Vessels of note: the bronze "inkwells" of Luristan and Elam

A series of distinctive squat bronze vessels best known under the pseudonym “inkwell” have made well-noted appearances in Iron Age III burials in Luristan and are becoming increasingly familiar from Neo-Elamite funerary contexts. The present work brings together all of the published “inkwells” recovered during archaeological excavations in Iran, as well as a small number from Mesopotamia and far beyond in the Aegean, and arranges them into a new typology based on variations observed in the details of their form. The possible function of each “inkwell” type and the role it may have played in its funerary context is then considered, followed by some suggestions as to the broader significance of the corpus.