Editing 5th millennium BC (section)

====Ulterior Middle East====
In modern Turkey: Strong Anatolian polities counteract the balance of power from the Ubaid polities and dwaining [[Samarra culture|Samarrans]] who were culturally assimilated around 4800 BC. Such polities include [[Mersin]] notably having a standing army circa 4300 BC, and [[Hamoukar]] which was a major production centre in the important Obsidian trade and thus power. 
An intensive copper trade, connecting Europe with the East, is represented in Anatolia by sites at [[Hacilar]], [[Beycesultan]], [[Canhasan]], [[Yumuktepe|Mersin Yumuktepe]], Elazig Tepecik, [[Malatya Degirmentepe]], [[Norşuntepe]], and [[Kadıköy|Istanbul Fikirtepe]].<ref>{{harvnb|Suthan|2009–2014|loc=[http://www.ancientanatolia.com/historical/chalcolithic.htm Chalcolithic age]}}</ref>

[[Black Sea deluge hypothesis|Prior environmental devastation in the previous two millennia]] may account for the lack of [[Neolithic period|Neolithic]] sites in northern Turkey.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Ballard |first1=R.D. |last2=Coleman |first2=D. F. |last3=Rosenberg |first3=G.D. |title=Further evidence of abrupt Holocene drowning of the Black Sea shelf |journal=Marine Geology |date=2000 |volume=170 |issue=3–4 |pages=253–261 |doi=10.1016/S0025-3227(00)00108-0 |bibcode=2000MGeol.170..253B |url=https://academiccommons.columbia.edu/doi/10.7916/D8XD1B59/download}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Hiebert |first1=F.T. |title=Black Sea coastal cultures: Trade and interaction |journal=Expedition |date=2001 |volume=43 |issue=1 |pages=11–20 |url=https://www.penn.museum/sites/expedition/black-sea-coastal-cultures/}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Özdoğan |first1=M. |editor1-last=Benjamin |editor1-first=J. |editor2-last=Bonsall |editor2-first=C. |editor3-last=Pickard |editor3-first=C. |editor4-last=Fischer |editor4-first=A. |title=Submerged Prehistory |date=2011 |publisher=Oxbow |place=Oxford, UK |pages=219–229 |chapter=Submerged sites and drowned topographies along the Anatolian coasts: An overview}}</ref>

In the Levant: [[Ghassulian culture]] thrives, immigrating from the North into the whole of the [[Levant]] circa 4400 BC. With concentrated settlements and elites economically focused on [[copper]] [[metallurgy]] and trade, notably importing from [[Wadi Feynan|Southern]] [[History of Jordan|Jordan's vast and powerful urban polities and Bedouin-like cultures]]. The Ghassulian culture trades and correlates closely with the [[Amratian culture|Amratians]] of Egypt and also seems to have affinities (e.g., the distinctive churns, or "bird vases") with early Minoan culture in Crete.[3][6]
Cypriot affinities are not seen, with Cyprus experiencing newcomers circa 4500 BC who arrived and introduced a new Neolithic era. This [[Sotira, Limassol|Sotira culture]] replaced the void of the collapse of the 6th millennium [[Khirokitia|Neolithic culture]] in Cyprus.

Trade with Levant and external regions on an impressive scale and covering large distances starts to connect Europe with Asia on a more direct scale than before. [[Obsidian]] found in the Chalcolithic levels at [[Gilat]], [[Israel]] have had their origins traced via elemental analysis to three sources in Southern Anatolia: Hotamis Dağ, [[Göllü Dağ]], and as far east as [[Nemrut Dağ]], 500&nbsp;km (310&nbsp;mi) east of the other two sources. This is indicative of a very large trade circle reaching as far as the Northern Fertile Crescent and [[Anatolia]].

In the Caucasus: Settlements of the 5th millennium BC in North Caucasus attest to a material culture that was related to contemporaneous archaeological complexes in the northern and western Black Sea region like the [[Leyla-Tepe culture]] (c. 4300 – 4000BC). These polities were immense economically, and pioneered copper metallurgy and trade. Constant immigration from Ubadians and from Uruk herself did play economic factors as well.

Such cultural elements change and are replaced, suddenly during the latter first half of the [[4th Millennium BC]], and the quality of copper metallurgy declines somewhat, during the [[Kura–Araxes culture]].

On the other hand, the millennia long attested [[Shulaveri–Shomu culture]] showed stronger cultural connections like similar tool kits and use of red ochre, portrays intimate and centuries-old ties with the [[Halaf period|Halafians]].

In Arabia: Continuation of Ubaid economical expansion and culture(since the [[6th millennium BC]], circa 5500 BC) throughout Arabia, with adoption and integration but also contributions to these new political features. [[Ubaid period|Ubaid]] pottery of periods 2 and 3 has been documented at site H3 in [[Kuwait]] and in Dosariyah in eastern [[Saudi Arabia]] which bordered the Persian Gulf, a major trade hub.