Perspective on the "Local Style" of Hasanlu IVB: A Study in Receptivity by Irene J. Winter University of Pennsylvania In 1960, Robert H. Dyson, Jr. published a composite-paste cylinder seal found in level IVB at Hasanlu in Northwest Iran, and noted that "the rampant lion and bull (on the seal) recall similar figures on the silver cup" found at the site in 1958. 1 Subsequently, Edith Porada enumerated the qualities shared by the well- known gold bowl from HasanJu' and the silver cup. 2 In reference to the seal published by Dyson , she suggested that it probably refresented a local style which would also include a decorated vase fragment of the same paste composition. With the discovery of the large quantity of ivory fragment s in Burned Building II at Hasanlu during the 1964 season, Oscar White Muscarella observed that: "Many of the ivories appear to be the products of local craftsmen, since stylistic details are seen to be similar to those of other objects considered to be made locally, and because no immediate parallels are forthcoming from foreign centers. " 4 The notion of a "local style" at Hasanlu has since become enshrined in the literature. It is the purpose of the present article to examine (and to support) the validity of such a claim, and to attempt to view those qualities which characterize the Hasanlu local style in the perspective of the particular historical situation which pertained in Northwest Iran during the 9th century B.C. To pursue this topic in the context of the present volume is especially satisfying, as the issues involved include aspects of culture history and process so much of interest to the Director of the Hasanlu Project, while at the same time, his initial observation on the seal and the silver cup reflects a sensitivity to visual material relevant to the art historian. 5 • • • 11960:28 21969: 123, first published in 1965; 1967:2971-77. 31969:125. 4 1966: 127. 5 My interest in the "local style" at Hasanlu grew out of a study of the copper/bronze horse's breastplate (HAS.74-24 l) found at the site in 1974. I am very grateful to Dr. Dyson for his initial suggestion to work on the breastplate, as well as for his permission to pursue research on the local style once the breastplate was done . I trust he now under- stands why I was so vague about where the eventual "local style" manuscript was to go. Winter, I. J. (1977). Perspective on the "Local Style" of Hasanlu IVB: A Study in Receptivity. Mountains and Lowlands: Essys in the Archaeology of Greater Mesopotamia. L. D. Levine and T. C. Young, Jr. (eds.) Malibu, Undena Publications: 371-386.