The sculptural arts of Elam

Sculpture brings together materials, skill and imagination to manufacture two and three-dimensional physical realities punctuating time and space with layers of culture. The dual highland-lowland geographical setting of Elam largely determined the personality of its multifaceted sculptural expressions, providing access to a range of materials as diverse as clay, stone, bitumen and metal. While Elamites excelled at transforming all of these materials, the bulk of the surviving sculpture has come to us from excavations conducted in the western lowland region of Khuzistan, particularly the cities of Susa, Haft Tappeh and Chogha Zanbil, where sculptural production was conditioned by streams of cultural interaction with Mesopotamia and by a mastery of the use of clay. Besides these urban-based traditions, a significant manifestation of Elamite sculptural arts can be found in monumental reliefs carved in open air sanctuaries located in the highlands.