A joint team of Iranian and American archaeologists is to begin the third stage of their excavations at the ancient Elamite site of Anshan (Iran) next week. The archaeologists will begin their work in different parts of the city and will also review the finds discovered during previous excavations, said the director of the Archaeology Research Center of the Cultural Heritage and Tourism Organization (CHTO).
     Ruins from the 2nd millennium BCE were discovered during previous excavations at the site. The low mounds of Tepe Malyan known as Anshan cover nearly 200 hectares in Fars Province in southwestern Iran. The city's ruins - covering 350 acres - have yielded major archaeological finds including examples of early Elamite writing.
     Anshan came to prominence about 2350 BCE as an enemy of the Mesopotamian dynasty of Akkad. Its greatest period however was during the 13th and 12th centuries BCE when as kings of Anshan and Susa Elamite rulers periodically raided Neo-Babylonian cities. About 675 BCE the country apparently came to be controlled by Achaemenid Persians who bore the title kings of Anshan and Susa down to the accession of Darius I in 522 BCE.

Source: Tehran Times (10 October 2004)