The Hassuna culture is a

Neolithic The Neolithic period, or New Stone Age, is an Old World archaeological period and the final division of the Stone Age. It saw the Neolithic Revolution, a wide-ranging set of developments that appear to have arisen independently in several p ...

archaeological culture in

northern Mesopotamia Upper Mesopotamia is the name used for the uplands and great outwash plain of northwestern Iraq, northeastern Syria and southeastern Turkey, in the northern Middle East. Since the early Muslim conquests of the mid-7th century, the region has been ...

dating to the early sixth millennium BC. It is named after the

type site In archaeology, a type site is the site used to define a particular archaeological culture or other typological unit, which is often named after it. For example, discoveries at La Tène and Hallstatt led scholars to divide the European Iron A ...

of Tell Hassuna in

Iraq Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to the north, Iran to the east, the Persian Gulf and K ...

. Other sites where Hassuna material has been found include

Tell Shemshara Tell may refer to: *Tell (archaeology), a type of archaeological site *Tell (name), a name used as a given name and a surname * Tell (poker), a subconscious behavior that can betray information to an observant opponent Arts, entertainment, and ...

Description

By around 6000 BC people had moved into the

foothills Foothills or piedmont are geographically defined as gradual increases in elevation at the base of a mountain range, higher hill range or an upland area. They are a transition zone between plains and low relief hills and the adjacent topogr ...

(piedmont) of northernmost

Mesopotamia Mesopotamia ''Mesopotamíā''; ar, بِلَاد ٱلرَّافِدَيْن or ; syc, ܐܪܡ ܢܗܪ̈ܝܢ, or , ) is a historical region of Western Asia situated within the Tigris–Euphrates river system, in the northern part of the ...

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 . At Tell Hassuna, adobe dwellings built around open central courts with fine painted

pottery Pottery is the process and the products of forming vessels and other objects with clay and other ceramic materials, which are fired at high temperatures to give them a hard and durable form. Major types include earthenware, stoneware and ...

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.

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 Upper Mesopotamia is the name used for the uplands and great outwash plain of northwestern Iraq, northeastern Syria and southeastern Turkey, in the northern Middle East. Since the early Muslim conquests of the mid-7th century, the region has been ...

when the ceramic containers were just being introduced. 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, and at this time stone vessels and White Ware were still being used in addition to pottery.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 Because of the narrow local emphasis in many pottery studies as of now, these earliest pottery traditions may be known in literature as: *Pre-Proto-Hassuna (in Khabur, and northern Iraq) *Initial Pottery Neolithic (in

Balikh River The Balikh River ( ar, نهر البليخ) is a perennial river that originates in the spring of Ain al-Arous near Tell Abyad in the Eastern Mediterranean conifer-sclerophyllous-broadleaf forests ecoregion. It flows due south and joins the Euph ...

area, for example

Tell Sabi Abyad Tell Sabi Abyad ( ar, تل صبي أبيض) 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 Sab ...

) *Transitional (in Turkish

Euphrates The Euphrates () is the longest and one of the most historically important rivers of Western Asia. Together with the Tigris, it is one of the two defining rivers of Mesopotamia ( ''the land between the rivers''). Originating in Turkey, the Eup ...

area; main sites are Mezraa Teleilat and Akarcay Tepe, with pottery dated to c. 6800 BC) *Halula I (in Syrian Euphrates area; the main site is Tell Halula) *Rouj 2a (in Northern Levant); several archaeological sites are located in the Rouj basin, Idlib, Syria). Nevertheless, all of these nomenclatures may refer to quite similar types of pottery, depending on some specific geographic region of Upper Mesopotamia.

Proto-Hassuna

This period denotes a higher use of ceramics than with the pre-proto-Hassuna period. 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. Another pre-Hassuna or proto-Hassuna site in Iraq is Tell Maghzaliyah. Yet another site with proto-Hassuna pottery is Ginnig. The time frame for this period was about 6700-6300 BC.

Archaic Hassuna

‘Archaic Hassuna’ has been introduced more recently as a new period different to proto-Hassuna. 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. The changing patterns within pottery may also connect with an increase in cultural diffusion. The

, Tell Hassuna, is also recorded to possess Archaic Hassuna artifacts. The time frame for this period was about 6300-6000 BC.

Artifacts

File:Hassuna redware bowl.jpg, Hassuna redware bowl, circa 5500 BC File:Poterie décor incisé Hassuna Louvre 28122017 5.jpg, Fragment of pottery with incised and painted decor. From Tell Hassuna, 6500 - 6000 BC. File:Poterie décor incisé Hassuna Louvre 28122017 3.jpg, Fragment of pottery with incised and painted decor. From Tell Hassuna, 6500 - 6000 BC. File:Poterie décor incisé Hassuna Louvre 28122017 6.jpg, Fragment of pottery with incised and painted decor. From Tell Hassuna, 6500 - 6000 BC. File:Şanlıurfa Müzesi Akarçay Tepe (2).jpg, Reconstitution of Neolithic dwelling in northern Mesopotamia (Akarcay Tepe II) File:Şanlıurfa Müzesi Akarçay Tepe.jpg, Reconstitution of Neolithic dwelling in northern Mesopotamia (Akarcay Tepe II)

References

{{Ancient Mesopotamia 6th millennium BC Archaeological cultures of the Near East Ancient Upper Mesopotamia Neolithic cultures of Asia