Kalmakareh: A mysterious Historical Cave

Kalmakareh treasure was discovered in 1989 by a local hunter. The Kalmakareh cave is about 20 km to the northwest of Pol-e Dokhtar, Lurestan Province. The collection is consisted of different metal objects including vessels, rhytons, animal and human figurines, masks, plaques, adornments and etc. The presence of neo-Elamite scripts on some artifacts makes it unickly easy to date. The names on the scripts indicates a close connection to the cultural horizon of Neo-Elamite period. The inscriptions, Old Aramaic, Neo- Assyrian and NeoElamite, revealed a new unknown local dynasty in Lurestan, concurrent with neo-Elamite period; which opens a new discussion in investigating archaeological issues and art history of this period in western Iran. Discovered objects are mostly made of silver.