A crime scene from 800 BCE
In 1958, a team of archaeologists from the University of Pennsylvania Museum was excavating Teppe Hasanlu, an ancient settlement in northwestern Iran. They uncovered a layer of ash and collapsed mudbrick walls, the remains of a violent destruction that occurred around 800 BCE. This "burn layer" effectively froze a moment in time, creating a scene sometimes compared to Pompeii. Inside the remains of a collapsed two-story building, they found the skeletons of three men. One man, wearing a protective gauntlet of bronze buttons, was found with his hand reaching for a crushed gold bowl. The other two were nearby. For decades, it was assumed they were local heroes trying to save a sacred object from their burning city.
Recent analysis of the excavation records paints a different picture. The three men were likely soldiers from the invading army, possibly from the northern kingdom of Urartu, who were looting the citadel. They had gathered treasures, including the bowl, from a storeroom before the building collapsed on them as they fled. The bowl itself weighs more than two pounds (about 946 grams) and is approximately 20 centimeters high. It was flattened by the collapsing structure and had to be carefully restored. The vessel is an example of repoussé and chasing, where the gold was hammered from both sides to create its complex relief images. The catastrophic fire that destroyed Hasanlu's Period IVb settlement was so sudden and intense that it preserved artifacts but the remains of over 240 individuals, many showing signs of violence and mass execution.