TEHRAN – Local officials say Iran’s oldest known handicrafts are traced to Lorestan province.
Abbas Khamese, the Vice-Chief of Handicrafts in Lorestan, said the archaeological discoveries indicate that some of the earliest handicrafts identified in the country began in the area.
“Lorestan stands out very well in the field of handicrafts, and the oldest crafts known to archaeologists and experts belong to this land,” Hamzeh’i said.
Officials said one of the earliest examples was a deer tusk pendant, found in Yafteh Cave near Khorramabad, dating back about 40,000 years ago and used as a personal decoration. He added that Lorestan is also famous for its ancient bronze and metal works, many of which originated from the first millennium in the early BC and are preserved in museums.
Elsewhere in his remarks, officials stated that nomadic hand-woven fabrics were another craft that was deeply rooted in the history of Lorestan, but their exact origins cannot be determined as they were part of everyday life among tribal communities.
According to Ata Hassanpour, the state’s tourism director, the so-called Lorestan (Loristan) Bronzes is a collection of small castings from the early Iron Age, which remains the cultural character of the region. “The artifacts discovered in Laurestan testify to the area’s thousands of years of human habitation, and the art proficiency and refined taste of their creators,” he said.
According to Hassanpur, bronze, which often portrayed jockeys, warriors and peasants, conveyed the traditions and religious concepts of their ancestors.
The origin of the artifact attracted global attention in the late 1920s. In the late 1920s, finely crafted bronze figures began to appear in ancient markets, National Geographic reported last year. Many of them date back to Lorestan, part of the Zagros Mountains.
Earlier this year, the prehistoric site of Khorramabad Valley was engraved in a UNESCO World Heritage List. It contains five caves and one rock shelter within a narrow ecological corridor rich in water, plants and fauna. This property enjoys a human occupation that was 63,000 years ago, with evidence from the Middle to the Upper Paleostone period. These sites reveal the cultures of Musteria and Baladost and provide insights into early evolution and migration from Africa to Eurasia. Artifacts such as decorative objects and advanced stone tools highlight early human cognitive and technological developments in the Zagros Mountains. The area remains uncut and retains important possibilities for future archaeological discoveries.
morning