page_title: Lorestan Province
section_title: Luristan bronze
hierarchical_section_title: Lorestan Province / History / Luristan bronze
caption_attribution_description: Zoom of a disc-headed pin (pin, female figure). Found in Luristan, Iran. Français&#160;: Voir ci-dessus.English: See upper.Deutsch: Sehen oben.
context_page_description: Lorestan Province is a province of western Iran in the Zagros Mountains. The population of Lorestan was estimated at 1,716,527 people in 2006. In 2014 it was placed in Region 4.
  Lorestan covers an area of 28,392 km². The major cities in this province are Khorramabad, Borujerd, Dorud, Aligudarz, Kuhdasht, Azna, Aleshtar, Nurabad, and Pol-e Dokhtar.
context_section_description: Small Luristan bronze artworks, usually dated about 1000 to 650 BC, reached the outside world from the late 1920s and are found in museums all over the world, where they are valued for their vigorous style, with many representations of animals. But actually, the beginning of this bronze-making tradition goes back to the mid–3rd millennium BC.
  Archaeologists characterized these techniques by the metallurgical analysis of different artifacts,
  We have characterized these practices by the compositional and metallurgical analysis of grave goods from several cemeteries in the region including six dating to different phases of the Bronze Age (Early Dynastic I to Ur ED III, circa 2900–2000 BC)—Kalleh Nisar, Bani Surmah, Chigha Sabz, Kamtarlan, Sardant, and Gulal-i Galbi—and four dating to different phases of the Iron Age (circa 1300 B.C.–600 B.C.)—Bard-i Bal, Kutul-i Gulgul, Sar Kabud, and War Kabud.
  Technically, the term 'Luristan bronze' usually refers only to the later bronze objects, although they have many similarities. The earlier bronze objects were made during the Elam period.
  Lorestan was successfully integrated into the Achaemenid, Parthian and Sasanian empires. Parts of the region managed to stay independent during the Arab, Seljuk and Mongol invasions.
  According to the Encyclopaedia of Islam, the Lurs, previously open adherents of the Ahl-e-Haqq faith, revere bread and fire like the Zoroastrians. "Being split up into numerous tribes and sections, they migrate to their summer pastures as separate bands without overall command. In 1936, Reza Shah's army conquered them, with much bloodshed and starvation, forcing many of the survivors to settle in villages under landlords."
  In the early 1930s, when British explorer Freya Stark visited Luristan, she reported that few Europeans had visited the area before her, partly due to its remoteness, but also because of the dangers one could expect to encounter among lawless tribespeople.
caption: Disc-headed pin depicting a female figure as decoration. Found in Lorestan, Rietberg Museum, Zürich
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