Hissar

Hissar: see Hisar, India.

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Hissar 

the habitation of settled farmers and herdsmen who lived near Damghan in northeastern Iran during the Aeneolithic period and the Bronze Age. The oldest levels date from the second half of the fourth millennium B.C. and are characterized by modeled ceramics with geometric decorations (Hissar I-A). The inhabitants lived in adobe brick dwellings. The settlement had a burial ground. Earthenware made on a potter’s wheel, and paintings depicting goats, leopards, and birds were found in subsequent levels (Hissar I-B and II-A); metallurgy was well-developed. The culture of this period exhibits ties with the cultures of central Iran (Sialk III) and southern Turkmenia (Namazga Tepe III). Gray ceramics, gradually displacing the painted pottery, appear in the first half of the third millennium B.C. (Hissar II-B). The Hissar culture reached its golden age between the second half of the third millennium B.C.. and the early part of the second millennium B.C.. (Hissar III; similar to Namazga Tepe V and VI and more distantly resembling the Maikop culture). Burial sites with rich inventories have been found. An isolated dwelling, apparently belonging to a wealthy patriarchal family, was excavated; this evidence points to the decay of the primitive communal system.

REFERENCES

Masson, V. M. Sredniaia Aziia i Drevnii Vostok. Moscow-Leningrad, 1964.
Schmidt, E. F. Excavations at Tepe Hissar. Philadelphia, 1937.
McCown, D. E. The Comparative Stratigraphy of Early Iran. Chicago [1941].

V. M. MASSON