 Hassuna culture (in yellow), next toSamarra,Halaf andUbaid cultures. | |
| Geographical range | Mesopotamia |
|---|---|
| Period | Neolithic |
| Dates | circa 6000 BC |
| Type site | Tell Hassuna |
| Major sites | Tell Shemshara |
| Preceded by | Pre-Pottery Neolithic B,Yarmukian culture,Halaf culture |
| Followed by | Ubaid period |
TheHassuna culture is aNeolithicarchaeological culture innorthern Mesopotamia dating to the early sixth millennium BC. It is named after thetype site ofTell Hassuna inIraq. Other sites where Hassuna material has been found includeTell Shemshara.
By around 6000 BC people had moved into thefoothills (piedmont) of northernmostMesopotamia 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 paintedpottery 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 ofJericho suggests that village culture was becoming widespread.[1]
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 theLate Neolithic period inUpper 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 andWhite 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]
This period denotes a higher use of ceramics than with the pre-proto-Hassuna period.[6] The site ofUmm 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 isTell Maghzaliyah. Yet another site with proto-Hassuna pottery isGinnig.[7]
The time frame for this period was about 6700-6300 BC.[2]
‘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 ofdung 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. Thetype site,Tell Hassuna, is also recorded to possess Archaic Hassuna artifacts.[9]
The time frame for this period was about 6300-6000 BC.[2]
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