The Ziwiye hoard is a treasure hoard containing gold, silver, and ivory objects, also including a few gold pieces with the shape of human face , that was uncovered on in

Ziwiyeh The castle of Ziwiyeh or Ziwiyeh Castle ( fa, قلعه زیویه) is an ancient and strong building situated on the top of a mount above the wide Ziwiyeh Cave in Saqqez, Iran. Ziwiye tepe or castle is located 50 kilometers to Saqqez and the ...

plat near

Saqqez Saqqez ( ; fa, سقز ; ), also known as Saghez, Saqez, Saqqiz, Saqiz, and Sakīz, is the capital city of Saqqez County in Kurdistan Province, in northwestern Iran. According to the 2016 census, its population was 165,258. Etymology The nam ...

city in Kurdistan Province, Iran, in 1947.

Provenance

Objects from the hoard provide a link between the cultures of the

Iranian plateau The Iranian plateau or Persian plateau is a geological feature in Western Asia, Central Asia, and South Asia. It comprises part of the Eurasian Plate and is wedged between the Arabian Plate and the Indian Plate; situated between the Zagros ...

and the nomadic or

Scythian art Scythian art is the art associated with Scythian cultures, primarily decorative objects, such as jewellery, produced by the nomadic tribes of the area known as Scythia, which encompassed Central Asia, parts of Eastern Europe east of the Vistula Ri ...

forms known as the "

animal style Animal style art is an approach to decoration found from China to Northern Europe in the early Iron Age, and the barbarian art of the Migration Period, characterized by its emphasis on animal motifs. The zoomorphic style of decoration was used ...

". "The Scythian motives adopted by

Urartu Urartu (; Assyrian: ',Eberhard Schrader, ''The Cuneiform inscriptions and the Old Testament'' (1885), p. 65. Babylonian: ''Urashtu'', he, אֲרָרָט ''Ararat'') is a geographical region and Iron Age kingdom also known as the Kingdom of Va ...

account for the decoration of the great Treasure of

brought to light on the south shore of Lake Urmia," was

Leonard Woolley Sir Charles Leonard Woolley (17 April 1880 – 20 February 1960) was a British archaeologist best known for his Excavation (archaeology), excavations at Ur in Mesopotamia. He is recognized as one of the first "modern" archaeologists who excavat ...

's assessment (Woolley 1961 p 176).

Style

The hoard contains objects in four styles: Assyrian, Scythian, proto-

Achaemenid The Achaemenid Empire or Achaemenian Empire (; peo, wikt:𐎧𐏁𐏂𐎶, 𐎧𐏁𐏂, , ), also called the First Persian Empire, was an History of Iran#Classical antiquity, ancient Iranian empire founded by Cyrus the Great in 550 BC. Bas ...

, and the provincial native pieces. Dated ''ca.'' 700 BC, this collection of objects illustrates the situation of the Iranian plateau as a crossroads of cultural highways—not least of them the

Silk Road The Silk Road () was a network of Eurasian trade routes active from the second century BCE until the mid-15th century. Spanning over 6,400 kilometers (4,000 miles), it played a central role in facilitating economic, cultural, political, and reli ...

—which fused disparate cultures to inform early Iranian art. The objects have also been related to finds at

Teppe Hasanlu Teppe Hasanlu or Hasanlu Tepe ( fa, تپه حسنلو) is an archeological site of an ancient city''The Cambridge History of Iran'' (ed. by W.B. Fischer, Ilya Gershevitch, Ehsan Yarshster). Cambridge University Press, 1993. . Pages 57–58, 138. ...

and Marlyk.

Current location

Examples of the ''Ziwiye Treasure'' are scattered among public and private collections. A 'Ziwiye' provenance may have been applied to comparable objects that have passed through the trade since the 1960s. Items attributed to the hoard are currently in the collections of the

Metropolitan Museum The Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York City, colloquially "the Met", is the largest art museum in the Americas. Its permanent collection contains over two million works, divided among 17 curatorial departments. The main building at 1000 ...

in New York, the

Louvre The Louvre ( ), or the Louvre Museum ( ), is the world's most-visited museum, and an historic landmark in Paris, France. It is the home of some of the best-known works of art, including the ''Mona Lisa'' and the ''Venus de Milo''. A central l ...

in Paris and the

British Museum The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It docum ...

in London.

