TEHRAN – Police in Tehran who were patrolling streets near Mehrabad Airport uncovered a backpack full of relics, which experts estimate to date from the Elamite era (3200 – 539 BC).

Officers suspect a person with a black backpack who was standing next to a parked car and left the place upon seeing the policemen, Mehr reported on Tuesday.

The accused who fled from the place was finally caught by the officers in a chase, and in the preliminary investigation, 13 pieces of different types of historical artifacts were discovered inside the backpack, the report said.

The relics, according to cultural heritage experts, date to the Elamite era. The suspect was detained and surrendered to the judicial system for further investigation and trial.

Elam was one of the most impressive civilizations in the ancient world. It was never a cohesive ethnic kingdom or polity, but rather a federation of different tribes governed at various times by cities such as Susa, Anshan, and Shimashki until it was briefly united during the Middle Elamite Period, briefly, as an empire.

The name Elam was given to the region by others – the Akkadians and Sumerians of Mesopotamia – and is thought to be their version of what the Elamites called themselves – Haltami (or Haltamti) – meaning “those of the high country.” 'Elam', therefore, is usually translated to mean “highlands” or “high country” as it is composed of settlements on the Iranian Plateau that stretched from the southern plains to the elevations of the Zagros Mountains.

Situated in southwest Iran, Susa was once the capital of the Elamite Empire and later an administrative capital of the Achaemenian king Darius I and his successors from 522 BC. Throughout the late prehistoric periods, Elam was closely tied culturally to Mesopotamia. Later, perhaps because of domination by the Akkadian dynasty (c. 2334–c. 2154 BC), Elamites adopted the Sumero-Akkadian cuneiform script.

AFM