Editing Chalcolithic (section)

===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>