The Stele of Sarab-e Sey Khan: A Recent Discovery of a Second-Millennium Stele on the Iranian–Mesopotamian Borderland in the Western Zagros Mountains

Abstract

Recent surveys on the eastern hillsides of Bamou Mountain near the current frontiers of Iran and Iraq have led to the discovery of an ancient broken stele in the area of the Sarab-e Sey (Seyed) Khan spring. The stele was made from a large slab of limestone that was broken and of which only two fragments have been recovered so far. The remaining pieces of the stele had a full-size image of a person in a long robe holding a crook in his right hand, undoubtedly a representation of the god Amurru; his left foot rests on the back of a sitting goat while grasping the goat's horns with his left hand. Another, smaller figure stands to the right of the main figure, near his left shoulder, with in front of him carved a star which could be the symbol of Ishtar. The highly damaged nature of the stele and the absence of an inscription does not allow any precise dating, but it may be proposed that the stele of Sey Khan dates to the Old Babylonian period.