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On his knees, a silver bull holds a spouted vessel. His bovine head and neck end at human-like shoulders that taper into cloven hooves. A jig-saw design decorates the skirted legs of this six-inch silver figurine that was found near Susa in Southwestern Iran.

The so-called “Table of Nations” lists the descendants of Noah (Genesis 10). In it, Elam was the son of Shem and became the ancestor of the Elamites.

Elamite civilization, from the area of modern Shiraz in Iran, is considered the earliest civilization in Iran and lasted from approximately the fourth to the first millennia B.C. Aspects of Elamite culture and language were absorbed into Achaemenid Persia in the mid-first millennium B.C.

The bull dates to the earliest Elamite culture, known as proto-Elamite. Its purpose is unknown, but scholars speculate that it may have been part of a religious ritual or ceremonial burial.