Luristan Excavation Documents

This monograph is the final report, with full documentation of the excavations at the graveyards at Djub-i Gauhar and Gul Khanan Murdah, located in the Aivan plain, Luristan Pusht-i Kuh. The excavations at these sites (1977 and '78) in Western Iran were directed by Louis Vanden Berghe, on behalf of the University of Ghent and the Royal Museum of Art and History, Brussels. Both burial grounds are to be dated in the Iron Age III (8th-7th century B.C.). The graves contained a rich variety of objects, such as pottery vessels, iron and bronze weapons (daggers, swords, axes, arrowheads, ...), bronze vessels, cylinder seals, and luxury items (finger rings, earrings, bracelets, fibula, beads). All the graves and finds are illustrated in line drawings; most of the tombs and the vast majority of the objects figure also in photo.

This volume is the final report on the 1967-1968 excavations at Kalleh Nisar in Pusht-i Kuh Luristan, Iran, by Ghent University and the Royal Museums of Art and History, Brussels. A large number of tombs, constructed with stone boulders, and remains of 2 buildings were discovered. One of these buildings is of Chalcolithic date. Individual and collective tombs were constructed at Kalleh Nisar throughout the 3rd millennium. Corridor-shaped tombs of up to 13m in length were designed as collective tombs and were used by several generations. Some were still re-used in the second millennium. The burial goods include plain and painted pottery, metal weapons and utensils, seals and jewellery. The finds cover the whole third and the first half of the second millennium. Bani Surmah is located in sub-region I of the Pusht-i Kuh, which is the closest to Mesopotamia. This explains the imports and influence of Mesopotamia in this part of Luristan. Metal analysis has nevertheless indicated the existence of a local metal production. The way of life and subsistence of past population groups in Pusht-i Kuh are considered. All the finds are illustrated in line drawings, the tombs and most objects also in photo.

This monograph is the final report, with full documentation of the excavations at the graveyards at Djub-i Gauhar and Gul Khanan Murdah, located in the Aivan plain, Luristan Pusht-i Kuh. The excavations at these sites (1977 and '78) in Western Iran were directed by Louis Vanden Berghe, on behalf of the University of Ghent and the Royal Museum of Art and History, Brussels. Both burial grounds are to be dated in the Iron Age III (8th-7th century B.C.). The graves contained a rich variety of objects, such as pottery vessels, iron and bronze weapons (daggers, swords, axes, arrowheads, ...), bronze vessels, cylinder seals, and luxury items (finger rings, earrings, bracelets, fibula, beads). All the graves and finds are illustrated in line drawings; most of the tombs and the vast majority of the objects figure also in photo.