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Chalcolithic

Also known as Copper Age, Eneolithic, Æneolithic, Copper age

The Chalcolithic ( ) (also called the Copper Age and Eneolithic) was an archaeological period characterized by the increasing use of smelted copper. It followed the Neolithic and preceded the Bronze Age. It occurred at different periods in different areas, but was absent in some parts of the world, such as Russia, where there was no well-defined Copper Age between the Stone and Bronze Ages. Stone tools were still predominantly used during this period.

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The Chalcolithic, also known as the Copper Age, was a period in human history when people began smelting and using copper while still relying mainly on stone tools, fitting between the Neolithic and Bronze Age. This period happened at different times in different parts of the world and was skipped entirely in some regions like Russia, making it an important marker of how different societies adopted metalworking at their own pace.

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Image: Marcilly-le-Hayer Dolmen des Blancs Fossés.jpg

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Commons category: Copper Age
start time: 7500-00-00
end time: 2500-00-00

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13 sections

Contents

Terminology
Regions
Near East
Europe
South Asia
Americas
East Asia
Sub-Saharan Africa
See also
Notes
References
Bibliography
External links

The Chalcolithic covers both the early cold working (hammering) of near pure copper ores, as exhibited by the likes of North American Great Lakes Old Copper complex, from around 6,500 BC, through the later copper smelting cultures. The archaeological site of Belovode, on Rudnik mountain in Serbia, has the world's oldest securely dated evidence of copper smelting at high temperature, from . The transition from Copper Age to Bronze Age in Europe occurred between the late 5th and the late In the Ancient Near East the Copper Age covered about the same period, beginning in the late and lasting for about a millennium before it gave rise to the Early Bronze Age.