For over 1,500 years the land of Anshan occupied a prominent place in the political history of south-western Iran. Anshan is first attested in Akkadian and Sumerian texts of the late 3rd millennium B.C. During the 2nd and early 1st millenniums Elamite rulers traditionally took the title king of Anzan (Anshan) and Shushan (Susa). In the middle 1st millennium B.C. Anshan became the homeland of the Achaemenian Persians.

Different writers have sought to locate the city and region of Anshan in various parts of south Iran. In 1970 a large archaeological site in western Fars called Malyān, was proposed as being that of the lost city. This identification had been suggested from a consideration of historical and archaeological evidence and seemed to be supported by the finding that an early Islamic town called Āsh was once located in the vicinity of Malyān. In two of the dialects spoken in this part of Fars Āsh is a possible development of the ancient toponym Anshan. Fragments of inscriptions in Elamite cuneiform recovered during archaeological work carried out at Malyān in 1971 and 1972 bore parts of the dedication of a temple which is described as being in Anshan, thereby confirming the suggested identification of the site.

In treating the early history of Anshan we shall also note textual references to the Elamite province of Awan and consider the possibility that this toponym and Anshan may have been used at different periods for the same area.

The Sumerian King List states that the Kingdom of Ur (c. 2600 B.C. was smitten with arms and its kingship taken to the Elamite land of Awan.