Hisar Hill
The Hisar () is a hill near the town of Leskovac in southern Serbia. A town's symbol, the hill is known for the remains of the large, fortified Bronze Age settlement and has been declared a nature park. The evidence confirm the almost continuous habitation from the Neolithic to the Ottoman period, and as the town of Leskovac engulfs the hill, until today. With numerous remains of the equipment for iron processing (grinders, furnaces, charcoal piles), iron ore itself and high quantities of discovered slag, dated from the 14th to the 11th century BC, indicates that this was the oldest known occurrence of ferrous metallurgy in Europe and one of the oldest in the world. A nicely preserved needle, discovered on the site in 2001, is considered to be one of the oldest surviving metallic objects on the planet. Location The hill is located within the urban area of Leskovac, in the valley of the Veternica river, which passes east of the hill. Almost from all sides it is surrounded by the town's urban tissue, with only southwest and, partially, south side remaining unurbanized. On the north, there is a Park "Devet Jugovića". Characteristics The hill makes the westernmost extension of the Goljak mountain, sloping into the Morava valley. Name of the hill comes from the Turkish word hisar, which means citadel. Smaller forts were called hisardžik and fortresses above several cities in southern Serbia were in time named hisar (Leskovac, Prokuplje). In its itinerary "Serbia - land and population", published in 1904, Austrian traveler Felix Kanitz wrote: The nature park covers an area of . The Monument to the Unknown Soldier was erected on the hill in 1922, in honor of the anonymous captain who was killed on 26 October 1915 during the Morava Offensive, part of the warfare with the occupational Bulgarian army during World War I. A memorial park was built on the eastern slope in 1971, based on the preliminary design by architect Bogdan Bogdanović. There is also a memorial plaque, commemorating the first gathering of workers in the Leskovac area in 1897. A transmitter of the local TV Leskovac is situated on the hill. Archaeology The archaeological works began in 1999, they have been continuous ever since and until today covered an area of . Head of the excavations is archaeologist Milorad Stojić from the Archaeological Institute in Belgrade. Remains of the multilayered settlement were discovered in 2001. Older periods There are remains from the Neolithic and Copper Age. Over 7,000 artifacts from the prehistoric period were discovered. Bronze Age Hisar is a multilevel settlement which spawned through several periods, at least from 1350 and 1000 BC, during the Late Bronze Age. It was a large fortified settlement, located on the highest plateau of the hill. It was protected with the defensive, deep moat and surrounded by the wooden piles palisade on the inner side. The fortification extended into the slopes, where the suburbs on the foothills of Hisar were located. The fortification is similar