The Petit chien à bélière - small bound dog - or Pendeloque au chien de Suse - dog pendant of

Susa Susa ( ) was an ancient city in the lower Zagros Mountains about east of the Tigris, between the Karkheh River, Karkheh and Dez River, Dez Rivers in Iran. One of the most important cities of the Ancient Near East, Susa served as the capital o ...

- is a

pendant A pendant is a loose-hanging piece of jewellery, generally attached by a small loop to a necklace, which may be known as a "pendant necklace". A pendant earring is an earring with a piece hanging down. Its name stems from the Latin word ...

in the form of a dog. The pendant was found in the tell of the Susa acropolis and dates to around 3300 BCE - 3100 BCE. The term ''bélière'' is a reference to the ring bound to the dog.

Description

The pendant is a small object - only 1.5 cm long. It is one of the first examples of metalsmithing at the end of the 4th millennium BCE. It represents a synthesis of all the metallurgical techniques known in the region of Susa during the era of Uruk. It provides interesting information about one of the two known dog breeds in the Susan plain.. In this era, metallurgical techniques used a process where ore was melted to extract the metal and the metal was then poured into molds often at temperatures greater than 800 °C. The fabrication techniques include cire perdue casting for the large part of the body and "hot drawing" of the ears and tail, with additional material for the back of the dog. The connection of the ring with the main body cannot be made with a simple binding, for there is a risk of melting the main body. In what is one of the first examples of the use of brazing in history, a mixture of copper and gold is used without the need for an elevated temperature. The dog is not representative of the elegant Arab greyhounds seen on ceramic vases discovered in the cities of Suse I, but is a domesticated rustic breed which was adapted for herding sheep.

History

The pendant was discovered with the finds of R. de Mecquenem during the excavation of the city of Susa in 1939. There are other sculptures of this type:

Bibliography

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External links

"Pendeloque" on the Louvre Museum website

References

{{Portal, France Archaeological discoveries in Iraq Individual pendants Near Eastern and Middle Eastern antiquities in the Louvre Gold objects