Kurangun Relief (eahaa00050), Wiley's The Encyclopedia of Ancient History Asia and Africa

Dating back to around the 17th-16th centuries BCE, the open-air sanctuary of Kurangun is perched on a clifftop overlooking the Fahliyan River as it flows through the Mamasani region. The sanctuary is composed of a flat vertical relief panel and a horizontal platform, which can only be accessed from the hilltop above by means of three flights of rock-carved stairs. The relief panel is carved with a scene of worship centered on a divine couple. The god is seated on a coiled serpent(s) throne in front of the goddess and distributes streaming water to two trios of worshipers through a rod and ring. Hundreds of years later, the Kurangun relief was expanded onto the surrounding rockfaces. One addition was made sometime around the 9th-8th centuries BCE with the carving of 36 worshipers on the vertical surfaces adjacent to the stairs and a second addition was made in the 7th-6th centuries BCE with the carving of seven or perhaps eight more worshipers on the opposite side of the central panel. The open-air sanctuary of Kurangun was situated along an important ancient route linking the two capitals of Elam, Susa and Anshan, and seems to have been a locale for periodic pilgrimage. As such, it offers a valuable source of information on Elamite religion and ritual practice and their political uses, to augment the much more ubiquitous evidence for Elamite religion in urban temple settings.