A Chronological Overview of Some Ziwiye Belts

Abstract

Ziwiye hoard has been the subject of many studies since its discovery in 1947 because of its remarkable works of art of various styles. Among these objects there are some metal plates, mainly made of gold. With some considerations, these plates could be attributed as belt fragments. Present study is on four fragmented belts of this group, including three gold belts and one bronze belt. The results show that along with their identical characteristics such as their rectangular forms and perforated borders, we can distinguish a variety of figurative styles on them executed either in repoussé or chased techniques. Base on the scenes depicted on these belts and their iconographical features, they could be studied in three groups: the first group, which chronologically stands earliest, is composed of the belts with scenes depicting ritual ceremonies composed of team or group of offering bearers. This group's ichnographical characteristics represent local Iranian features; the second, with the frieze of long passant animals (horned bulls) has distinctive ichnographical difference among the Ziwiye belts, these features recall figures (horned bulls) decorating Urartian bronze armors; the last group with animal figures represented with in a network pattern are the best example of mixture of Scythian and western Asiatic elements found in Ziwiye.