HASSUNA

Archaeological site in northern Iraq, excavated between 1943 and 1944 by Seton Lloyd and Fuad Safar. The six layers of occupation all date to the prehistoric Neolithic period and are associated with the beginning of permanent settlements based on dry farming (see AGRICULTURE), documented at the site by successive strata of houses and the first painted pottery. Similar artifacts were subsequently found in other sites of Mesopotamia, Syria, and Anatolia, which shows a common culture, known as the Hassuna period. Dated to c. 7000 to 6000 B.C., it preceeded the Halaf culture.