Although Elam may be mentioned as early as 3000 BC in the so-called Archaic texts from Uruk in southern Mesopotamia, it is not attested unambiguously in the historical record until the middle of the third millennium BC when it appears, in the Sumerian King List, as an adversary of the Sumerian city-state of Kish. A second Iranian region, known as Awan, also makes its appearance in a similar context at this time. Thereafter, both Awan and Elam are mentioned in a variety of Mesopotamian sources dating to the mid- and late third millennium. After reviewing the literary evidence, we examine those contemporary archaeological remains from Khuzistan and the central western Zagros which have the greatest likelihood of representing the material equivalent of third millennium Elam and Awan. The use of the terms ‘Trans-Elam’ and ‘Trans-Elamite’ to describe a much more easterly portion of the Iranian Plateau and its material culture is also examined.

During the period from c. 2350 to 2150 BC we continue to see Elam largely through Mesopotamian eyes. This was the time of the Old Akkadian dynasty in southern Mesopotamia which was founded by Sargon of Agade and ruled from an as yet unidentified capital in central Iraq. Elam figures in Old Akkadian royal inscriptions and literary works, though some of these are only known from much later copies. Repeated acts of aggression against Elam and Susiana are recorded, and the subjugation of Susa by the Akkadians is confirmed by a number of sources.