Harness ring from Luristan

Today @dalaygiz asked me if I know what I thought about this harness ring, dated to the 9th century BC and found in Luristan, Iran...

Well it is a beautiful object. And a great example of a complex animal calendar marker...Which depicts the cool wet half of the year...

Ok to understand what is depicted on this artifact, we first have to look at the climate in Luristan. Climate charts for Khorramabad, the city bang in the center of Luristan province.

You can see that the year is divided into hot dry half (May-Oct) and cool wet half (Nov-Apr)...

In Luristan, it is the rain and snow that falls during this wet half of the year that supports life in the area...And this wet half of the year starts when Ibex goats start mating (Oct/Nov)...And fighting...And you can't miss this event. You can hear horn clashes from miles away

Which is why Ibex, the goat of rain, is the most prominent animal depicted on this artifact and one of the most depicted animals on Luristan bronzes in general. I talked about Ibexes in Luristan in my article "Dancing goats from Luristan" about this bronze top for a standard from Luristan, Iran, dated 8th–7th century BC. 

This is why Ibex was venerated in Iran, and this is why it is in Iran that we find the first Goat man...The earliest transition from Goat of rain to God of rain...I talked about this in my post "Strider"...

This is also why in Iran (and in other places with similar climate and Ibex annual lifecycle, like Mesopotamia, Central Asia, Levant, Crete) we find Ibex flanking the tree of life. Here is Iranian, Sasanian example from my post "Anahita"...

Ok, so what about the two spotty beast depicted on the sides of the harness? Well they are Asian leopards...And these beasts mate at the end of Jan beginning of Feb...

I talked about leopard as an animal calendar marker for the end of winter - beginning of spring (Jan/Feb) used in Iran (and elsewhere) in several articles. Like my post "Spots and stripes" about the depiction of leopards on Iranian pottery standing over the zig zag design depicting flowing water...

And this one, "Elamite Copper Bowl", about this amazing bowl from the early 3rd millennium BC, with the depictions of four seasons, where leopard was used as a symbol for spring...

Or this one, "A vessel from Tepe Hissar", about this amazing painted vessel from Tepe Hissar, Iran, dated to 4500-4000 BC, where both Ibex goat and Leopard/Cheetah are actually  depicted ejaculating (rain)...

Leopard is an animal calendar marker for Jan/Feb because Asian leopards mate in Jan/Feb...From the point of view of Luristan people, this is extremely important time of the year. The beginning of the snowmelt...

snow cover Iran

river flow Iran

And it is this snowmelt that contributes over 70 percent to the water flow in Iranian rivers...The water flow which peaks in Apr/May...In Taurus...Hence these depictions of flowing water pouring our of bulls on this vase made by the people of the Jiroft culture from Iran...I talked about this in my post "Jiroft flood vase"...

BTW did you see the moon pointing up on the Jiroft vase, the winter moon? The moon of the rain season... I talked about this moon symbol in my post "Angra Mainyu", about this Middle Assyrian Cylinder Seal with a "Lion-Dragon", 1300-1200 BC. 

Anyway, Taurus, is an ancient animal calendar marker which marks the calving of wild Eurasian cattle, Aurochs...This animal calendar marker is found with the exactly same meaning all over Eurasia and North Africa...I talked about this in my post "Cow and calf ivory" about many Neo-Assyrian, 9th-7th c. BC cow and calf ivories found in Middle East...

Interestingly, wild Zebu cattle from India used to start their mating season in May, so a zebu animal calendar marker is derived from the mating season rather than calving season...I talked about this in my post "Kharif and Rabi seasons"...

So where are bulls here on our Luristan harness? Well disguised as two smily horned heads under big Ibex horns...The same head we see on these Luristan winged bulls...

So what we have depicted here is the beginning of the cold wet season (Oct/Nov - Ibex), middle of the cold wet season (Jan/Feb - Leopard) and end of the cold wet season (Apr/May - Bull)...

I think 🙂

PS: Winged bull with Ibex horns...Also from Iran, depicting the beginning and the end of the cool wet season...I talked about this amazing artefact in my post "Winged bull with Ibex horns"... 

PPS: To read more about ancient animal and plant calendar markers, start here…then check the rest of the blog posts related to animal calendar markers I still didn't add to this page, and finally check my twitter threads I still didn't convert to blog post...I am 9 months behind now...