Formal and conceptual analysis of the female motif in the Iron Age of Lorestan and its reflection in contemporary artistic creations.

Rezaloo, Reza; Cheraghe, Zahra; Hosseyninia, Mehdi; Madhani, Saba

doi:10.22103/jis.2026.26283.2807

Formal and conceptual analysis of the female motif in the Iron Age of Lorestan and its reflection in contemporary artistic creations.

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

Reza Rezaloo ¹

zahra Cheraghe ²

Mehdi Hosseyninia ¹

Saba Madhani ³

¹ Department of Archaeology, University of Mohaghegh Ardabili, Faculty of Social Sciences, Ardabil, Iran

² Department of Archaeology, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Mohaghegh Ardabili, Ardabil, Iran.

³ Department of Archaeology, Faculty of Humanities, Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran, Iran.

10.22103/jis.2026.26283.2807

Abstract

The archaeological findings from the Iron Age of Lorestan that have female motifs or show a representation of a woman, and the reasons and how they are used, and comparing these motifs with female motifs used in handicrafts and hand-woven items of the last few centuries in the region, are among the main objectives of this research. This research aims to answer the following questions with a descriptive-analytical method based on archaeological data and field surveys and the use of museum data: 1- What concepts and themes does the female motif in the Iron Age contain? 2- What are the common concepts and patterns among female motifs in the Iron Age and the contemporary era? The results of the research indicate that the use of female motifs to decorate handicrafts such as pin heads, bronze vessels, bridle, and figurines in the Iron Age. In contemporary times, the female motif is seen in works such as tombstones and hand-woven fabrics such as kilims. In the Iron Age, women are mostly seen as goddesses of fertility and goddesses of union and birth, and the most common data on which this female motif is engraved are the Sanjak heads. In contemporary times, this archetype, with some changes, can still be seen among indigenous peoples in forms such as fertility.

Keywords

Female motif

Lorestan

Iron Age

squirrel heads

archetype

Subjects