A main characteristic of Amlash pottery is its intricate sculptural detail and technical manufacture, a testament to their socio-religious ethos. Representations of animal figures are abundant in Amlash pottery and are usually depictions of common animals to that region, namely ram, ox, horse, stag, boar and ibex. Human representations are also common, but are usually included in burial sites and may represent either deities or human individuals. Unfortunately, due to the illegal looting of many archaeological sites in Amlash district during the 20th century, very little is known about the exact context of these artifacts. Fortunately, this remarkable cultural tradition shows many similarities with the archaeological site of Marlik Tepe located nearby in the Gohar Rud Valley. Under the direction of Ezat O. Negahban of The Iranian Archaeological Service, the royal necropolis of Marlik was excavated between 1961 and 1962. A total of fifty-three tomb chambers of various sizes were uncovered; yielding a wealth of grave goods that attests to a very affluent and sophisticated cultural complex (Negahban 1996 vols. 1&2). Therefore, the material culture of Marlik exhibits similarities to other regional sites such as Amlash, Hasanlu, Khurvin and Sialk, indicating a broad zone of interaction during the latter half the second and early first millennium B.C. (Matheson 1979:74).