Susa: an early centre of the late fifth millennium BCE

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

What the sources say

According to UNESCO, Susa "developed as early as the late 5th millennium BCE as an important centre, presumably with religious importance", and soon became a commercial, administrative and political hub thanks to its position along ancient trade routes. The same page places the site in the lower Zagros Mountains, in the Susiana plains between the Karkheh and Dez Rivers, as a group of artificial mounds on the eastern side of the Shavur River. UNESCO counts 27 layers of superimposed urban settlements in a continuous succession from the late 5th millennium BCE until the 13th century CE. Source 1.

The beginning on the Met's timeline

The Met's timeline for Iran dates the founding about 4200 BCE: Susa is founded "on a broad fertile plain", surrounded by numerous agricultural villages, centred on a large mud-brick platform, and becomes the regional focus of what is now central Khuzestan. Finely handmade, painted vessels were buried in graves beside the platform, and according to the timeline the variety and individuality of these specialized wares "indicate the presence of many artisans". The overview on the same page says that Susa was founded at this time, with its political and artistic affiliation alternating between the nearby lowland cities of southern Mesopotamia and the highland civilizations of Iran. Source 2.

Three wordings for one date

The sources date the founding in three ways: "ca. 4200 B.C." in the timeline's key events, "by the end of the fifth millennium B.C." in its overview, and "the late 5th millennium BCE" at UNESCO. They do not really conflict: all point to the last centuries of the fifth millennium, inside the Chalcolithic that the timeline dates about 5000-3500 BCE. The article is placed in that period only; Susa's later phases, such as Susa II to IV in the Early Bronze Age, belong to other pages. Sources 2, 1.

What can and cannot be said

UNESCO calls Susa an "early urban centre" and writes that there "the processes of urbanization crystallized in the late 5th millennium BC"; the timeline describes a platform, graves, surrounding villages and artisans, not a town plan. Both qualifications are in the sources themselves: the religious importance is "presumably", and "many artisans" is an inference from the range of vessels. Neither source gives the area of the early settlement, its population or the numbers of its earliest layers, and UNESCO mentions "a decade of scientific excavations from 1968 to 1978" without detailing what they found. Sources 1, 2.

Connections on this site

The museum record of the kneeling bull of the Proto-Elamite period, about 3100-2900 BCE, opens with innovations (writing and cylinder seals, the mass production of standardized ceramics and a figural art style) that developed "around the city of Susa". That describes the culture of the area, not where the bull was found, which is not stated. The article on Tall-e Bakun A, on the same period page, concerns a community in the highlands of Fars. Source 3.

Scope of reading: UNESCO's World Heritage page for Susa (description, brief synthesis, criteria and authenticity) and the Met timeline page "Iran, 8000-2000 B.C." were read on 24 October 2026. The excavation reports from Susa were not read, so this page gives no layers, measurements or finds from the early settlement itself.