supplanted the old name Pasā locally as well. The adjective (aka nesba or demonym) associated with Fasa today is Fasā'ī. An older form is Fasāwī, which was used by some medieval writers such as Ibn al-Sam'ani. Within Fars, a completely different demonym was used: according to Ibn al-Sam'ani and Hamza Esfahani (as quoted by Yaqut), the locals said Basāsīrī instead of Fasa'i. This shares an origin with the Persian terms garm-sīr ("hot region") and sard-sīr ("cold region"), so that in effect basāsīrī meant "the Fasa region". Hamza Esfahani also mentioned a place near Na'in called Kasnā, which used the similarly derived adjective kasnāsīrī. A prominent bearer of this nesba was Abu'l-Harith Arslan Basasiri, an 11th-century Turkic mercenary leader who led a rebellion against the caliph al-Qa'im. History The origins of Fasa go back to at least the Achaemenid period and probably earlier. Several prehistoric mounds, such as Tall-e Siah, indicate early human activity in the Fasa region; they mostly are from the Eneolithic period. One of these sites is Tall-e Zahhak, a 660x750 m-wide tell 3 km southeast of present-day Fasa. Tall-e Zahhak represents the old site of Fasa itself, with many archaeological strata spanning a time between the 3rd millennium BCE and the 13th century CE. At some point, the old site at Tall-e Zahhak became abandoned, and the name "Fasa" migrated to the new location that is inhabited today. If the linguistic derivation of the name from Old Persian meaning "encampment" is correct, then Fasa probably began as a nomadic encampment that later developed into a permanent settlement. There are two prehistoric archaeological sequences at Tall-e Zahhak: the older Khayrabad ware and the more recent Zahhak ware. Both are similar to different types of the Kaftari ware of central Fars and may date from the same period, which is tentatively estimated to be 2000-1800 BCE. There is then a gap until the Achaemenid period, when "finely-burnished red ware showing characteristic everted rims" appear in the archaeological record. There is a large mud-brick platform, which probably also dates from Achaemenid times given its resemblance to similar platforms at Persepolis and Pasargadae. Another characteristically Achaemenid feature found at Tall-e Zahhak is a large fluted column base similar to the ones found at Persepolis. This column base may indicate that Achaemenid Fasa was the site of a royal palace or administrative center. In any case, Fasa was an important fortified settlement