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# | {{short description|Prehistoric period, Copper Age}} | ||
{{Chalcolithic}} | |||
{{Human history and prehistory}} | |||
The '''Chalcolithic''' ({{IPAc-en|lang|ˌ|k|æ|l|k|ə|ˈ|l|ɪ|θ|ᵻ|k}}),<ref name="OED-Chalcolithic">The New Oxford Dictionary of English (1998) {{ISBN|0-19-861263-X}}, p. 301: "'''Chalcolithic''' /,kælkəl'lɪθɪk/ '''adjective''' ''Archaeology'' of, relating to, or denoting a period in the 4th and 3rd millennium BC, chiefly in the Near East and SE Europe, during which some weapons and tools were made of copper. This period was still largely Neolithic in character. Also called '''Eneolithic'''... Also called '''Copper Age''' – ''Origin'' early 20th cent.: from Greek ''khalkos'' 'copper' + ''lithos'' 'stone' + '''-ic'''".</ref> a name derived from the {{lang-grc-gre|χαλκός}} ''khalkós'', "[[copper]]" and from {{lang|grc| λίθος}} ''líthos'', "[[Rock (geology)|stone]]"<ref name = "OED-Chalcolithic"/> or '''Copper Age''',<ref name = "OED-Chalcolithic"/> also known as the '''Eneolithic'''<ref name = "OED-Chalcolithic"/> or '''Aeneolithic'''<ref>''Aeneolothic'' was once fairly often spelled ''Æneolithic'', but the habit of using a [[Typographic ligature|ligature]] in ''ae'' and ''oe'' words of Greek and Latin derivation (''fœtid'', etc.) largely died out by the mid-20th century.</ref> (from [[Latin]] ''[[wikt:aeneus|aeneus]]'' "of copper") is an [[List of archaeological periods|archaeological period]] that researchers now regard as part of the broader [[Neolithic]]. Earlier scholars defined it as a transitional period between the Neolithic and the [[Bronze Age]]. In the context of [[Eastern Europe]], archaeologists often prefer the term "Eneolithic" to "Chalcolithic" or other alternatives. | |||
In the Chalcolithic period, copper predominated in [[metalworking]] technology. Hence it was the period before it was discovered that by adding [[tin]] to copper one could create [[bronze]], a metal [[alloy]] [[Hardness|harder]] and stronger than either component. | |||
The archaeological site of Belovode, on [[Rudnik (mountain)|Rudnik mountain]] in [[Serbia]], has the world's oldest securely dated evidence of [[copper smelting]] at high temperature, from {{circa}} 5000 BC (7000 [[Before Present|BP]]).<ref>{{cite web|url= http://www.ucl.ac.uk/archaeology/calendar/articles/20100924|title= Serbian site may have hosted first copper makers|publisher= UCL Institute of Archaeology|date= 23 September 2010|website= UCL.ac.uk|access-date= 22 April 2017}}</ref> The transition from Copper Age to [[Bronze Age Europe|Bronze Age in Europe]] occurred between the late 5th and the late [[3rd millennium BC|3rd millennia BC]]. In the [[Ancient Near East]] the Copper Age covered about the same period, beginning in the late [[5th millennium BC]] and lasting for about a millennium before it gave rise to the [[Early Bronze Age]]. | |||
==Terminology== | |||
{{see also|List of archaeological periods (Levant)}} | |||
The multiple names result from multiple recognitions of the period. Originally, the term [[Bronze Age]] meant that either copper or bronze was being used as the chief hard substance for the manufacture of tools and weapons.{{Citation needed|date=November 2020}} Ancient writers, who provided the essential cultural references for educated people during the 19th century, used the same names for both.<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal|last=Pearce|first=Mark|date=2019-09-01|title=The 'Copper Age'—A History of the Concept|journal=Journal of World Prehistory|language=en|volume=32|issue=3|pages=229–250|doi=10.1007/s10963-019-09134-z|issn=1573-7802|doi-access=free}}</ref> | |||
In 1881, [[John Evans (archaeologist)|John Evans]] recognized that use of copper often preceded the use of bronze, and distinguished between a ''transitional Copper Age'' and the ''Bronze Age proper''. He did not include the transitional period in the [[three-age system]] of Early, Middle and Late Bronze Age, but placed it outside the tripartite system, at its beginning. He did not, however, present it as a fourth age but chose to retain the traditional tripartite system.<ref name=":0" /> | |||
