Susa III or Proto-Elamite cylinder seal 3150-2800 BC Louvre Museum Sb 6166

The Proto-Elamite period, also known as Susa III, is a

chronological Chronology (from Latin , from Ancient Greek , , ; and , ''wikt:-logia, -logia'') is the science of arranging events in their order of occurrence in time. Consider, for example, the use of a timeline or sequence of events. It is also "the deter ...

era in the

ancient history Ancient history is a time period from the History of writing, beginning of writing and recorded human history through late antiquity. The span of recorded history is roughly 5,000 years, beginning with the development of Sumerian language, ...

of the area of

Elam Elam () was an ancient civilization centered in the far west and southwest of Iran, stretching from the lowlands of what is now Khuzestan and Ilam Province as well as a small part of modern-day southern Iraq. The modern name ''Elam'' stems fr ...

, dating from . In archaeological terms this corresponds to the late Banesh period. Proto-Elamite sites are recognized as the oldest civilization in

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...

. The Proto-Elamite script is an Early Bronze Age writing system briefly in use before the introduction of Elamite cuneiform.

History

Background

During the period 8000–3700 BC, the

Fertile Crescent The Fertile Crescent () is a crescent-shaped region in the Middle East, spanning modern-day Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Palestine, and Syria, together with northern Kuwait, south-eastern Turkey, and western Iran. Some authors also include ...

witnessed the spread of small settlements supported by agricultural surplus. Geometric tokens emerged to be used to manage

stewardship Stewardship is a practice committed to ethical value that embodies the responsible planning and management of resources. The concepts of stewardship can be applied to the environment and nature, economics, health, places, property, information ...

of this surplus. The earliest tokens now known are those from two sites in the Zagros region of Iran: Tepe Asiab and Ganj-i-Dareh Tepe. The

Mesopotamia Mesopotamia is a historical region of West Asia situated within the Tigris–Euphrates river system, in the northern part of the Fertile Crescent. Today, Mesopotamia is known as present-day Iraq and forms the eastern geographic boundary of ...

n civilization emerged during the period 3700–2900 BC amid the development of technological innovations such as the

plough A plough or ( US) plow (both pronounced ) is a farm tool for loosening or turning the soil before sowing seed or planting. Ploughs were traditionally drawn by oxen and horses but modern ploughs are drawn by tractors. A plough may have a wooden ...

, sailing boats, and copper metal working.

Clay tablet In the Ancient Near East, clay tablets (Akkadian language, Akkadian ) were used as a writing medium, especially for writing in cuneiform, throughout the Bronze Age and well into the Iron Age. Cuneiform characters were imprinted on a wet clay t ...

s with pictographic characters appeared in this period to record commercial transactions performed by the temples.

Proto-Elamite sites

The most important Proto-Elamite sites are Susa and Anshan. Another important site is Tepe Sialk, where the only remaining Proto-Elamite ziggurat is still seen. Texts in the undeciphered Proto-Elamite script found in Susa are dated to this period as well as at Tepe Sofalin and Tepe Yahya. It was originally assumed that the Proto-Elamites were in fact Elamites (

Elamite Elamite, also known as Hatamtite and formerly as Scythic, Median, Amardian, Anshanian and Susian, is an extinct language that was spoken by the ancient Elamites. It was recorded in what is now southwestern Iran from 2600 BC to 330 BC. Elamite i ...

speakers), because of cultural similarities (for example, the building of ziggurats), and because no large-scale migration to this area seems to have occurred between the Proto-Elamite period and the later Elamites. As Proto-Elamite writing has now been found over a wider area that is less certain. Proto-Elamite pottery dating back to the last half of the 5th millennium BC has been found in Tepe Sialk, where Proto-Elamite writing, the first form of writing in

, has been found on tablets of this date. The first cylinder seals come from the Proto-Elamite period, as well.

Proto-Elamite cylinder seals

Proto-Elamite seals follow the seals of the

Uruk period The Uruk period (; also known as Protoliterate period) existed from the protohistory, protohistoric Chalcolithic to Early Bronze Age period in the history of Mesopotamia, after the Ubaid period and before the Jemdet Nasr period. Named after the S ...

, with which they share many stylistic elements, but display more individuality and a more lively rendering.

