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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.
CityPeriod4000 BC to 1000 BC4000 BC to 1000 BC5000 BC to 2300 BC6700 BC to 5700 BC- Chronology
- Chalcolithic Lifestyles
- Houses and Burial Styles
- Teleilat Ghassul
- Polychrome Paintings
- Sources
Pinning a specific date on the Chalcolithic is difficult. Like other broad categories such as Neolithic or Mesolithic, rather than referring to a particular group of people residing in one place and time, "Chalcolithic" is applied to a broad mosaic of cultural entities located in different environments, which have a handful of common characteristic...
A main identifying characteristic of the Chalcolithic period is polychrome painted pottery. Ceramic forms found on Chalcolithic sites include "fenestrated pottery", pots with openings cut into the walls, which may have been used for burning incense, as well as large storage jars and serving jars with spouts. Stone tools include adzes, chisels, pick...
Houses built by Chalcolithic farmers were constructed of stone or mudbrick. One characteristic pattern is a chain building, a row of rectangular houses connected to one another by shared party walls on the short ends. Most of the chains are no more than six houses long, leading researchers to suspect that they represent extended farming families li...
The archaeological site of Teleilat Ghassul(Tulaylât al-Ghassûl) is a Chalcolithic site located in the Jordan Valley about 80 kilometers (50 miles) northeast of the Dead Sea. Excavated first in the 1920s by Alexis Mallon, the site contains a handful of mud-brick houses built beginning about 5000 BC, that grew over the next 1,500 years to include a ...
The architectural plan is not the only polychrome painting at Teleilat Ghassul: there is a "Processional" scene of robed and masked individuals led by a larger figure with a raised arm. The robes are complex textiles in red, white and black with tassels. One individual wears a conical headpiece that may have horns, and some scholars have interprete...
This article is part of the About.com guide to History of Humans on Earth, and part of the Dictionary of Archaeology Bourke SJ. 2007. The Late Neolithic/Early Chalcolithic Transition at Teleilat Ghassul: Context, Chronology, and Culture. Paléorient33(1):15-32. Dolfini A. 2010. The origins of metallurgy in central Italy: new radiometric evidence. An...
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Apr 3, 2021 · This chalcolithic mummy was discovered high in the Alps, meticulously preserved by the icy conditions. His remains were dated with accuracy to 3300 BC, while his belongings were key to provide a glimpse into that bygone era. By his side was also a copper axe, made by the Mondsee Culture group.
Networks of exchange and specialized processing and production that had evolved during the Neolithic seem to have collapsed by the Middle Chalcolithic (c. 4500–3500 BC) and been replaced by the use of local materials by a primarily household-based production of stone tools.
The Chalcolithic, the phase in prehistory when the important technical development of adding tin to copper to produce bronze had not yet taken place, is not a t...
Volker Heyd describes how a long-term and ongoing evolutionary progress is attested for prehistoric Europe between the mid-5th and late 3rd millennium BC. The Europe-wide Bell Beaker Phenomenon was the apex of an ideological domination which completed the process of the Chalcolithisation of Europe.
The 3rd millennium BC included the following key events: c. 3000 BC: Unification of Upper and Lower Egypt. c. 3000 BC: First evidence of gold being used in the Middle East. c. 3000 BC: Nubian A-Group, Ta-Seeti "kingdom" came to an end, possibly due to raids by Egypt.