In 1884, [[Gaetano Chierici]], perhaps following the lead of Evans, renamed it in Italian as the ''eneo-litica'', or "bronze–stone" transition. The phrase was never intended to mean that the period was the only one in which both bronze and stone were used. The Copper Age features the use of copper, excluding bronze; moreover, stone continued to be used throughout both the Bronze Age and the [[Iron Age]]. The part ''-litica'' simply names the Stone Age as the point from which the transition began and is not another ''-lithic'' age.<ref name=":0" /> | |||
Subsequently, British scholars used either Evans's "Copper Age" or the term "Eneolithic" (or Æneolithic), a translation of Chierici's ''eneo-litica''. After several years, a number of complaints appeared in the literature that "Eneolithic" seemed to the untrained eye to be produced from ''e-neolithic'', "outside the Neolithic", clearly not a definitive characterization of the Copper Age. Around 1900, many writers began to substitute ''Chalcolithic'' for Eneolithic, to avoid the false segmentation. It was then that the misunderstanding began among those who did not know Italian. The Chalcolithic was seen as a new ''-lithic'' age, a part of the [[Stone Age]] in which copper was used, which may appear paradoxical. Today, ''Copper Age'', ''Eneolithic'' and ''Chalcolithic'' are used synonymously to mean Evans's original definition of Copper Age.{{Citation needed|date=June 2015}} The literature of European archaeology in general avoids the use of "Chalcolithic" (the term "Copper Age" is preferred), whereas Middle Eastern archaeologists regularly use it. "Chalcolithic" is not generally used by British prehistorians, who disagree as to whether it applies in the British context.<ref>{{cite book|url=http://www.oxbowbooks.com/oxbow/is-there-a-british-chalcolithic.html|title=Is There a British Chalcolithic?: People, Place and Polity in the later Third Millennium (summary)|publisher=Oxbow|year=2012|isbn=9781842174968|editor=Allen, Michael J.|display-editors=etal|access-date=2016-02-02|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161005230244/http://www.oxbowbooks.com/oxbow/is-there-a-british-chalcolithic.html|archive-date=2016-10-05|url-status=dead}}</ref> | |||
==Near East== | |||
{{see also|Ancient Near East#Chalcolithic|6th millennium BC|5th millennium BC|4th millennium BC}} | |||
[[File:TimnaChalcolithicMine.JPG|thumb|Chalcolithic copper mine in [[Timna Valley]], [[Negev Desert]], [[Israel]]]] | |||
The emergence of [[metallurgy]] may have occurred first in the [[Fertile Crescent]]. The earliest use of lead is documented here from the late [[Neolithic]] settlement of [[Yarim Tepe]] in Iraq, | |||
<blockquote> | |||
The earliest lead (Pb) finds in the ancient Near East are a 6th millennium BC bangle from [[Yarim Tepe]] in northern Iraq and a slightly later conical lead piece from [[Halaf]] period [[Arpachiyah]], near Mosul.<ref>Moorey 1994: 294</ref> As native lead is extremely rare, such artifacts raise the possibility that lead smelting may have begun even before copper smelting.<ref>Craddock 1995: 125</ref><ref>{{cite book|editor1-first=Daniel T.|editor1-last=Potts|title=A Companion to the Archaeology of the Ancient Near East|volume=1|chapter=Northern Mesopotamia|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=P5q7DDqMbF0C&pg=PA302|publisher=John Wiley & Sons, 2012|isbn=978-1-4443-6077-6|page=302|date=2012-08-15}}</ref> | |||
</blockquote> | |||
Copper smelting is also documented at this site at about the same time period (soon after 6000 BC), although the use of lead seems to precede copper smelting. Early metallurgy is also documented at the nearby site of [[Tell Maghzaliyah]], which seems to be dated even earlier, and completely lacks pottery. | |||
