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A parade of bizarre creatures marches across this eighth- to seventh-century B.C.E. gold plaque, reportedly discovered inside a coffin buried in an ancient mound near the village of Ziwiye, in northeastern Iran. The richness of the burial goods has led some to speculate that the bronze coffin belonged to an Assyrian prince or lord. The plaque’s perforated edge suggests that it was originally attached to the corpse’s clothing or shroud. The designs on the 8-by-10-inch plaque were created with both repoussé work (hammering from behind) and chasing (indenting with a blunt tool). A wave-like guilloche pattern separates the five […]