Hisar Hill
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,[2] and as the town of Leskovac engulfs the hill, until today.
A nicely preserved needle, discovered on the site in 2001, is considered to be one of the oldest surviving metallic objects on the planet.
Smaller forts were called hisardžik and fortresses above several cities in southern Serbia were in time named hisar (Leskovac, Prokuplje).
[3] In its itinerary "Serbia - land and population", published in 1904, Austrian traveler Felix Kanitz wrote:[4] Three bridges connect parts of the city, through which flows the Veternica and where minarets and konak roofs surmount the dark trees, reminiscing on the former Turkish rule.
George Brown already in 1677 noticed a castle there, which ruled the surrounding marshy plain.The nature park covers an area of 10.6 ha (26 acres).
[5] 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.
House utensils included leverages, weights, flint tools and both parts of millstones: bedstones and runner tones.
Results of the archaeo-botanical researches showed that, concerning grains, the inhabitants cultivated mostly millet, but also barley, rye, oats and some type of today extinct wild wheat.
They also cultivated many legumes: peas, lentils, fava beans, bitter vetch and today in Serbia extinct ervil (urov).
The food was prepared and served in the clay dishes and the numerous complete objects were discovered: pots, jugs, pitchers, cups, etc.
[2] Archaeo-metallurgy expert Radomir Pleiner pointed out that the Hittite ferrous metallurgy, until recently considered the oldest on the planet, is known exclusively from the archive in the remains of their capital Hattusa, near Boğazkale in Turkey and not from the discovered objects or the smelting equipment.
[2] A nicely preserved needle, discovered on the site in 2002, is considered to be one of the oldest surviving metallic objects on the planet.
It has greater purity than the iron standard forged in space, which was brought from the United States to compare it to the needle.
The Dorians lived in the basin of the South Morava and the surrounding Central Balkans regions in the 13th century and, producing the iron weapons, with ease conquered the southern people in Greece.
It most probably originated from the period of Grand Župan Stefan Nemanja, who included the Dubočica region and the basin of the South Morava in the Serbian state.
