"Luristan Bronzes"

2024 Author: Matthew Elmers | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 21:49

One of the most famous centers for the manufacture of bronze items and, above all, weapons and horse equipment in the Bronze Age was the territory of the two modern provinces of Luristan and Kermanshah, located in western Iran. The first finds here were made back in 1928, and then there were so many of them that many scientists believe that such a large number of jewelry, tools and weapons are just fakes, or rather copies of originals found once and remakes for rich collectors, made local craftsmen … "based on". Nevertheless, there is no doubt that those items that were found by expeditions of professional archaeologists are genuine and today they rightfully decorate the expositions of many of the most famous museums in Europe and America. Previous sporadic finds reaching the West have been attributed to a wide variety of locations, including Armenia and Anatolia. But now the region of these finds is determined quite accurately, although analogs of the "Luristan bronzes", already cast from local metal, are found at a distance of thousands of kilometers from Western Iran. The "Luristan bronzes" are also found in the "Greek world" - in Samos and Crete, as well as in Italy, the connections of Luristan with the metallurgy of bronze in the Caucasus are traced, in particular, artifacts belonging to the Koban culture have been found. But the ethnicity of the people who created them still remains unclear, although it could well have been the ancestors of the ancient Persians, and … people associated with the modern people of Lur, who gave their name to this region.

Note that the term Luristan Bronze is not commonly used for earlier bronze artifacts from the Luristan era between the 4th millennium BC and the (Iranian) Bronze Age (c. 2900–1250 BC), although they are often quite similar. These early bronze objects, including those from the Elamite Empire, which included Luristan, are broadly similar to those also found in Mesopotamia and the Iranian plateau. Moreover, a number of daggers or short swords that have come down to us from Luristan have inscriptions on them with the names of the Mesopotamian kings, which may be associated with the place of service of their owners.

Interestingly, the oldest burials on the territory of Luristan date back to the Eneolithic era (about 4000 - 3700 BC), and they contain a characteristic set of stone and ceramic painted vessels, seals, clubs, axes, and microliths. The initial stage of the Early Bronze Age (c. 2600 - 2400 BC) is characterized by the presence of collective tombs covered with stone slabs and an abundance of burial implements, including bronze daggers for men, socketed spearheads, battle axes, and various decorations and … cylindrical seals from Mesopotamia, or clearly modeled after them. At the same time, it was Luristan at this time that turned into the main supplier of bronze to Mesopotamia.

The second stage of the Early Bronze Age (c. 2400 - 2000 BC) and, in particular, group burials, scientists associate with the culture of the Elamites and the state of Elam. But the individual, as it is believed, belong to the warlike people of the Kutiy, who lived in the region of the Zagros mountain range and beyond in the southwestern part of modern Iran. In the burials there are numerous items made of bronze: petioled daggers, socketed axes, sometimes of a very whimsical form, picks, adzes and, again, cylindrical seals, which speaks of their "undying" popularity at that time.

Among the posthumous gifts, there are very often paired cheekpieces in the form of patterned or figured plates with a reinforced hole for a gnaw and rings for belt attachments on the horse's head. These flat openwork plates are real works of art, and therefore are highly valued among collectors today. It is also obvious that they were very popular in the past. They depict winged animals, people surrounded by animals (possibly some "animal deities") and war chariots. Others, on the contrary, are very simple and functional in design, although they also represent the figure of an animal reduced to the size of a small rectangle.

Later sites of the Middle and Late Bronze Age (c. 2000 - 1600 and 1600 - 1300/1250 BC) are considered to be insufficiently studied. However, scientists agree that the heyday of the "Luristan bronze" still falls not at this time, but during the early Iron Age.

In the Iron Age, the making of "Luristan bronzes" continued. Archaeologists distinguish the periods: "Earlier iron of Luristan" (about 1000 BC), "Later iron of Luristan II" (900/800-750) and "Later iron of Luristan III" (750 / 725-650). At this time, artistic items made of bronze and bimetallic items became widespread - for example, swords and daggers with iron blades, but bronze handles.

Note that the Luristan battle axes were distinguished by a particular whimsical form. Sometimes they didn't even look like axes, but this did not affect their fighting qualities. A blow with the "Luristan pointed ax", either an ax or a butt with thorns sticking out on it, of course, was deadly. The Luristanis also learned to cast long bronze swords, the blades of which were forged to give them greater strength!

Cheekpieces from Luristan are very original, many of which based on the plot depicted on them had the theme "Master of Beasts", that is, they depicted a man in the center, surrounded on two sides by subordinate animals. This term is English. "Master" - in Old English means "master", "master", "owner". By the way, this is how Stevenson's famous novel The Master of Ballantrae was translated into Russian. But what is the name of a person to whom animals obey?

As a rule, in the center of this composition there is a hole for a gnaw, and all the figures are located on the base plate. Often "animals" are large goats (or goats or mouflon sheep) or felines, standing face to face with each other. In some examples, the figures are "demons" with human features except for their large horns.

It is interesting that this motive is already more than 2000 years old, and it occupied a very important place in the art of Mesopotamia. All the figures are very stylized, and often the whole composition is repeated below, with faces in the opposite direction. The bodies of all three figures tend to merge together in the middle of the composition, where there is a hole, before then disperse again.

Other cheekpieces depict chariots, that is, it is obvious that they existed in Luristan and were used quite widely. Although by this time horse riding was already common among the Middle Eastern elite, such cheekpieces can only be found in Luristan. The rigid stem of the mouthpiece, fixed in them with curved ends, is also quite unusual; elsewhere, flexible mouthpieces of two pieces were used, interconnected in the middle.

Today "Luristan Bronzes" are a coveted item for any museum in the world, and, of course, for wealthy collectors. Without a doubt, they began to be forged and counterfeited for a long time. However, modern methods of spectrographic analysis make it possible to recognize a fake, since it is impossible to accurately maintain the recipe of ancient alloys under conditions of clandestine production. We also note that our travel agencies, offering to travel across countries and continents by bus, have already paved the way even to Iran. Therefore, it is worth warning our fellow citizens against dubious acquisitions of "the most real antiques" so that later they would not have any (and, by the way, very serious!) Troubles with violating the rules for exporting works of art, which are a national treasure of Iran!

Now let's take a look at some of the Luristan bronzes from the collection of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) in the United States. I am sure that it will be interesting for all connoisseurs of beauty and lovers of military history and the history of weapons of past eras.