Explaning Some Animal Motifs of Proto-Elamite Seal Impressions from Tepe Sofalin, Pishva

The site of Sofalin lies in the north Central Iranian Plateau in the north of Pishva city about 35 kilometres south-east of Tehran capital city. The excavations at Tepe Sofalin revealed information on the Proto-writing evidence of the controls on economy, art as well as the cultural and religious life of this period. Cultural sequence of the study period was identified during the some excavations seasons and it was revealed that the site was occupied continuously from first phase of the proto-writhing to the Proto-Elamite time. The seal impressions found from this site are documented, introduced and published here for the first time. The most important questions regarding the seal impressions of Sofalin are: which kinds of animal iconography, function and style were used? Have been seals made by local traditions? For the study of seal collections a comparative approach has been used to compare seal impressions found at Sofalin with its contemporary sites of Susa and those from Mesopotamia. The results of study showed that there have been some similarities between Sofalin and Mesopotamian seals impressions. The Proto-Elamite material showed the internal and external relationships for the peoples inhabiting Proto- Elamite societies; so based on the seal impressions comparisons it is evident that the proto-Elamite period can be attributed to have been in the earliest phase of urban development in the late 4th and early third millennium BC