The Shimashki dynasty: Elam and the fall of the Third Dynasty of Ur

The explanations distinguish finds, interpretations and open questions. Sources appear at the end of the page.

What the source says

In the Met's timeline for Iran, 2000-1000 BCE, the first entry, about 2000-1900 BCE, says that an Elamite dynasty from Shimashki, "perhaps located in Luristan in the central Zagros Mountains", overthrows the Third Dynasty of Ur, replacing Mesopotamian domination of the lowlands with its own. Under the same date the timeline also states that at Susa objects are made from a mixture of ground calcite, quartz and bitumen, used for sculpture such as figurines and bas-relief plaques and for many objects of everyday life, including jewellery and cylinder seals. Source 1.

Two sides of a boundary

The previous page of the timeline, for 8000-2000 BCE, tells the beginning: about 2350-2000 BCE Susa falls under the rule of the kings of Akkad and later of the Third Dynasty of Ur, and "at the end of the period" the Elamites invade southern Mesopotamia and destroy the city of Ur. The event is thus described from both sides of the 2000 BCE boundary, and neither page gives it a year. The article is placed on the page for the Middle Bronze Age and Old Elamite period, where the dynasty itself is dated, and states explicitly that the event sits on the line. Sources 2, 1.

Where Shimashki lay

Both sources word the location cautiously. The Met writes "perhaps located in Luristan". In the Encyclopaedia Iranica entry "ELAM ii. The archaeology of Elam", the Simaški lands "may have been located" in Lorestān and Kordestān, with a reference to Henrickson, 1984, and a note that "another view" is given in another part of the entry, which was not read. Neither source points to a particular site or a capital. Sources 1, 3.

Another dating for the dynasty

Iranica sets Shimashki within a longer span: the time in which the Awan and Simaški dynasties reigned "corresponds approximately" to periods IV-V at Susa, about 2600-1900 BCE after Schacht. The numbering does not match either: on the Met's timeline Susa IV is about 2700-2500 BCE. According to Iranica, Susa was then a border city which, according to textual sources, passed alternately between the control of the highland polities of Awan and Simaški and the Akkadian and Ur III empires. The parts of the entry that were read do not describe the overthrow of the Third Dynasty of Ur. Sources 3, 2.

What can and cannot be said

The Met names no kings of the dynasty and does not say what Elamite domination of the lowlands consisted of. The calcite, quartz and bitumen compound is listed under the same date, but the timeline does not link it to the Shimashki dynasty, and so neither does this article. Anyone who wants the course of events needs the textual sources that Iranica mentions, which were not read here. Source 1.

Scope of reading: the Met timeline pages "Iran, 2000-1000 B.C." and "Iran, 8000-2000 B.C.", and the sections on the Old Elamite period and its geographical setting in the Encyclopaedia Iranica entry "ELAM ii. The archaeology of Elam" (Elizabeth Carter, 1998), were read on 24 October 2026. Other parts of the entry, including the one with "another view" on the location of Shimashki, and the textual sources and Mesopotamian publications were not read.