This essay first describes seals from Qazvin, Kermanshah and Zanjan and compares them with some similar examples. That specific evidence poses interesting questions, treated in part two, about the relationship of these seals to historical developments during Iron Age III (ca. 800–600 BCE) in Iran, among them patterns of trade and issues in historical geography. Apart from some slight differences in the depictions on these seals from what we would expect in Assyrian art, the combination of elements from local arts in Luristan and some attributes of the Elamite style of seal making lead us to conclude that the seals described here are local products. However, they were influenced by the Neo-Assyrian style as a result of substantial trading and political-military relations between Iran and Mesopotamia.
