Surkh Dum-i-Luri

The site was spotted by aerial surveying during the Second Holmes Expedition to Iran led by Erich Schmidt which focused primarily on Persepolis, Naqsh-i Rustam, Tall-i Bakun, and Tepe Hissar. Archaeological remains had recently been spotted at the site and looters had begun operating there for a month before the excavation began finding, in one location, "bronze pins, fragments of bronze vessels, and other artifacts" but that was stopped by the authorities. Finds included one Harappan etched carnelian bead which was found in an Iron AGE III context but dated to much earlier. Embedded into the walls were a number of sheet metal headed bronze pins. Another notable find, in an 8th-century BC context, was a bronze spike-butted axe-head with lion mask. Periodization The main building had three construction levels (the specific dating of the Iron Age sublevels is debated by researchers): Thirty two Bronze Age cylinder seals were found at the site including 9 from the Old Babylonian period, 4 from the Early Middle Elamite period, and others from the Kassite, Mitanni, and Middle Assyrian periods. A total of 168 Iron Age cylinder seals were recovered at Surkh Dum-i-Luri with most ascribed to Elamite sources. Many are made from bitumen, 4 from bronze, and a few from faience. Thirty two stamp seals were also recovered as well as a few signet rings. It has been suggested that the finds included two Neo-Elamite cylinder seals. Some of the seals were inscribed however the epigrapher had to work from photographs of the objects and not the originals the reading of some is not fully certain. One certain exemplar, a chalcedony seal found in Level 2B and dated to 14th century BC, read "Ilī-rabi, ša-rēši official of Kurigalzu, obedient to [the god] Marduk". The term "ša rēši" indicates that Ilī-rabi would have been a courtier eunuch. There is no way to determine which Kassite ruler Kurigalzu I or Kurigalzu II is correct here. No actual clay sealing were found though this may have been due to the short excavation period. ==History==

Based on finds the site is thought to have been occupied beginning in the early 2nd millennium BC. Due to the short excavation it is not certain if those finds were heirlooms and hence did not reflect occupation. Graves from the Middle Bornze Age were found and there are sufficient finds to say that the site was occupied in the Late Bronze Age. The site's primary period of occupation was from the 9th century BC until the 7th century BC after which it was abandoned (c. 650 BC). ==See also==