Pin with Head in the Shape of a Ridged Seedpod

This unusually massive pin has a rounded shaft tapering to a point. Three ribs of increasing size form the transition from the shaft to the finial. The latter takes the shape of a squat seedpod with a plain, circular cap. Incised vertical lines create ridges on the pod, and the fairly wide upper part of the shaft is incised with a zigzag and two horizontal lines below. This group of pins acquired in Luristan is inspired by plant motifs (162.1972, 163.1972, 165.1972, and 166.1972). Three pin heads are more or less explicitly in the shape of poppy seedpods, while the fourth looks like a bud. The shafts of two of the pins are decorated with raised bands encircled by incised lines that similarly occur on many Luristan bronze objects. A large number of such floral pins were excavated in the building complex at Surkh Dum, which is generally interpreted as a sanctuary. This suggests that these pins were used in Luristan during Iron Age II and early Iron Age III (the ninth to eighth centuries BCE) (1). But there are no exact parallels for this pin among those from Surkh Dum (2). NOTES: 1. See E. F. Schmidt, M. N. van Loon, and H. H. Curvers, The Holmes Expedition to Luristan (Chicago, 1989) 268-69 and 301-306 (27D.12-14), pls. 168-70. Compare also P. R. S. Moorey, Catalogue of the Ancient Persian Bronzes in the Ashmolean Museum (Oxford, 1971) 188-89, nos. 297-300, pl. 48. 2. Compare Moorey 1971 (supra 1) 185, no. 287, pl. 46. Susanne Ebbinghaus