Editing Chalcolithic (section)

==Regions==

===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]].

[[Lead]] may have been the first [[ore]] that humans [[Smelting|smelted]], since it can be easily obtained by heating [[galena]].<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=Moorey |first=Peter Roger Stuart |title=Ancient Mesopotamian Materials and Industries: The Archaeological Evidence |date=1994 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=0-19-814921-2 |page=294 |lccn=93-40752 |oclc=29255664}}</ref>

Possible early examples of lead smelting, supported by the extreme rarity of native lead,<ref name=":1">{{Cite book |last=Craddock |first=Paul T. |title=Early Metal Mining and Production |date=1995 |publisher=Smithsonian Institution Press (USA) and Edinburgh University Press (GB) |isbn=1-56098-535-6 |page=125 |lccn=94-61412 |oclc=32769136}}</ref> include: lead [[bead]]s, found on Level IX of [[Çatalhöyük|Chatal/Çatal Hüyük]] in central [[Anatolia]], though they might be made of galena, [[cerussite]], or [[metal]]lic lead, and accordingly might or might not be evidence of early smelting;<ref>{{Cite book |last=Mellaart |first=James |url=https://catalog.loc.gov/vwebv/search?searchCode=LCCN&searchArg=67014150&searchType=1&permalink=y |title=Çatal Hüyük: A Neolithic Town in Anatolia |date=1967 |publisher=McGraw-Hill / Thames and Hudson |series=New Aspects of Archaeology |location=New York |pages=217–218 |lccn=67-14150 |oclc=306918}}</ref><ref name=":1" /> a lead bead, found in a GK59 group test square in the 4th level of [[Jarmo]], dated to the 7th millennium BCE, though it is small enough that its human usage is doubtful;<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://isac.uchicago.edu/sites/default/files/uploads/shared/docs/oip105.pdf#page=552 |title=Prehistoric Archeology Along the Zagros Flanks |date=1983 |publisher=The Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago |isbn=0-918986-36-2 |editor-last=Braidwood |editor-first=Linda S. |series=Oriental Institute Publications |volume=105 |location=Chicago, Illinois |page=542 |issn=0069-3367 |lccn=81-85896 |editor-last2=Braidwood |editor-first2=Robert J. |editor-last3=Howe |editor-first3=Bruce |editor-last4=Reed |editor-first4=Charles A. |editor-last5=Watson |editor-first5=Patty Jo |via=Institute for the Study of Ancient Cultures, University of Chicago}}</ref> a lead bracelet, found in level XII of [[Yarim Tepe]] I, dated to the 6th millennium BC;<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Merpert |first1=N. I. |last2=Munchaev |first2=R. M. |last3=Bader |first3=N. O. |date=1977 |title=The Investigations of Soviet Expedition in Iraq 1974 |journal=Sumer: A Journal of Archaeology & History in Arab World |location=Baghdad |publisher=The State Organization of Antiquities, Ministry of Culture and Arts |volume=XXXIII |issue=1 |pages=84, 103 |quote=PL. XII}}</ref><ref name=":2">{{cite book |title=A Companion to the Archaeology of the Ancient Near East |date=2012-08-15 |publisher=John Wiley & Sons |isbn=978-1-4443-6077-6 |editor1-last=Potts |editor1-first=Daniel T. |volume=1 |pages=302–303 |chapter=Northern Mesopotamia |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=P5q7DDqMbF0C&pg=PA302 |via=Google Books}}</ref> a small cone-shaped piece of lead, found in the "Burnt House" in TT6 at [[Tell Arpachiyah|Arpachiyah]], dated to the Halaf period or slightly later than the Yarim Tepe bracelet;<ref name=":2" /> and more.<ref name=":0" />

Copper smelting is also documented at this site at about the same time period (soon after 6000&nbsp;BC). However, the use of lead seems to precede copper smelting.<ref name=":2" /> 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&nbsp;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 & Coningham<ref name=Fazeli-Coningham-2002/> use these results as evidence of the loss of craft specialisation caused by increased use of copper tools.<ref name=Fazeli-Coningham-2002/>

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&nbsp;BC}}) and been replaced by the use of local materials by a primarily household-based production of stone tools.<ref name=Fazeli-Coningham-2002>{{cite journal |last1=Fazeli |first1=H. |last2= Donahue |first2=R.E. |last3=Coningham |first3=R.A.E. |year=2002 |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]] |volume=40 |pages=1–14 |doi= 10.2307/4300616 |jstor=4300616}}</ref>

