Hassuna culture

Last updated • 3 min readFrom Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia
Hassuna culture
Mesopotamian Prehistorical cultures.jpg
Hassuna culture (in yellow), next to Samarra, Halaf and Ubaid cultures.
Geographical range Mesopotamia
Period Neolithic
Datescirca 6000 BC
Type site Tell Hassuna
Major sites Tell Shemshara
Preceded by Pre-Pottery Neolithic B, Yarmukian culture, Halaf culture
Followed by Ubaid period
Iraq adm location map.svg
Map of Iraq showing important sites that were occupied by the Hassuna culture (clickable map)

The Hassuna culture is a Neolithic archaeological culture in northern Mesopotamia dating to the early sixth millennium BC. It is named after the type site of Tell Hassuna in Iraq. Other sites where Hassuna material has been found include Tell Shemshara.

Contents

Description

By around 6000 BC people had moved into the foothills (piedmont) of northernmost Mesopotamia where there was enough rainfall to allow for "dry" agriculture in some places. These were the first farmers in northernmost Mesopotamia. They made Hassuna-style pottery (cream slip with reddish paint in linear designs). Hassuna people lived in small villages or hamlets ranging 2–8 acres (0.81–3.24 ha).

At Tell Hassuna, adobe dwellings built around open central courts with fine painted pottery replace earlier levels with crude pottery. Hand axes, sickles, grinding stones, bins, baking ovens, and numerous bones of domesticated animals reflect settled agricultural life. Female figurines have been related to worship and jar burials within which food was placed related to belief in afterlife. The relationship of Hassuna pottery to that of Jericho suggests that village culture was becoming widespread. [1]

Pre-Proto-Hassuna

More recently, the concept of a very early 'Pre-Proto-Hassuna' pottery tradition has been introduced by some scholars. This has been prompted by more recent discoveries of still earlier pottery traditions. Pre-Proto-Hassuna refers to the Late Neolithic period in Upper Mesopotamia when the ceramic containers were just being introduced. [2] The pottery vessels were still very few in number in these early settlements. At that time, the main emphasis was on the pottery with a mineral temper, as opposed to the plant-tempered pottery which came to predominate later.

The time frame for this period was about 7000-6700 BC, [2] and at this time stone vessels and White Ware were still being used in addition to pottery. [3] Because of the narrow local emphasis in many pottery studies as of now, these earliest pottery traditions may be known in literature as:

Nevertheless, all of these nomenclatures may refer to quite similar types of pottery, depending on some specific geographic region of Upper Mesopotamia. [3]

Proto-Hassuna

This period denotes a higher use of ceramics than with the pre-proto-Hassuna period. [6] The site of Umm Dabaghiyah (de:Umm Dabaghiyah-Sotto-Kultur), in the same area of Iraq, is believed to have the earliest pottery in this region, and is sometimes described as a 'Proto-Hassuna culture' site. Other related sites in the area are Sotto and Yarim Tepe I, having 585 recorded ceramic fragments. They were found by archaeologist A.A. Bobrinsky. [6] Another pre-Hassuna or proto-Hassuna site in Iraq is Tell Maghzaliyah. Yet another site with proto-Hassuna pottery is Ginnig. [7]

The time frame for this period was about 6700-6300 BC. [2]

Archaic Hassuna

‘Archaic Hassuna’ has been introduced more recently as a new period different to proto-Hassuna. [8] This period is recorded to have a decrease in the concentration of dung in ceramic production and an increase in the use of two-layer slabs in construction, although they were used prior to this period. During this timeframe, pottery kilns start to show up in many sites. [6] The changing patterns within pottery may also connect with an increase in cultural diffusion. The type site, Tell Hassuna, is also recorded to possess Archaic Hassuna artifacts. [9]

The time frame for this period was about 6300-6000 BC. [2]

Artifacts

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Neolithic</span> Archaeological period, last part of the Stone Age

The Neolithic or New Stone Age is an archaeological period, the final division of the Stone Age in Europe, Asia and Africa. It saw the Neolithic Revolution, a wide-ranging set of developments that appear to have arisen independently in several parts of the world. This "Neolithic package" included the introduction of farming, domestication of animals, and change from a hunter-gatherer lifestyle to one of settlement. The term 'Neolithic' was coined by Sir John Lubbock in 1865 as a refinement of the three-age system.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ubaid period</span> Prehistoric period of Mesopotamia

