The history of humanity is a story of migrations, people moving across the land in search of a home or simply living as vagabonds. Among the ancient nomads, perhaps are none more mysterious than the people that fashioned the Luristan bronzes, a collection of weapons, tools, and decorations found across the Lorestān province in Iran.

As wanderers, these people left behind little evidence of their culture and history, but some speculation can be made in these striking bronze pieces. With their short sorts, horse bits, and decorative standards, its clear these people moved about quite a bit. Dating to around 5,000 to 2,700 years old, the owners of these tools survived until the end of the Iron Age, when they were likely absorbed into another culture in the region.

This specimen is a bronze dagger, one of many found among the Luristan pieces. The exact dating of individual bronze pieces has been a challenge, as many of the amateur excavators damaged the soil stratigraphy that archaeologists use to estimate age. These mysterious pieces continue to puzzle us, and their exact origins will likely remain unknown.

This specimen was uncovered in Iran's Lorestān Province, which lends its name to the mysterious bronze pieces found there. The dagger is a one of a kind Luristan artifact, and comes with a handsome wood stand and a certificate of authenticity. It's an incredible artifact from a lost chapter of human history.

In 1928, a farmer in Iran’s Lorestān province uncovered something fascinating: a handful of bronze sculptures buried in the dirt on his land. These artifacts soon appeared within local bazaars where they were picked up by the international archaeology community, setting off a tidal wave of interest in these mysterious pieces. Many traders flocked to Lorestān to join the search, looking for rings, pins, horse bits, axes, bells, swords, and amulets of the same material. 

Despite so many pieces found, where the ancient material came from and who created it was unclear. Even today, Luristan bronze remains enigmatic. What we do know is that the pieces were produced 5,000 to 2,700 years ago, ending around the Iron Age. Even this is not entirely clear, as one study of the Kalleh Nisar tomb showed that the site was frequently reused by different groups of people, leaving artifacts from several different time periods in one place.

Although they may have been close to the city-states of Mesopotamia, these ancient Luristan peoples had a radically different society. Based on the material found, the bronze pieces were likely made by nomadic tribes rather than an urban group. Small swords, horse harness rings, and decorative standards all would have been common for people traveling light and raising cattle. Isotopic analysis of the material shows the bronze used came from a different source than Mesopotamian bronze, further defining them as a separate group.

These pastoralists may have traded with cities and villages, but for the most part moved across the Zagros Mountains with domesticated sheep and goats. This allowed them to keep their cattle well fed, as well as travel between different climates depending on the time of year. As time went on, this region changed hands through many different empires. It is thought that the original Lur peoples were assimilated into these new cultures, and the story of the bronze’s origin was lost.

The discovery of the Luristan bronzes was quite exciting to foreign buyers, and spurred many local Iranians to search for more pieces. This craze was not without its issues though. The inhabiting of ancient sites by different groups coupled with the disturbance of ground layers by amateur diggers means much of the original context for Luristan bronzes has been wiped away. The identity of the nomadic peoples who created them remains a mystery to this day.