The [[Timna Valley]] contains evidence of copper mining in 7000–5000 BC. The process of transition from [[Neolithic]] to Chalcolithic in the Middle East is characterized in archaeological stone tool assemblages by a decline in high quality raw material procurement and use. This dramatic shift is seen throughout the region, including the [[Tehran Plain]], [[Iran]]. Here, analysis of six archaeological sites determined a marked downward trend in not only material quality, but also in aesthetic variation in the lithic artefacts. Fazeli et al. use these results as evidence of the loss of craft specialisation caused by increased use of copper tools.<ref name=Fazeli2002/> The Tehran Plain findings illustrate the effects of the introduction of copper working technologies on the in-place systems of lithic craft specialists and raw materials. Networks of exchange and specialized processing and production that had evolved during the Neolithic seem to have collapsed by the Middle Chalcolithic ({{circa}} 4500–3500 BC) and been replaced by the use of local materials by a primarily household-based production of stone tools.<ref name=Fazeli2002>{{cite journal |last1= Fazeli |first1=H. |last2= Donahue |first2=R.E. |last3= Coningham |first3=R.A.E. |title= Stone Tool Production, Distribution and Use during the Late Neolithic and Chalcolithic on the Tehran Plain, Iran |journal=[[Iran: Journal of the British Institute of Persian Studies]] |date=2002 |volume=40 |pages=1–14 |doi= 10.2307/4300616 |jstor= 4300616}}</ref> | |||
==Europe== | |||
{{Main|Chalcolithic Europe|Metallurgy during the Copper Age in Europe}} | |||
An archaeological site in [[Serbia]] contains the oldest securely dated evidence of coppermaking from circa 7,500 years ago. The find in June 2010 extends the known record of copper smelting by about 800 years, and suggests that copper smelting may have been invented in separate parts of Asia and Europe at that time rather than spreading from a single source.<ref name="archaeology.ws">{{cite web |author=Bruce Bower |date=July 17, 2010 |title=Serbian site may have hosted first copper makers |url=http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/60563/description/Serbian_site_may_have_hosted_first_copper_makers |access-date=22 April 2017 |work=ScienceNews}}</ref> | |||
A copper axe was found at [[Prokuplje]], Serbia, which indicates use of metal in Europe circa 7,500 years ago (5500 BC), many years earlier than previously believed.<ref>{{cite web| url = http://www.thaindian.com/newsportal/india-news/ancient-axe-find-suggests-copper-age-began-earlier-than-believed_100105122.html| url-status = dead| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20081014045213/http://www.thaindian.com/newsportal/india-news/ancient-axe-find-suggests-copper-age-began-earlier-than-believed_100105122.html| archive-date = 2008-10-14| title = Ancient axe find suggests Copper Age began earlier than believed}}</ref> Knowledge of the use of copper was far more widespread than the metal itself. | |||
The European [[Battle Axe culture]] used stone axes modeled on copper axes, even with moulding carved in the stone.<ref>J. Evans, 1897</ref> [[Ötzi the Iceman]], who was found in the Ötztal [[Alps]] in 1991 and whose remains have been dated to about 3300 BC, was found with a [[Mondsee group|Mondsee copper]] axe. | |||
[[File:Los Millares recreacion cuadro.jpg|thumb|Painting of a Copper Age walled settlement, [[Los Millares]], [[Spain]]]] | |||
Examples of Chalcolithic cultures in Europe include [[Vila Nova de São Pedro]] and [[Los Millares]] on the [[Iberian Peninsula]].<ref>C.M.Hogan, 2007</ref> Pottery of the [[Beaker people]] has been found at both sites, dating to several centuries after copper-working began there. The Beaker culture appears to have spread copper and bronze technologies in Europe, along with [[Proto-Indo-Europeans|Indo-European]] languages.<ref>D.W.Anthony, ''[[The Horse, the Wheel and Language]]: How Bronze-Age riders from the Eurasian steppes shaped the modern world'' (2007).</ref> In Britain, copper was used between the 25th and 22nd centuries BC, but some archaeologists do not recognise a British Chalcolithic because production and use was on a small scale.<ref>Miles, ''The Tale of the Axe'', pp. 363, 423, n. 15</ref> | |||
