30 May 2025 The Future is the Product of the Past

Hasanlu Teppe and Mysterious Gold Bowl of Hasanlu

Hasanlu Teppe dominates the plain known as Solduz in Iran and was one of the largest settlements in the Qadar River valley. The ancient city, also known as Teppe Hasanlu or Tappeh Hassanlou, is located in the south of Lake Urmia, in the West Azerbaijan Province, in the northwest of Iran.

The once much larger site has shrunk due to agriculture and construction activities, now it is about 600 m in diameter, and the Citadel has a diameter of about 200 m. The site consists of a 25-m high central “Citadel” mound surrounded by a low Outer Town, 8 m above the surrounding plain.

The settlement was looted and burned in 800 BC. Much of the turmoil and devastation caused by that catastrophe was long frozen in time until archaeologists discovered well-preserved structures, artifacts, and even human remains while trying to piece together the destiny of the ill-fated community.

Although it seems like an old story so far, the artifacts found here became the main source of questions that archaeologists still cannot answer even after years.

Hasanlu Teppe
Hasanlu Teppe. Source: NGO

Engraved with images of gods and rituals, a stone cylinder with gold caps, a figurine of laminated ivory, and a sword-hilt with a bronze guard, the Gold Bowl of Hasanlu is named after the man who discovered it.

The ‘gold bowl of Ḥasanlu’ was found in the debris of Burned Building I West on the Citadel Mound at Ḥasanlu in 1958.

As written in Iranicaonline, It had fallen into room 9 in the southeastern corner of the building where, at the end of the 9th century B.C.E., it was buried under the collapsed mud-brick walls of the second story along with the bodies of three men. One of these men was carrying the bowl. Although badly crushed, it could be determined that the man had fallen on his right shoulder, with his head facing the north wall. His lower right arm lay upright against the wall face, his hand bent at the wrist. This arm, from wrist to shoulder, was protected by a gauntlet made perhaps of leather.

Gold Bowl of Hasanlu.
Gold Bowl of Hasanlu. Photo: Tehran Times

Probably The three soldiers were in the process of plundering a wealthy, multistory complex as the citadel burned. They located the bowl and other valuables in a second-story storeroom. As they fled with their prize, the mud-brick building suddenly collapsed.

More importantly, In no time, it became evident that the bowl epitomized a unique and significant example of the ancient goldsmith’s expertise, demonstrating a high degree of technical mastery and a wide range of ornamental motifs that were deemed to provide a key to the religious and mythological traditions of its time.

Over the years, the bowl has been discussed in countless scholarly books and articles including an analysis by Marie-Therese Barrelet (1911-1996) as one of the greatest finds of the decade. 

Little is known about the residents of Hasanlu and their invaders due to a lack of written documents. There is no written documentation from Hasanlu attesting to the residents’ identities.” “We know neither the historic name of the location nor the state to which it may have belonged, much alone the linguistic and/or racial connections of its inhabitants – neither before nor during the era in question,” says Irene J. Winter in her essay “The Hasanlu Gold Bowl: Thirty Years Later.”

The decorative scheme of Hasanlu bowl
The decorative scheme of Hasanlu bowl.

The Ḥasanlu bowl weighs 33 3/8 ounces and is decorated by repousé work and chasing. The bowl is about 20 cm in height, with a base of about 15 cm and a rim of about 18 cm.

Although its mysteries and civilization cannot be determined, the Hasanlu bowl is crumpled but still remains dazzling.

According to the Britannica Encyclopedia, Hasanlu was inhabited from about 2100 to about 825 BC, but the richest period yet excavated dates to the 10th and 9th centuries BC. The period, often called “Mannaean” after the name of the people who lived in the area, is characterized by gray pottery accompanied by black and red varieties, the black ware being of a much finer quality and probably made in imitation of metal vessels.

The Gold Bowl of Hasanlu is being kept at the National Museum of Iran in downtown Tehran.

Related Articles

Georgia’s Holy City Mtskheta

13 March 2022

13 March 2022

Georgia’s ancient capital city, Mtskheta, is located 20 kilometers (12 miles) north of Tbilisi at the confluence of two mountainous...

Contemporaneous with ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia the Indus Valley Civilization city of ‘Mohenjo Daro’: Skilled urban planners with a reverence for the control of water

10 September 2022

10 September 2022

The Indus River Valley (or Harappan) civilization (3300-1300 BCE) lasted 2,000 years and spanned northeast Afghanistan to Pakistan and northwest...

Birkleyn Caves is “the Place Where The World Ends”

18 January 2025

18 January 2025

The Birkleyn Caves were known as “the place where the world ends” and as “the place where the water of...

A Pagan cemetery belongs to the Late Roman Empire period in Istanbul

12 June 2022

12 June 2022

During the restoration of the ancient Sheikh Suleiman Mosque, which was restored as part of the Med-Art Education Project by...

Ancient musical instrument “Chang” symbolizing Azerbaijan’s rich cultural heritage

16 March 2022

16 March 2022

Harp is a world-famous, ancient, stringed musical instrument. Chang, in terms of structure, is a harp-like stringed musical instrument. The...

Ancient Greeks Built a Road to Haul Cargo Overland: The Father of the Railway: Diolkos

6 May 2024

6 May 2024

The Diolkos, an ambitious road that crossed the entire Isthmus of Corinth and was partially paved with stone, was built...

No Ancient Super-Highway: The Reality of Europe’s Erdstall and the Scotland-Türkiye Tunnel

28 April 2025

28 April 2025

The internet continues to buzz with the captivating notion of an immense, prehistoric tunnel network stretching from the Scottish Highlands,...

Istanbul’s Iron Church of Unique Beauty

1 November 2021

1 November 2021

The Bulgarian Church of St. Stephens was constructed like a cross-shaped Basilica. St. Stephen Church is also known as The...

The Ephesus Massacre: 80,000 Romans Slaughtered in a Single Night of Blood and Betrayal

29 May 2025

29 May 2025

The Ephesus Massacre saw 80,000 or more Romans killed overnight during the Asiatic Vespers — one of the deadliest uprisings...

4,000 Years of Wisdom: Women’s Rights and Inheritance in the Kültepe Tablets

8 March 2025

8 March 2025

The Kültepe Tablets, discovered in the ancient site of Kültepe (ancient Kanesh) in central Anatolia, are approximately 4,000 years old...

Foundations laid with human blood “Foundation sacrifices”

5 September 2021

5 September 2021

The custom of sacrificing a human being at the erection of a new house or fortress is very old. Foundation...

The Kyrgyz epic ‘Manas’ manuscripts were included in the UNESCO Memory of the World

10 June 2023

10 June 2023

Manuscripts of the Kyrgyz epic “Manas” by narrator Sagymbay Orozbakov have been inscribed on the UNESCO Memory of the World...

Clarifying The Complexities Of Communication Across Millennia In Mesoamerica

20 February 2022

20 February 2022

The long-held consensus that the more populated and “civilized” a society, the more complex their communication may be more nuanced...

“Nikasitimos Was Here Mounting Timiona,” 2,500-year-old erotic graffiti on Astypalaia, Greece

7 April 2024

7 April 2024

In 2014, an archaeologist working on Astypalaia, a remote Greek island of the Dodecanese discovered one of the world’s oldest...

A birthplace of complex musical instruments “Iran”

9 January 2022

9 January 2022

Music is a form of art, which derives from the Greek word meaning “art of the Muses.” While it is...