Marlik Tepe

Early Iron Age royal cemetery of the late 2nd millennium BC southwest of the Caspian Sea in northern Iran. Its tombs include a wealth of gold and silver vessels, jewelry, and weapons. Some graves have rectangular stone slabs on which the body with its grave goods was laid and then covered with earth. Characteristic decoration is in relief and portrays mythical animal and human figures. Marlik Tepe may represent an early phase in the development of the art of the Medes.

Royal cemetery of early Iron Age (late 2nd millennium bc) date, occupying a natural spur overlooking a fertile valley southwest of the Caspian Sea in northern Iran. A total of 53 graves was excavated in the early 1960s; some contained rectangular stone slabs, on which the body with its grave goods was laid and then covered with earth. The grave goods were rich, including many gold and silver vessels, as well as weapons and jewellery. Characteristic decoration is in relief and portrays mythical animal and human figures; it may represent an early phase in the development of the art of the Medes. See also Amlash.