== South Asia== | |||
According to Parpola (2005),<ref>A.Parpola, 2005</ref> ceramic similarities between the [[Indus Valley Civilisation]], southern [[Turkmenistan]], and northern [[Iran]] during 4300–3300 BC of the Chalcolithic period suggest considerable mobility and trade. | |||
The term "Chalcolithic" has also been used in the context of the [[South Asian Stone Age]].<ref>Vasant Shinde and Shweta Sinha Deshpande, "Crafts and Technologies of the Chalcolithic People of South Asia: An Overview" Indian Journal of History of Science, 50.1 (2015) 42–54</ref> | |||
In [[Bhirrana]], the earliest Indus civilization site, copper [[bangle]]s and [[arrowhead]]s were found. The inhabitants of [[Mehrgarh]] in present-day [[Pakistan]] fashioned tools with local copper ore between 7000 and 3300 BC.<ref name=Possehl>Possehl, Gregory L. (1996)</ref> | |||
At the [[Nausharo]] site dated to 4500 years ago, a pottery workshop in province of [[Balochistan]], Pakistan, were unearthed 12 blades or blade fragments. These blades are {{convert|12|-|18|cm|in|0|abbr=on}} long, {{convert|1.2|-|2.0|cm|in|1|abbr=on}} wide, and relatively thin. Archaeological experiments show that these blades were made with a copper indenter and functioned as a potter's tool to trim and shape unfired pottery. Petrographic analysis indicates local pottery manufacturing, but also reveals the existence of a few exotic black-slipped pottery items from the [[Indus Valley]].<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Méry|first1=S|last2=Anderson|first2=P|last3=Inizan|first3=M.L.|last4=Lechavallier|first4=M|last5=Pelegrin|first5=J|title=A pottery workshop with flint tools on blades knapper with copper at Nausharo (Indus civilisation ca. 2500 BC)|journal=Journal of Archaeological Science|date=2007|volume=34|issue=7|pages=1098–1116|doi=10.1016/j.jas.2006.10.002}}</ref> | |||
==Pre-Columbian Americas== | |||
{{Main|Metallurgy in pre-Columbian Mesoamerica|Metallurgy in pre-Columbian America}} | |||
There was an [[Bronze Age#Americas|independent invention]] of [[copper smelting]] first by [[Andean civilizations]] in South America.<ref>{{cite journal|url=https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/04/070423100437.htm|journal=Science Daily|title=An Ancient Inca Tax And Metallurgy In Peru|date=24 April 2007|author=American Chemical Society}}</ref> | |||
The term "Chalcolithic" is also applied to American civilizations that already used copper and copper [[alloy]]s thousands of years before the European migration. Besides cultures in the Andes and Mesoamerica, the [[Old Copper Complex]]—centered in the Upper Great Lakes region; present-day [[Michigan]] and [[Wisconsin]] in the United States—mined and fabricated copper as tools, [[weapon]]s, and personal ornaments.<ref>R. A. Birmingham and L. E. Eisenberg. ''Indian Mounds of Wisconsin''. (Madison, Univ Wisconsin Press. 2000.) pp.75–77.</ref> The evidence of smelting or alloying that has been found in north America is subject to some dispute and a common assumption by archaeologists is that objects were [[Cold working|cold-worked]] into shape. [[Artifact (archaeology)|Artifacts]] from some of these sites have been dated to 4000–1000 BC, making them some of the oldest Chalcolithic sites in the world.<ref>T.C.Pleger, 2000</ref> Furthermore, some archaeologists find artifactual and structural evidence of casting by [[Hopewell tradition|Hopewellian]] and [[Mississippian culture|Mississippian]] peoples to be demonstrated in the archaeological record.<ref>Neiburger, E. J. 1987. Did Midwest Pre-Columbia Indians Cast Metal? A New Look. ''Central States Archaeological Journal'' 34(2), 60–74.</ref> | |||
==East Asia== | |||