References

*Alden, J.R., Minc, L., "Itinerant potters and the transmission of ceramic technologies and styles during the Proto-Elamite period in Iran", J. Archaeol. Sci. Rep. 7, pp. 863–876, 2016 *Amiet, P., "Il y a 5000 ans les elamites inventaient l’ecriture", Archeologia 12, pp. 16–23, 1966 *Aruz, Joan, "Power and Protection: A Little Proto-Elamite Silver Bull Pendant", Leaving No Stones Unturned: Essays on the Ancient Near East and Egypt in Honor of Donald P. Hansen, edited by Erica Ehrenberg, University Park, USA: Penn State University Press, pp. 1–14, 2002 *L. Le Breton, "The Early Periods at Susa: Mesopotamian Relations", Iraq 19, 79–124, 1957 *Brice W.C., "The Writing System of the Proto-Elamite Account Tablets of Susa," Bulletin of the John Rylands Library 45, pp. 15–39, 1962

Jacob L. Dahl, "The proto-Elamite seal MDP 16, pl. XII fig. 198", in ''Cuneiform Digital Library Notes'', CDLN 2014:1, 2014

Jacob L. Dahl, "New and old joins in the Louvre proto-Elamite tablet collection", in ''Cuneiform Digital Library Notes'', CDLN 2012:6, 2012 * Dahl, Jacob L, "Animal Husbandry in Susa during the Proto-Elamite Period" SMEA, vol.47, pp. 81–134, 2005

eter Damerow, "The Origins of Writing as a Problem of Historical Epistemology", Invited lecture at the Symposium on the Multiple Origins of Writing: Image, Symbol, and Script, University of Pennsylvania, Center for Ancient Studies March 26–27, 1999 *Dittmann, R., "Seals, Sealings and Tablets: Thoughts on the Changing Patterns of Administrative Control from the Late-Uruk to Proto-Elamite Period at Susa", Pp. 332–366 in Ğamdat Nasr. Period or Regional Style? Papers given at a Symposium held in Tübingen November 1983. Beihefte zum Tubinger Atlas des Vorderen Orients. Reihe B 62, eds.U. Finkbeiner and W. Rollig. Wiesbaden: Reichert Verlag, 1986

Englund, R.K, "The Proto-Elamite Script," in: Peter Daniels and William Bright, eds. The World's Writing Systems (1996). New York/Oxford, pp. 160–164, 1996 * Robert H. Dyson, "Early Work on the Acropolis at Susa. The Beginning of Prehistory in Iraq and Iran", Expedition 10/4, pp. 21–34, 1968

ansen, Donald, et al., "A Proto-Elamite Silver Figurine in the Metropolitan Museum of Art", Metropolitan Museum Journal, vol. 3, pp. 5–26, 1970

Laura F. Hawkins, "A New Edition of the Proto-Elamite Text MDP 17", ''Cuneiform Digital Library Journal'', CDLJ 2015:001, 2015 *Khosravi, Shokouh, et al, "Tapeh Tyalineh: a proto-Elamite administrative institution on the Great Khorasan Road, Kermanshah, Western Iran", Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, pp. 1–28, 2023 * A. Le Brun, "Recherches stratigraphiques a l’acropole de Suse, 1969–1971", in Cahiers de la Délégation archaéologique Française en Iran 1, (CahDAFI 1), Paris, pp. 163 – 216, 1971 * Daniel T. Potts, "The Archaeology of Elam", Cambridge, UK, 1999

Saeedi, Sepideh, "Proto-Elamite Communities under the Magnifying Glass", in: Abar, Aydin et al. (Hrsg.): Pearls, Politics and Pistachios: Essays in Anthropology and Memories on the Occasion of Susan Pollock's 65th Birthday, Heidelberg: Propylaeum, pp. 61–87, 2021 * Sax, M., and A. P. Middleton, "The Use of Volcanic Tuff as a Raw Material for Proto-Elamite Cylinder Seals", Iran, vol. 27, pp. 121–23, 1989 *Scheil, V., "Documents archaïques en écriture proto-élamite", Revue Biblique (1892–1940), vol. 2, no. 3, pp. 372–76, 1905 *V. Scheil, "Textes de Comptabilité Proto-Élamites", MDP 17, Paris, 1923 *V. Scheil, "Textes de Comptabilité Proto-Élamites", MDP 26, Paris, 1935

Francois Vallat, "The Most Ancient Scripts of Iran: The Current Situation", World Archaeology, vol. 17, no. 3, Early Writing Systems, pp. 335–347, Feb. 1986

External links

Proto-Elamite tablets online at CDLIArt of the Bronze Age: Southeastern Iran, Western Central Asia, and the Indus Valley
an exhibition catalog from The Metropolitan Museum of Art (fully available online as PDF), which contains material on Proto-Elamite culture {{Rulers of the Ancient Near East Elamite language Jiroft culture 4th-millennium BC establishments 3rd-millennium BC disestablishments States and territories established in the 4th millennium BC States and territories disestablished in the 3rd millennium BC