The Hasanlu Columned Halls, Diffusion or Innovation

The Achaemenid architecture is famous for its columned halls; however such halls were common prior to the Achaemenid Period in Iran. Buildings with columned halls dated to Median Period were discovered in Nush-i Jan and Godin. Similar buildings were also present in Baba Jan, Ziwiye, Hasanlu, Kordlar and Bastam as well. Among these buildings, the oldest example of columned hall belongs to Hasanlu, where seven buildings including columned hall were constructed in three successive periods of Hasanlu V, IVc and IVb, dated to ca. 1250-800 B.C. The main common characteristic of these buildings is their central part, which was constructed in form of a columned hall, along with other common components and elements, such as: a portico and an anteroom in entrance, a stairway passed around a central column on a side of the anteroom, ancillary rooms situated along the sides of the hall, benches constructed on sides of the hall, columns added at the sides of the hall, raised hearth in the center of the hall, and a platform opposite the entrance of the hall. Use of these common characteristics in Hasanlu continued for about four centuries and led to formation of a particular architectural tradition. In regards to the origin and the prototype of this architectural style, as well as its continuity and subsequent changes until the Achaemenid Period, different notions were brought up. Some scholars have sought the origin of this style out of the Iranian plateau. Others have considered it as a linear or multilinear evolution. Most of these opinions are based on the basis of the theory of diffusion. The present essay brings up a different opinion about the formation of this architectural style in Hasanlu. On the basis of this view, the construction of columned halls can be taken as an internal innovation in indigenous architecture of Hasanlu, considering their common features with other contemporary buildings without a columned hall in Hasanlu.Abstract