Chalcolithic Europe
This article needs additional citations for verification. (December 2007) |
Chalcolithic Eneolithic, Aeneolithic, or Copper Age |
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↑ Stone Age ↑ Neolithic |
↓ Bronze Age ↓ Iron Age |
The European Chalcolithic, the Chalcolithic (also Eneolithic, Copper Age) period of Prehistoric Europe, lasted roughly from 5000 to 2000 BC, developing from the preceding Neolithic period and followed by the Bronze Age.
It was a period of Megalithic culture, the appearance of the first significant economic stratification, and probably the earliest presence of Indo-European speakers.
The economy of the Chalcolithic, even in the regions where copper was not yet used, was no longer that of peasant communities and tribes: some materials began to be produced in specific locations and distributed to wide regions. Mining of metal and stone was particularly developed in some areas, along with the processing of those materials into valuable goods.
Ancient Chalcolithic
From c.
Meanwhile, the Danubian
In the western Danubian region (the Rhine and Seine basins) the culture of Michelsberg displaced its predecessor, Rössen. Meanwhile, in the Mediterranean basin, several cultures (most notably Chassey in SE France and La Lagozza in northern Italy) converged into a functional union, of which the most significant characteristic was the distribution network of honey-coloured flint. Despite this unity, the signs of conflicts are clear, as many skeletons show violent injuries. This was the time and area where Ötzi, a man whose well-preserved body was found in the Alps, lived. Another significant development of this period was the Megalithic phenomenon spreading to most places of the Atlantic region, bringing with it agriculture to some underdeveloped regions existing there.
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Varna culture artefacts, 4500 BC
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Bodrogkeresztúr gold idol, 4000-3500 BC BC
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Cucuteni-Trypilliafigurine, 4000 BC
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Cucuteni–Trypillia pottery
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Maidanetske, Ukraine, c. 3800 BC
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Copper tools, Old Europe, c. 4000 BC
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Ljubljana Wheel, Slovenia, 3150 BC
Middle Chalcolithic
This period extends along the first half of the 3rd millennium BC. Most significant is the reorganization of the Danubians into the powerful Baden culture, which extended more or less to what would be the Austro-Hungarian Empire in recent times. The rest of the Balkans was profoundly restructured after the invasions of the previous period but, with the exception of the Coțofeni culture in a mountainous region, none of them show any eastern (or presumably Indo-European) traits. The new Ezero culture, in Bulgaria, had the first traits of pseudo-bronze (an alloy of copper with arsenic); as did the first significant Aegean group: the Cycladic culture after c. 2800 BC.
In the North, the supposedly Indo-European groups seemed to recede temporarily, suffering a strong cultural danubianization. In the East, the peoples of beyond the Volga (
After c. 2600 several phenomena prefigured the changes of the upcoming period. Large towns with stone walls appeared in two different areas of the Iberian Peninsula: one in the Portuguese region of
In the southwestern Iberian peninsula, owl-like plaques made of sandstone were discovered and dated to be crafted from 5500 to 4750 BP (Before Present). These are some of the most unique objects discovered in the Chalcolithic (copper age) cultural period. They have generally a head, two rounded eyes, and a body. Theses species were modeled after two owl species, the little owl (Athene Noctua) and the long-eared owl (Asio otux).[9]
Late Chalcolithic
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This period extended from c. 2500 BC to c. 1800 or 1700 BC (depending on the region). The dates are general for the whole of Europe, and the Aegean area was already fully in the Bronze Age. c. 2500 BC the new
Around 2400 BC. this people of the Corded Ware replaced their predecessors and expanded to Danubian and Nordic areas of western Germany. One related branch invaded Denmark and southern Sweden (
The rest of the continent remained mostly unchanged and in apparent peace. From c. 2300 BC the first
The second phase of Beaker Pottery, from c. 2100 BC onwards, was marked by the displacement of the centre of this phenomenon to Portugal, inside the culture of Vila Nova. This new centre's influence reached to all southern and western France but was absent in southern and western Iberia, with the notable exception of Los Millares. After c. 1900 BC, the centre of the Beaker Pottery returned to Bohemia, while in Iberia there was a decentralization of the phenomenon, with centres in Portugal but also in Los Millares and Ciempozuelos.
See also
References
- ISBN 978-0-19-973578-5.
- ISBN 978-1-78570-654-7.
- ^ [1] Archived 2022-11-01 at the Wayback Machine Gems and Gemstones: Timeless Natural Beauty of the Mineral World, By Lance Grande
- ^ (https://www.smithsonianmag.com/travel/varna-bulgaria-gold-graves-social-hierarchy-prehistoric-archaelogy-smithsonian-journeys-travel-quarterly-180958733/)
- ^ (https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/oldest-gold-object-unearthed-bulgaria-180960093/)
- ^ Marcos Saiz (2006), pp. 225–270.
- ^ Marcos Saiz (2016), pp. 686–696.
- ^ Marcos Saiz & Díez (2017), pp. 45–67.
- PMID 36456596.
- ^ Miles, The Tale of the Axe, pp. 363, 423, n. 15
Sources
- Marcos Saiz, F. Javier (2006). La Sierra de Atapuerca y el Valle del Arlanzón. Patrones de asentamiento prehistóricos. Editorial Dossoles. Burgos, Spain. ISBN 9788496606289.
- Marcos Saiz, F. Javier (2016). La Prehistoria Reciente del entorno de la Sierra de Atapuerca (Burgos, España). British Archaeological Reports (Oxford, U.K.), BAR International Series 2798. ISBN 9781407315195.
- Marcos Saiz, F.J.; Díez, J.C. (2017). "The Holocene archaeological research around Sierra de Atapuerca (Burgos, Spain) and its projection in a GIS geospatial database". Quaternary International. 433 (A): 45–67. .
- Miles, David (2016). The Tale of the Axe: How the Neolithic Revolution Transformed Britain. London, UK: Thames & Hudson. ISBN 978-0-500-05186-3.
External links
Media related to Copper Age in Europe at Wikimedia Commons