Copper Age state societies
| Chalcolithic Eneolithic, Aeneolithic, or Copper Age |
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↑ Stone Age ↑ Neolithic |
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↓ Bronze Age ↓ Iron Age |
The Chalcolithic or Copper Age is the transitional period between the Neolithic and the Bronze Age.[1] It is taken to begin around the mid-5th millennium BC, and ends with the beginning of the Bronze Age proper, in the late 4th to 3rd millennium BC, depending on the region.
The Chalcolithic is part of prehistory, but based on archaeological evidence, the emergence of the first state societies can be inferred, notably in the Fertile Crescent (notably Sumer) Predynastic Egypt, and Proto-Minoan Crete, with late Neolithic societies of comparable complexity emerging in the Indus Valley (Mehrgarh), China, and along the north-western shores of the Black Sea.
The development of states—large-scale, populous, politically centralized, and socially stratified polities/societies governed by powerful rulers—marks one of the major milestones in the evolution of human societies. Archaeologists often distinguish between primary (or pristine) states and secondary states. Primary states evolved independently through largely internal developmental processes rather than through the influence of any other pre-existing state.
The earliest known primary states appeared in Anatolia c. 5200 BC,[2] in Mesopotamia c. 3700 BC,[citation needed], in Greece c. 3500 BC,[3] in Egypt c. 3300 BC,[citation needed] in the Indus Valley c. 3300 BC,[citation needed] and in China c. 1600 BC.[citation needed] In Africa, discoveries in the Agadez Region of Niger evidence signs of copper metallurgy as early as 2000BC. This date pre-dates the use of iron by a thousand years.Copper metallurgy seems to have been an indigenous invention in this area, because there is no clear evidence of influences from Northern Africa, and the Saharan wet phase was coming to an end, hindering human interactions across the Saharan region. It appeared to not be fully developed copper metallurgy, which suggests it was not from external origins.
List of known polities
[edit] |
| City | period |
|---|---|
| Anau | 4000 BC to 1000 BC |
| Anshan | 4000 BC to 1000 BC |
| Bad-tibira | 5000 BC to 2300 BC |
| Çatalhöyük | 6700 BC to 5700 BC |
| Güvercinkayası | 5200 BC to 4750 BC |
| Ebla | 3500 BC to 1600 BC |
| Eridu | 5400 BC to 2050 BC |
| Girsu | 5000 to 2100 BC |
| Heliopolis (Lower Egypt) | 3500 BC to ~1000BC |
| Isin | 3500 to 2100 BC |
| Jericho | 9600 BC to 1400 BC |
| Kish | 4000 to 2300 BC |
| Knossos | 7000 to 1900 BC |
| Lagash | 4000 to 2250 BC |
| Laish | 4500 to 1350 BC |
| Mari | 2900 to 1759 BC |
| Mehrgarh | 5500 to 2500 BC |
| Nekhen (Upper Egypt) | 3500 BC to ~150BC |
| Nippur | 5000 to 2450 BC |
| Susa | 4200 to 2330 BC |
| Rakhigarhi | 6500 BC to 1900 BC |
| Ugarit | 6000 BC to 1190 BC |
| Ur | 4000 to 2000 BC |
| Uruk | 4000 to 3100 BC |
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ 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 BCE, 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".
- ^ Pavlů, Ivan; Gülçur, Sevil; Jačkova, I.; Buzek, F. (2009). "Pavlů, I., Gülçur, S., Jačkova, I., & Buzek, F. (2009). 13C and 15N Isotopic Data on Grinding Stones from the Güvercinkayası Site, Turkey. Anatolia antiqua. Eski Anadolu, 17(1), 19-30". Anatolia Antiqua. Eski Anadolu. 17 (1): 19–30. doi:10.3406/anata.2009.1275.
- ^ "Chronology". www.minoancrete.com. Retrieved 2021-08-04.