Two elderly funerary figurines and related models from Susa: a casestudy in engaging with the legacy records of Roland de Mecquenem

In early 1933, working under the direction of Roland de Mecquenem, the French archaeological delegation at Susa excavated two small composite human terracotta figurines in a burial context in the Donjon mound at the far south of the site. This delightful pair, now housed in the National Museum of Iran, was not an isolated find this year, the same area having yielded one near-complete composite figurine and four other heads that must have belonged to similar objects. This article examines these finds and attempts to ascertain clues as to their find spots and chronology, and in doing so, provides an example of both the possibilities and limits of engaging with the notoriously problematic records of Mecquenem’s excavations at Susa.