Chalcolithic

Africa The Chalcolithic (English: /ˌkælkəˈlɪθɪk/), a name derived from the Greek: χαλκός khalkós, 'copper' and from λίθος líthos, 'stone' or Copper Age, also known as the Eneolithic or Aeneolithic (from Latin aeneus 'of copper') is an archaeological period which researchers usually regard as part of the broader Neolithic (although scholars originally defined it as a transition between the Neolithic and the Bronze Age). In the context of Eastern Europe, archaeologists often prefer the term 'Eneolithic' to 'Chalcolithic' or other alternatives.'The earliest lead (Pb) finds in the ancient Near East are a 6th millennium BC bangle from Yarim Tepe in northern Iraq and a slightly later conical lead piece from Halaf period Arpachiyah, near Mosul. As native lead is extremely rare, such artifacts raise the possibility that lead smelting may have begun even before copper smelting.' The Chalcolithic (English: /ˌkælkəˈlɪθɪk/), a name derived from the Greek: χαλκός khalkós, 'copper' and from λίθος líthos, 'stone' or Copper Age, also known as the Eneolithic or Aeneolithic (from Latin aeneus 'of copper') is an archaeological period which researchers usually regard as part of the broader Neolithic (although scholars originally defined it as a transition between the Neolithic and the Bronze Age). In the context of Eastern Europe, archaeologists often prefer the term 'Eneolithic' to 'Chalcolithic' or other alternatives. In the Chalcolithic period, copper predominated in metalworking technology. Hence it was the period before it was discovered that adding tin to copper formed bronze (a harder and stronger metal). The archaeological site of Belovode, on Rudnik mountain in Serbia has the oldest securely-dated evidence of copper smelting, from 7000 BP (c. 5000 BC). The Copper Age in the Ancient Near East began in the late 5th millennium BC and lasted for about a millennium before it gave rise to the Early Bronze Age. The transition from the European Copper Age to Bronze Age Europe occurs about the same time, between the late 5th and the late 3rd millennia BC. The multiple names result from multiple recognitions of the period. Originally, the term Bronze Age meant that either copper or bronze was being used as the chief hard substance for the manufacture of tools and weapons. In 1881, John Evans recognized that use of copper often preceded the use of bronze, and distinguished between a transitional Copper Age and the Bronze Age proper. He did not include the transitional period in the three-age system of Early, Middle and Late Bronze Age, but placed it outside the tripartite system, at its beginning. He did not, however, present it as a fourth age but chose to retain the traditional tripartite system. In 1884, Gaetano Chierici, perhaps following the lead of Evans, renamed it in Italian as the eneo-litica, or 'bronze–stone' transition. The phrase was never intended to mean that the period was the only one in which both bronze and stone were used. The Copper Age features the use of copper, excluding bronze; moreover, stone continued to be used throughout both the Bronze Age and the Iron Age. The part -litica simply names the Stone Age as the point from which the transition began and is not another -lithic age. Subsequently, British scholars used either Evans's 'Copper Age' or the term 'Eneolithic' (or Æneolithic), a translation of Chierici's eneo-litica. After several years, a number of complaints appeared in the literature that 'Eneolithic' seemed to the untrained eye to be produced from e-neolithic, 'outside the Neolithic', clearly not a definitive characterization of the Copper Age. Around 1900, many writers began to substitute Chalcolithic for Eneolithic, to avoid the false segmentation. It was then that the misunderstanding began among those who did not know Italian. The Chalcolithic was seen as a new -lithic age, a part of the Stone Age in which copper was used, which may appear paradoxical. Today, Copper Age, Eneolithic and Chalcolithic are used synonymously to mean Evans's original definition of Copper Age. The literature of European archaeology in general avoids the use of 'Chalcolithic' (the term 'Copper Age' is preferred), whereas Middle Eastern archaeologists regularly use it. 'Chalcolithic' is not generally used by British prehistorians, who disagree as to whether it applies in the British context. The emergence of metallurgy may have occurred first in the Fertile Crescent. The earliest use of lead is documented here from the late Neolithic settlement of Yarim Tepe in Iraq, Copper smelting is also documented at this site at about the same time period (soon after 6000 BC), although the use of lead seems to precede copper smelting. Early metallurgy is also documented at the nearby site of Tell Maghzaliyah, which seems to be dated even earlier, and completely lacks pottery.