The Ubaid period is a prehistoric period of Mesopotamia. The name derives from Tell al-'Ubaid where the earliest large excavation of Ubaid period material was conducted initially in 1919 by Henry Hall and later by Leonard Woolley.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pre-Pottery Neolithic B</span> Neolithic culture in upper Mesopotamia and the Levant c. 8800–6500 BC

Pre-Pottery Neolithic B (PPNB) is part of the Pre-Pottery Neolithic, a Neolithic culture centered in upper Mesopotamia and the Levant, dating to c. 10,800 – c. 8,500 years ago, that is, 8800–6500 BC. It was typed by British archaeologist Kathleen Kenyon during her archaeological excavations at Jericho in the West Bank.

Tepe Sialk is a large ancient archeological site in a suburb of the city of Kashan, Isfahan Province, in central Iran, close to Fin Garden. The culture that inhabited this area has been linked to the Zayandeh River Culture.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">History of Mesopotamia</span>

The history of Mesopotamia ranges from the earliest human occupation in the Paleolithic period up to Late antiquity. This history is pieced together from evidence retrieved from archaeological excavations and, after the introduction of writing in the late 4th millennium BC, an increasing amount of historical sources. While in the Paleolithic and early Neolithic periods only parts of Upper Mesopotamia were occupied, the southern alluvium was settled during the late Neolithic period. Mesopotamia has been home to many of the oldest major civilizations, entering history from the Early Bronze Age, for which reason it is often called a cradle of civilization.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shulaveri–Shomu culture</span> Late Stone Age culture in the south Caucasus

The Shulaveri–Shomu culture, also known as the Shulaveri-Shomutepe-Aratashen culture, is an archaeological culture that existed on the territory of present-day Georgia, Azerbaijan, and Armenia, as well as parts of northern Iran during the Late Neolithic/Eneolithic. It lasted from around the end of the seventh millennium BC to the beginning of the fifth millennium BC.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tepe Gawra</span>

Tepe Gawra is an ancient Mesopotamian settlement 15 miles NNE of Mosul in northwest Iraq that was occupied between 5000 and 1500 BC. It is roughly a mile from the site of Nineveh and 2 miles E of the site of Khorsabad. It contains remains from the Halaf period, the Ubaid period, and the Uruk period. Tepe Gawra contains material relating to the Halaf-Ubaid Transitional period c. 5,500–5,000 BC.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Late Neolithic</span> Later part of the Neolithic period in Southwest Asia

In the archaeology of Southwest Asia, the Late Neolithic, also known as the Ceramic Neolithic or Pottery Neolithic, is the final part of the Neolithic period, following on from the Pre-Pottery Neolithic and preceding the Chalcolithic. It is sometimes further divided into Pottery Neolithic A (PNA) and Pottery Neolithic B (PNB) phases.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Levantine pottery</span> Ceramics from the Levant

Pottery and ceramics have been produced in the Levant since prehistoric times.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pre-Pottery Neolithic</span> Earlier part of the Neolithic period in Southwest Asia

The Pre-Pottery Neolithic (PPN) represents the early Neolithic in the Levantine and upper Mesopotamian region of the Fertile Crescent, dating to c. 12,000 – c. 8,500 years ago,. It succeeds the Natufian culture of the Epipalaeolithic Near East, as the domestication of plants and animals was in its formative stages, having possibly been induced by the Younger Dryas.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Halaf culture</span> Archaeological culture

The Halaf culture is a prehistoric period which lasted between about 6100 BC and 5100 BC. The period is a continuous development out of the earlier Pottery Neolithic and is located primarily in the fertile valley of the Khabur River, of south-eastern Turkey, Syria, and northern Iraq, although Halaf-influenced material is found throughout Greater Mesopotamia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Samarra culture</span> Late Neolithic archaeological culture of Mesopotamia

The Samarra culture is a Late Neolithic archaeological culture of northern Mesopotamia, roughly dated to between 5500 and 4800 BCE. It partially overlaps with Hassuna and early Ubaid. Samarran material culture was first recognized during excavations by German Archaeologist Ernst Herzfeld at the site of Samarra. Other sites where Samarran material has been found include Tell Shemshara, Tell es-Sawwan, and Yarim Tepe.

