cronologías diferentes (primer y último cuarto del I milenio a. C., respectivamente) que tienen en común dos cosas: 1) el formar parte de una evolución tipológica que arranca de un antiguo prototipo iranio; 2) el haber aparecido, en los dos casos, a casi 1000 km de su lugar de origen, informándonos de intercambios a larga distancia en dos rutas de Oriente diferentes (una a través de Irán, otra remontando el Nilo) y en dos momentos cronológicos distintos (Hierro II iranio y Meroítico temprano, respectivamente).
Palabras clave: Luristán. Tepé Hissar. Edad del Hierro irania IIA / IIB. Heracleion. Argín. Meroítico temprano.