[[Arsenical copper]] or [[Arsenical bronze|bronze]] was produced in eastern [[Turkey]] ([[Malatya Province]]) at two ancient sites, [[Norşuntepe]] and [[Değirmentepe]], around 4200 BC. According to Boscher (2016), [[hearth]]s or natural draft furnaces, [[slag]], ore, and [[pigment]] had been recovered throughout these sites. This was in the context of [[Ubaid period]] architectural complexes typical of southern Mesopotamian architecture. Norşuntepe site demonstrates that some form of arsenic alloying was indeed taking place by the 4th millennium BC. Since the slag identified at Norşuntepe contains no arsenic, this means that arsenic in some form was added separately.<ref>Loïc C. Boscher (2016), [https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/79547378.pdf Reconstructing the Arsenical Copper Production Process in Early Bronze Age Southwest Asia.] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230514014625/https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/79547378.pdf |date=14 May 2023 }} Ph.D. Thesis. University College London. pp.75-77</ref>

===Europe===
{{Main|Chalcolithic Europe|Metallurgy during the Copper Age in Europe}}

A copper axe found at [[Prokuplje]], Serbia contains the oldest securely dated evidence of copper-making, {{circa|5500&nbsp;BC}} (7,500&nbsp;years ago).<ref>{{cite news |title=Ancient axe find suggests Copper Age began earlier than believed |date=9 Oct 2008 |website=Thaindian News |agency=ANI |url=http://www.thaindian.com/newsportal/india-news/ancient-axe-find-suggests-copper-age-began-earlier-than-believed_100105122.html |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=14 Oct 2008}}</ref> The find in June&nbsp;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=Radivjć-Rehren-etal-2010/>
[[File:Copper Funnel Beaker Culture.png|thumb|Number of metal artefacts found in northern Germany. After a first peak in the late fourth millennium BC, copper disappeared. It only reappeared 1,000 years later at the beginning of the Bronze Age.]]
In Britain and central and northern Europe a Chalcolithic period has never been defined. However, copper artefacts have been found in archaeological groups.<ref name=":3">{{Cite journal |last1=Brozio |first1=Jan Piet |last2=Stos-Gale |first2=Zofia |last3=Müller |first3=Johannes |last4=Müller-Scheeßel |first4=Nils |last5=Schultrich |first5=Sebastian |last6=Fritsch |first6=Barbara |last7=Jürgens |first7=Fritz |last8=Skorna |first8=Henry |date=2023-05-10 |title=The origin of Neolithic copper on the central Northern European plain and in Southern Scandinavia: Connectivities on a European scale |journal=PLOS ONE |language=en |volume=18 |issue=5 |pages=e0283007 |doi=10.1371/journal.pone.0283007 |issn=1932-6203 |pmc=10171686 |pmid=37163484 |doi-access=free|bibcode=2023PLoSO..1883007B }}</ref> Copper artefacts found in northern Germany and Denmark date from between 4000 and 3300 BC, with most finds dating from 3500 - 3300 BC. They belong to the Funnel Beaker group. The copper was mined in Serbian mines, as researchers from Kiel have recently discovered.<ref name=":3" />

Knowledge of the use of copper was far more widespread than the metal itself. Many European archaeological Cultures used stone axes modeled on copper axes, even with moulding carved in the stone, such as the [[Battle Axe culture]]{{Sfnp|Evans|1897}} or the late Funnel Beaker Culture.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Schultrich |first=Sebastian |url=https://macau.uni-kiel.de/receive/macau_mods_00002793?lang=de |title=Kriegerideal und Netzwerke : Die Doppeläxte West- und Mitteleuropas im Kontext der jung- bis endneolithischen Kulturentwicklung. |publisher=MACAU |year=2022 |location=Kiel |language=German |trans-title=Warrior Images and Networks: The Double Axes of Western and Central Europe in the Context of the Younger to the Final Neolithic Cultural Development.}}</ref> [[Ötzi the Iceman]], who was found in the [[Ötztal Alps]] in 1991 and whose remains have been dated to about 3300&nbsp;BC, was found with a [[Mondsee group|Mondsee copper]] axe.