Tell Arpachiyah is a prehistoric archaeological site in Nineveh Province (Iraq). It takes its name from a more recent village located about 4 miles (6.4 km) from Nineveh. The local name of the mound on which the site is located is Tepe Reshwa.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tell Sabi Abyad</span> Archaeological site in ar-Raqqah, Syria

Tell Sabi Abyad is an archaeological site in the Balikh River valley in northern Syria. It lies about 2 kilometers south of Tell Hammam et-Turkman.The site consists of four prehistoric mounds that are numbered Tell Sabi Abyad I to IV. Extensive excavations showed that these sites were inhabited already around 7500 to 5500 BC, although not always at the same time; the settlement shifted back and forth among these four sites.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Art of Mesopotamia</span>

The art of Mesopotamia has survived in the record from early hunter-gatherer societies on to the Bronze Age cultures of the Sumerian, Akkadian, Babylonian and Assyrian empires. These empires were later replaced in the Iron Age by the Neo-Assyrian and Neo-Babylonian empires. Widely considered to be the cradle of civilization, Mesopotamia brought significant cultural developments, including the oldest examples of writing.

Tell Halula is a large, prehistoric, neolithic tell, about 8 hectares (860,000 sq ft) in size, located around 105 kilometres (65 mi) east of Aleppo and 25 kilometres (16 mi) northwest of Manbij in the Raqqa Governorate of Syria.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Yarim Tepe</span>

Yarim Tepe is an archaeological site of an early farming settlement that goes back to about 6000 BC. It is located in the Sinjar valley some 7km southwest from the town of Tal Afar in northern Iraq. The site consists of several hills reflecting the development of the Hassuna culture, and then of the Halaf and Ubaid cultures.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Prehistory of Mesopotamia</span> History of lands by the Tigris and Euphrates

The prehistory of Mesopotamia is the period between the Paleolithic and the emergence of writing in the area of the Fertile Crescent around the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, as well as surrounding areas such as the Zagros foothills, southeastern Anatolia, and northwestern Syria.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bestansur</span> Neolithic site in Iraq

Bestansur is a Neolithic tell, or archaeological settlement mound, located in Sulaimaniyah province, Kurdistan Regional Government, Iraq in the western Zagros foothills. The site is located on the edge of the Shahrizor Plain, 30 km to the south-east of Sulaimaniyah. It is on the UNESCO World Heritage Tentative List.

Ginnig is a tell in Upper Mesopotamia that was occupied at the transition from the PPNB to the Pottery Neolithic.

References

  1. "The oldest pottery Neolithic of Upper Mesopotamia : New evidence from Tell Seker al-Aheimar, the Khabur, northeast Syria - Persée". Persee.fr. doi:10.3406/paleo.2005.5125 . Retrieved January 18, 2017.
  2. 1 2 3 4 "Collections Online | British Museum". www.britishmuseum.org. Retrieved 2022-05-08.
  3. 1 2 Reinhard Bernbeck and Olivier Nieuwenhuyse (2013), ESTABLISHED PARADIGMS, CURRENT DISPUTES AND EMERGING THEMES: THE STATE OF RESEARCH ON THE LATE NEOLITHIC IN UPPER MESOPOTAMIA Publications on Archaeology of the Leiden Museum of Archaeology (PALMA), Brepols pub. (Turnhout, Belgium), 17-37
  4. The very oldest pottery of Tell Sabi Abyad (and of Syria), 7000-6700 BC Archived 2015-07-23 at the Wayback Machine http://www.sabi-abyad.nl
  5. "Syro-Japanese Archaeological Investigation - Rouj Basin Project, Syria". Archived from the original on 2020-02-24. Retrieved 2017-10-24.
  6. 1 2 3 "Hassuna Culture Research Papers - Academia.edu". www.academia.edu. Retrieved 2022-05-08.
  7. Watkins, Trevor (1992-12-01). "Pushing Back the Frontiers of Mesopotamian Prehistory". The Biblical Archaeologist. 55 (4): 176–181. doi:10.2307/3210311. ISSN   0006-0895. JSTOR   3210311.
  8. Petrova, Natalia Yu. (2012). "A Technological Study of Hassuna Culture Ceramics (Yarim Tepe I settlement)". Documenta Praehistorica XXXIX. 39: 75–82. doi: 10.4312/DP.39.5 . S2CID   111376528.
  9. Thompson, Barry Edward (9 May 2022). THE ARCHAEOLOGY OF NORTHERN MESOPOTAMIA (PDF). Barry Edward Thompson. p. 49.