Tell site near Susa in southwest Iran. The earliest occupation is dated to the 6th millennium bc, but the most important material comes from the Elamite period, in the centuries preceding the apogee of the Elamite empire, in the 13th century bc. royal tomb of C1500 BC containing 21 skeletons, some covered in red ochre, is an early example of a vaulted tomb. This tomb was connected by a stairway to the main temple which contained many simple burials, some in urns. A brick-paved courtyard in the centre of the temple contained an altar, around which were found fragments of inscribed stelae in cuneiform in the 14th-century bc Elamite language. These have provided details of the temple economy.
The Macmillan dictionary of archaeology, Ruth D. Whitehouse, 1983Copied