{{more citations needed section|reason=establish use of the term "Chalcolithic", not just of the presence of copper|date=October 2018}} | |||
{{main|History of metallurgy in China#Copper}} | |||
In the 5th millennium BC copper artifacts start to appear in East Asia, such as in the [[Jiangzhai, Xi'an|Jiangzhai]] and [[Hongshan culture]]s, but those metal artifacts were not widely used.<ref>{{cite journal |first1=Christian E. |last1=Peterson |first2=Gideon |last2=Shelach |title=Jiangzhai: Social and economic organization of a Middle Neolithic Chinese village |journal=[[Journal of Anthropological Archaeology]] |volume=31 |issue=3 |date=September 2012 |pages=241–422 |doi=10.1016/j.jaa.2012.01.007}}</ref> While copper objects may occasionally appear early on, these finds do not represent a regular practice of copper metallurgy which, in East Asia, begins with the entry of Afanasievo groups into western Mongolia towards the end of 4th millennium and beginning of the third millennium BC.<ref>{{cite journal |first1=Leland |last1=Rogers |first2=William |last2=Honeychurch |first3=Chunag |last3=Amartuvshin |first4=Frederika |last4=Kaestle |title=U5a1 Mitochondrial DNA Haplotype Identified in Eneolithic Skeleton from Shatar Chuluu, Mongolia |journal=[[Human Biology (journal)|Human Biology]]|date=March 2020 |volume=91 |issue=4 |url=https://digitalcommons.wayne.edu/humbiol_preprints/160/}}</ref> | |||
==Sub-Saharan Africa== | |||
{{Main|Copper metallurgy in Africa|Iron metallurgy in Africa}} | |||
In the region of the [[Aïr Mountains]] in Niger, independent copper smelting developed between 3000 and 2500 BC. The process was not in a developed state, indicating smelting was not foreign. It became mature about 1500 BC.<ref>Ehret, Christopher (2002). The Civilizations of Africa. Charlottesville: University of Virginia, pp. 136, 137 {{ISBN|0-8139-2085-X}}.</ref> | |||
==See also== | |||
* [[Proto-city]] | |||
==References== | |||
{{reflist}} | |||
==Sources== | |||
{{Refbegin}} | |||
* {{Cite book | last=Parpola | first=Asko | author-link=Asko Parpola | year=2005 | contribution=Study of the Indus script | title=Transactions of the 50th International Conference of Eastern Studies | place=Tokyo | publisher=The Tôhô Gakkai | pages= 28–66 | url=http://www.helsinki.fi/~aparpola/tices_50.pdf}}. | |||
* {{Cite book | last=Bogucki | first=Peter | year=2007 | contribution=Copper Age of Eastern Europe | title=The Atlas of World Archaeology | place=London | publisher=Sandcastle Books| pages= 66 }}. | |||
* {{Cite book | last=Evans | first=John | author-link=John Evans (archaeologist)| year=1897 | title=The Ancient Stone Implements, Weapons and Ornaments of Great Britain | place=London | publisher=Longmans, Green, and Company| pages= 197 }}. | |||
* Hogan, C. Michael (2007) ''Los Silillos'', The Megalithic Portal, ed. A. Burnham [http://www.megalithic.co.uk/article.php?sid=17974] | |||
*{{cite book|first=David|last=Miles|title=The Tale of the Axe: How the Neolithic Revolution Transformed Britain|publisher=Thames & Hudson|location=London, UK|year=2016|isbn=978-0-500-05186-3}} | |||
* {{cite journal|first=T. C.|last= Pleger|year=2002|title=A Brief Introduction to the Old Copper Complex of the Western Great Lakes: 4000-1000 BC |journal=Proceedings of Twenty-seventh Annual Meeting of Forest History Association of Wisconsin|place=Oconto, Wisconsin|publisher=Forest History Association of Wisconsin}} | |||
* Possehl, Gregory L. (1996). ''Mehrgarh'' in ''Oxford Companion to Archaeology'', edited by Brian Fagan. Oxford University Press. | |||
{{Refend}} | |||
==External links== | |||
{{commons category|Copper Age}} | |||
* [http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/chalcolithic-era-in-persia "Chalcolithic Era"], Elizabeth F. Henrickson. ''[[Encyclopaedia Iranica|Encyclopædia Iranica]]'', 1991. | |||
{{Prehistoric technology| state=expanded}} | |||
{{Authority control}} | |||
[[Category:Chalcolithic| ]] | |||
[[Category:Copper]] | |||
[[Category:Historical eras]] | |||