Ancient Anshan, located in the Kur River drainage of Fars, southwest Iran, a center of Elam. This tell site was occupied from the 5th millennium BC and many buildings of the Proto-Elamite and Middle Elamite periods have been discovered. In the 3rd and 2nd millennia BC, the city was clearly a major trading center, with much imported material as well as the local. It traditionally warred with southern Mesopotamian states. Its sequence extends to the early 1st millennium AD. Its most important occupations were the Banesh, c 3400-2800 BC, and Kaftari, c 2200-1600 BC.