[[File:Los Millares recreacion cuadro.jpg|thumb|A 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]].{{sfnp|Hogan|2007}} 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>{{cite book |first=D.W. |last=Anthony |author-link=David W. Anthony |year=2007 |title-link=The Horse, the Wheel and Language |title=The Horse, the Wheel and Language: How Bronze-Age riders from the Eurasian steppes shaped the modern world |publisher=Princeton University Press |isbn=978-0-691-14818-2}}</ref> In Britain, copper was used between the 25th and {{nobr|22nd centuries BC}}, but some archaeologists do not recognise a British Chalcolithic because production and use was on a small scale.{{sfnp|Miles|2016|pp=363, 423, note&nbsp;15}}

===South Asia===
Ceramic similarities between the [[Indus Valley Civilisation]], southern [[Turkmenistan]], and northern [[Iran]] during 4300–3300&nbsp;BC of the Chalcolithic period suggest considerable mobility and trade.{{sfnp|Parpola|2005}}

The term "Chalcolithic" has also been used in the context of the [[South Asian Stone Age]].<ref>{{cite journal |first1=Vasant |last1=Shinde |first2=Shweta Sinha |last2=Deshpande |year=2015 |title=Crafts and technologies of the Chalcolithic people of South Asia: An overview |journal=Indian Journal of History of Science |volume=50 |issue=1 |pages=42–54|doi=10.16943/ijhs/2015/v50i1/48111 |doi-access=free }}</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&nbsp;BC.{{sfnp|Possehl|1996}}

The [[Nausharo]] site was a pottery workshop in province of [[Balochistan]], Pakistan, that dates to 4,500&nbsp;years ago; 12&nbsp;blades and blade fragments were excavated there. 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. |year=2007 |title=A pottery workshop with flint tools on blades knapped with copper at Nausharo (Indus civilisation {{nobr|ca. 2500 BC)}} |journal=Journal of Archaeological Science |volume=34 |issue=7 |pages=1098–1116 |doi=10.1016/j.jas.2006.10.002}}</ref>

In India, Chalcolithic culture flourished in mainly four farming communities – [[Ahar–Banas culture|Ahar]] or [[Ahar–Banas culture|Banas]], [[Kaytha|Kayatha]], [[Malwa culture|Malwa]], and [[Jorwe culture|Jorwe]]. These communities had some common traits like painted pottery and use of copper, but they had a distinct ceramic design tradition. Banas culture (2000–1600&nbsp;BC) had ceramics with red, white, and black design. Kayatha culture (2450–1700&nbsp;BC) had ceramics painted with brown colored design. Malwa culture (1900–1400&nbsp;BC) had profusely decorated pottery with red or black colored design. Jorwe culture (1500–900&nbsp;BC) had ceramics with matte surface and black-on-red design.<ref>{{cite book |last=Singh |first=Vipul |orig-year=2006 |year=2008 |title=The Pearson Indian History Manual for the UPSC Civil Services Preliminary Examination |edition=2nd |place=New Delhi, IN |publisher=Pearson Education India |isbn=978-81-317-1753-0 |language=en |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wsiXwh_tIGkC&dq=Chalcolithic+india&pg=PA48}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Peregrine |first1=Peter N. |last2=Ember |first2=Melvin |date=2003-03-31 |title=Encyclopedia of Prehistory |volume=8: South and Southwest Asia |publisher=Springer Science & Business Media |isbn=978-0-306-46262-7 |language=en |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=C-TQpUtI-dgC&dq=Chalcolithic+india&pg=PA34}}</ref>

[[Pandu Rajar Dhibi]] (2000–1600&nbsp;BC) is a Chalcolithic site in the eastern part of the [[Indian subcontinent]]. It is located on the south bank of [[Ajay River]] in [[West Bengal]]. [[Blackware]], painted Koshi ware, pottery, various ornaments made of [[pearl]] and copper, various types of tools, pieces of fabric woven from Shimul cotton thread, human and various animal skeletons, burnt clay fragments have been found at the site.<ref name="indianculture1">{{cite web |title=The Excavations at Pandu Rajar Dhibi |url=https://indianculture.gov.in/flipbook/27898 |website=indianculture.gov.in |access-date=3 July 2023}}</ref>

In March&nbsp;2018, archaeologists had discovered three carts and copper artifacts including weapons dating to 1800&nbsp;BC in [[Sanauli]] village of Uttar Pradesh. The artifacts belongs to [[Ochre Coloured Pottery culture]].<ref>{{cite journal |last=Parpola |first=Asko |year=2020 |title=Royal "chariot" burials of Sanauli near Delhi and archaeological correlates of prehistoric Indo-Iranian languages |journal=Studia Orientalia Electronica |volume=8 |pages=176 |doi=10.23993/store.98032 |doi-access=free }}</ref>

===Pre-Columbian Americas===
{{Main|Metallurgy in pre-Columbian Mesoamerica|Metallurgy in pre-Columbian America}}

In the [[Archaeology of the Americas]], a five-period system is conventionally used which does not include metal ages, though metalworking technology did precede European contact in some areas.