Controversy

The archaeologist

Oscar White Muscarella Oscar White Muscarella (March 26, 1931 – November 27, 2022) was an American archaeologist and former Senior Research Fellow at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, where he worked for over 40 years before retiring in 2009. He specialized in the art an ...

has questioned the whole account of the finding of the hoard (as he has done with the older

Oxus Treasure The Oxus treasure (Persian: گنجینه آمودریا) is a collection of about 180 surviving pieces of metalwork in gold and silver, most relatively small, and around 200 coins, from the Achaemenid Persian period which were found by the Oxus ...

), pointing out that none of the items were excavated under archaeological conditions, but passed through the hands of dealers. He concludes that "there are no objective sources of information that any of the attributed objects actually were found at Ziwiye, although it is probable that some were", and that the objects have no historical and archaeological value as a group", although many are genuine and "exquisite works of art". In a later work Muscarella denounced several "Ziwiye" objects as modern forgeries.Muscarella (2000), 76-81

Gallery

ZeviyehNecklaces.jpg, Gold necklaces Zwei Protome, Armreif und Silberschale mit Goldauflagen aus Ziwiye in Iran, c.a. 8. Jh. v.C.jpg, some pieces of Zewiye hoard Gold Rhyton in the form of a Ram's Head - Reza Abbasi Museum - Tehran, Iran.jpg, Gold Rhyton in the form of a Ram's Head Ziwiyeh (forse), placca con leoni al passo, forse da una decorazione di veste, oro, VIII-VII secolo ac.jpg, golden plaque Ziwiyeh (forse), placca d'oro probabilmente cucita su una veste, VIII-VII secolo ac.jpg, golden plaque National Museum of Iran Darafsh (764).JPG, jug Ram shaped pottery object (Rython) - Ziwiyeh (Kurdistan) - 1st mill BC - National Museum of Iran - Inventory number 2859.JPG, Ram shaped pottery object Duck vase Louvre AO26276.jpg, Duck vase National Museum of Iran Darafsh (293).JPG, Bowl with base National Museum of Iran Darafsh (329).JPG, Marble bowl ZeviyehTray.jpg, Tray National Museum of Iran Darafsh (746).JPG, Large earthenware jar ZeviyehGoldenbracelet.jpg , Bracelet ZeviyehSoldierSculpture.jpg, Soldier ZeviyehGoldPiece.jpg, Golden Piece ZeviyehStoneBase.jpg , Stone Base ZeviyehShield.jpg , Shield ZeviyehNecklaces2.jpg, Necklaces ZeviyehPiece.jpg , Piece

References

Sources

* Muscarella, Oscar White (1977), ''Archaeology, Artifacts and Antiquities of the Ancient Near East: Sites, Cultures, and Proveniences'', 2013, BRILL, , 9789004236691
google books
reprinted article from ''Journal of Field Archaeology'', 1977, 4, nr. 2, "Ziwiye and Ziwiye': The Forgery of a Provenience"
google books
* Muscarella, Oscar White (2000), ''The Lie Became Great. The Forgery of Ancient Near Eastern Cultures.'' Groningen, Styx 2000, 539 p.,
google books
* Talbot Rice, Tamara, ''

Ancient Arts of Central Asia ''Ancient Arts of Central Asia'' is a 1965 illustrated monograph by Russian-born English art historian Tamara Talbot Rice, published by Thames & Hudson as part of their ' World of Art Library' series. Synopsis Under the name of Central Asi ...

'', 1965, Thames & Hudson (Praeger in USA) *Woolley, Leonard, 1961.''The Art of The Middle East, including Persia, Mesopotamia and Palestine''. (New York: Crown Publishers) *Porada, Edith et al., 1962. ''The Art of Ancient Iran : Pre-Islamic Cultures'' (New York: Crown
On-line excerpt

Report of an exploratory dig at Ziwiye by the American archaeologist Robert Dyson in 1963, Penn Museum
{{Louvre Museum Scythians Archaeological discoveries in Iran Treasure troves of Asia Kurdistan Province Iranian archaeological artifacts Middle Eastern objects in the British Museum Archaeology of the Achaemenid Empire Gold objects Metalwork of the Metropolitan Museum of Art Near East and Middle East antiquities of the Louvre Persian art 1947 in Iran 1947 archaeological discoveries Saqqez County Iran–United Kingdom relations France–Iran relations Ancient art in metal