Copper Age

Central and Northern Europe

The Copper Age in Central and Northern Europe overlaps heavily with the Middle and Late Neolithic periods. The Middle Neolithic/Copper Age I (4500–4200 BC) is best illustrated by the Tiszapolgar Culture. The first farmers of the Northern European plains, of the Funnel Beaker Culture (4200–2800 BC), settled in southern Norway to the Czech/Austrian border, and from the Netherlands to Ukraine during the Late Neolithic/Copper Age II (4200–3750BC). Evidence for the first wheeled carts occur in Germany and Poland during this time. Northern Europe developed agriculture, plow tools, copper tools, and monumental architecture. The Corded Ware/Single Grave Culture (2800–1850 BC) continued in the same areas and expanded eastward. Scholars suggest the development of Indo-European language groups at this time. The Corded Ware Culture was followed by the Bell Beaker Interaction Sphere, based on bell-shaped pots found from the Middle Danube to the Iberian Peninsula and from Ireland, Great Britain, and Denmark to Sicily and North Africa. Depending on the location, this sphere may be considered part of the Late Copper Age or Early Bronze Age(2900–1700 BC).

The Levant

The Chalcolithic in the Levant dates between the late 5th and early4th millennia BC (5000–3500 BC). The chronology and periodization of the Chalcholithic in the southern Levant has long been a contentious topic, resulting in significant overlap between Copper Age material and the Early Bronze Age material. Key to understanding the Chalcolithic in the Levant is the shift in settlement patterns, simultaneously illustrating an increase in sociocomplexity and metallurgy. Examples of sites with Chalcolithic material include Arad, Byblos, Ghassul, Gilath, Jawa, Khirbet Querin(North), Tell Teo, and Tell Um Hammad.

Central Asia and China

The Chalcolithic in Central Asia exhibits the first uses of copper and indications of organized agriculture. In western Central Asia, the typological phase Anau IA (late 6th–early 5th millennia BC) illustrates the use of copper tools at Chakmakli-depe and Mondjukli-depe. Subsequently, the Namazga sequences at these sites define the chronology of the developed Chalcolithic period(4th–2nd millennia BC). This period in western Turkestan represents the first organized agricultural villages in Central Asia, and during the Namazga Chalcolithic, craft (metal and ceramic)specialization became an economic factor linking Central Asia to the Near East and South Asia. Unlike the Namazga sites, the Keltiminar groups of Khoresmia developed separately due to the barrier of the Kyzl Kum desert. Autochthonous developments are also seen in societies north of the Caspian Sea, along the Volga and Ural rivers, such as Tripolye and Sredny Stog (ca. 4000–3500 BC), which represent sedentary communities employing mixed economies of hunting, fishing, animal domestication, and limited agriculture. Similar to those communities, the Botai and Tersek (Ural Mountains and Tobol River in Kazakhstan) show local affiliations and interaction.

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