Susiana, the alluvial plains east of the Tigris, and Anshan, the adjacent region in the Zagros mountains, together formed ancient Elam, a land whose past is culturally and politically intertwined with that of Sumer.
After 4000 BC, several major settlements appeared, including Susa, probably functioning as religious centres and foci for the surrounding agricultural communities. Pottery and other objects found in these centres include many Sumerian types.
Tokens and impressed tablets show that Elam was also on the way to developing literacy. A script emerged here not long after the appearance of writing in Sumer; its numerals bear some similarity to those of Sumer, but its other signs are quite different.
Shortly after 3000 BC the area sees a change of emphasis, ties with Sumer giving way to closer contact with the towns of the Iranian plateau, although contacts with Mesopotamia, peaceful or, more commonly, hostile, continued.
Several Early Dynastic rulers claim to have sacked Susa, for example, Eannatum of Girsu, who recorded his victory on the Stele of the Vultures. The Agade and Ur III dynasties also conquered Elam, but in 2004 BC, the tables were turned, Kindattu, ruler of Elam and adjacent Shimashi, destroying Ur and taking captive the last Ur III king, Ibbi-Sin.
