What is Elam?
[[File:Elam Map.jpg|thumb|right|200px|Map showing the area of the Elamite Empire (in red) and the neighboring areas. The approximate [[Bronze Age]] extension of the [[Persian Gulf]] is shown.]] [[File:Destruction of the Elamite city of Hamanu 645-635 BCE.jpg|thumb|right|200px|Ashurbanipal's campaign against Susa is triumphantly recorded here. It shows the sack of Susa in 647 BC: flames rise from the city as [[Assyria]]n soldiers topple it with pickaxes and [[crowbar]]s and carry off the spoils]] '''Elam''' was an long-lasting [[Ancient history|ancient civilization]] just to the east of [[Mesopotamia]], in what is now southwest [[Iran]]. Elam was centered in the far west and southwest of what is now modern-day [[Iran]], stretching from the lowlands of what is now [[Khuzestan]] and [[Ilam Province]] as well as a small part of southern Iraq..<ref>Potts D.T. 1999. ''The Archaeology of Elam: formation and transformation of an ancient Iranian state''. Cambridge World Archaeology.</ref> == History == Knowledge of Elamite history is not complete. It is mainly known from [[Mesopotamia]]n sources. The history of Elam is divided into three periods, over more than two [[millennia]]. The three periods come after the proto-Elamite period: *Proto-Elamite: c. 3200 BC – 2700 BC (Proto-Elamite script in Susa) *Old Elamite period: c. 2700 BC – 1600 BC (earliest documents until the Eparti dynasty) *Middle Elamite period: c. 1500 BC – 1100 BC (Anzanite dynasty until the Babylonian invasion of Susa) *Neo-Elamite period: c. 1100 BC – 539 BC (characterized by Iranian and Syrian influence. 539 BC marks the beginning of the Achaemenid period) The Proto-Elamite city of [[Susa]] was founded around 5000 BC in the watershed of the river Karun. It is considered to be the site of Proto-Elamite cultural formation. Written records start from around 3000 BC in the Old Elamite period (Middle [[Bronze Age]]). In the [[Achaemenid Empire]] the Elamite language was among those in official use. The Elamite language has no obvious connections with