[[Andean civilizations]] in South America appear to have [[Bronze Age#Americas|independently invented]] copper smelting.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Cooke |first1=Colin A. |last2=Abbott |first2=Mark B. |last3=Wolfe |first3=Alexander P. |last4=Kittleson |first4=John L. |date=2007-05-01 |title=A millennium of metallurgy recorded by lake sediments from Morococha, Peruvian Andes |journal=Environmental Science & Technology |volume=41 |issue=10 |pages=3469–3474 |doi=10.1021/es062930+ |pmid=17547165 |bibcode=2007EnST...41.3469C |issn=0013-936X |language=en |doi-access=free }}</ref>

The term "Chalcolithic"  is also applied to American civilizations that already used copper and copper [[alloy]]s thousands of years before Europeans immigrated. Besides cultures in the Andes and Mesoamerica, the [[Old Copper complex]] mined and fabricated copper as tools, weapons, and personal ornaments in an area centered in the upper [[Great Lakes region]] (present-day [[Michigan]] and [[Wisconsin]]).<ref>{{cite book |first1=R.A. |last1=Birmingham |first2=L.E. |last2=Eisenberg |year=2000 |title=Indian Mounds of Wisconsin |place=Madison, WI |publisher=University of Wisconsin Press |pages=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 6500–1000&nbsp;BC, making them some of the oldest Chalcolithic sites in the world.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Pompeani |first1=David P. |last2=Steinman |first2=Byron A. |last3=Abbott |first3=Mark B. |last4=Pompeani |first4=Katherine M. |last5=Reardon |first5=William |last6=DePasqual |first6=Seth |last7=Mueller |first7=Robin H. |title=On the Timing of the Old Copper Complex in North America: A Comparison of Radiocarbon Dates from Different Archaeological Contexts |date=April 2021 |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/radiocarbon/article/abs/on-the-timing-of-the-old-copper-complex-in-north-america-a-comparison-of-radiocarbon-dates-from-different-archaeological-contexts/E46715993E58EDC94F225CC6FE776CF2 |journal=Radiocarbon |language=en |volume=63 |issue=2 |pages=513–531 |doi=10.1017/RDC.2021.7 |bibcode=2021Radcb..63..513P |s2cid=233029733 |issn=0033-8222 |access-date=11 February 2023 |archive-date=11 February 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230211002145/https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/radiocarbon/article/abs/on-the-timing-of-the-old-copper-complex-in-north-america-a-comparison-of-radiocarbon-dates-from-different-archaeological-contexts/E46715993E58EDC94F225CC6FE776CF2 |url-status=live }}</ref> 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>{{cite journal |author=Neiburger, E.J. |year=1987 |title=Did Midwest pre-Columbia[n] Indians cast metal? A new look |journal=Central States Archaeological Journal |volume=34 |issue=2 |pages=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 during this early stage.<ref>{{cite journal |first1=Christian E. |last1=Peterson |author2-link=Gideon Shelach-Lavi|first2=Gideon |last2=Shelach |date=September 2012 |title=Jiangzhai: Social and economic organization of a Middle Neolithic Chinese village |journal=[[Journal of Anthropological Archaeology]] |volume=31 |issue=3 |pages=241–422 |doi=10.1016/j.jaa.2012.01.007}}</ref>

Copper manufacturing gradually appeared in the [[Yangshao]] period (5000–3000&nbsp;BC). [[Jiangzhai]] is the only site where copper artifacts were found in the [[Banpo]] culture. Archaeologists have found remains of copper metallurgy in various cultures from the late fourth to the early third millennia BC. These include the copper-smelting remains and copper artifacts of the [[Hongshan culture]] (4700–2900) and copper [[slag]] at the Yuanwozhen site. This indicates that inhabitants of the [[Yellow River]] valley had already learned how to make copper artifacts by the later [[Yangshao culture|Yangshao]] period.<ref>{{cite book |author1=Chang, Kwang-Chih |author2=Xu, Pingfang |author3=Lu, Liancheng |year=2005 |title=The Formation of Chinese Civilization: An archaeological perspective |publisher=Yale University Press |page=66}}</ref>

===Sub-Saharan Africa===
{{Main|Copper metallurgy in Africa|Iron metallurgy in Africa}}
In the region of the [[Aïr Mountains]], Niger, independent copper smelting developed between 3000 and 2500&nbsp;BC. The process was not in a developed state, indicating smelting was not foreign. It became mature about 1500&nbsp;BC.<ref>{{cite book |author=Ehret, Christopher |year=2002 |title=The Civilizations of Africa |place=Charlottesville, VA |publisher=University of Virginia |pages=136, 137 |isbn=0-8139-2085-X}}</ref>