We explain what the age of copper is, what their cultures and characteristics were. In addition, the inventions of the time and how it ended.
What is copper age?
In the study of prehistory, it is known as the age of copper, calcolithic or eneolithic to a period between the Neolithic (the last stage of the so -called stone age) and the age of the bronze (already in the age of the metals). As the name implies, this was The stage in which humanity knew copper: The second (after gold) of the metals he learned to melt to manufacture tools and utensils.
As with the rest of the stages of the age of metals, It is not possible to establish an exact date to indicate the beginning and the end of the age of copper. This type of periodization, rather than temporarily locating, seeks to categorize the technological development of different societies in their own history.
Copper devices of around 9,000 a have been found. C. In Türkiye and Northern Iraq, although most likely they were worked in the cold, by hammering. The first clear evidences of metal smelting were found in Anatolia and estimated close to 6,000 a year. C.
In other regions in which this mineral was scarce, the beginning of the copper age is located in the subsequent millennia. As with the other prehistoric ages, It occurred irregularly among the different populations of the pastand cannot be used as a universal measure of historical progress of societies.
Copper Age Characteristics
At very great features, the copper age was characterized by the following:
- Humanity knew copper, a ductile metal and easy to use. Its foundry initially had ornamental destinations, since it is not a resistant metal that can move the lithic or obsidian lithic tools. Later he began to experience with his first alloys, with arsenic, gold and silver, and eventually with tin, which led to bronze.
- There was an increase in production In the different prehistoric societies, which brought with it a greater capacity for exchange and greater artisanal specialization, that is, each artisan could produce new and unique materials. Ceramics, above all, was very important, since the mastery in baking led to the first steps in metallurgy.
- The human population experienced its first great boomand that implied new modes of occupation of the territory and the first social stratifications, which gave rise to the first complex societies. The band as a form of social organization was behind and the communities grew to integrate thousands of individuals. This growth encouraged, in turn, the development of economic and cultural exchanges between different populations.
- Livestock brought with it the use of derived productsthanks to the use not only of the animal force, but also of the milk and wool produced by the domesticated species.
- In the ritual field, the calcolithic was a very important period. The first spaces reserved for ritual or sacred use emerged.
Cultures and settlements of the Copper Age
The age of copper covers only populations from some areas of Asia, Europe and North Africa. Among the main cultures and settlements of the period were:
- Mesopotamian cultures of Samarra (Iraq) and Tell-Halaf (Syria)who knew copper and lead metallurgy towards the millennium IV a. C., thanks to its advanced ceramic knowledge. They produced statuettes, stamps and built sanctuaries, and knew irrigation agriculture.
- The culture of Nagada in the Nile Valley (Egypt)a preinitive culture developed from 4,000 a. C., whose majority of objects found are made of stone, but also knew metallurgy. It was a society with evidence of hierarchical organization, irrigated agriculture and extensive necropolis that already demonstrate social differentiation between classes. Copper, gold and silver were widely used in the elaboration of pins, amulets and other ornaments, as well as an important craft.
- The first European civilizationeven without name, it was discovered at the beginning of the 21st century in the Los Balcanes region, Eastern Europe, between Danube and Thessaly. He had his main foci in the cultures of Vincha (Serbia), Gmenitsa (Romania and Bulgaria), Salcuta (the west of Bulgaria), Cucuteni (Moldova, Ukraine and Besarabia) and Tiszapolgar (around the Carpatos). These cultures shared a mining and metallurgical industry of importance, whose golds of goldsmith datan of the year 4,000 a. C. and have been found in the famous necropolis of Varna, in Bulgaria.
- The Peoples of the Kurganesinhabitants of the Euroasy steppes to the north of the Black Sea, were an amalgam of different cultures in the region, which shared a livestock economy, the use of horse and ritual burial in tumulos (called kurganes). These tombs were family mausoleums, whose bodies were sprinkled with ocher and plaster, and buried together with ceramic objects and meat offerings.
- The cultures of the Aegean Seaappeared in the IV Millennium a. C., protagonists of an intense network of cultural and economic exchanges, and that knew copper, the construction of walls and built the first stone temples, located in Malta, such as the deposits of Ggantija, Hagar, Qim, Mnajdra or Tarxien. Among these cultures were: the helpedic peoples of continental Greece, the cycling civilization (in the islands of the same name, of the Greek coast) and the mycenaean civilization (on the island of Crete).
- The cultures of the Iberian Peninsulalocated mainly in the regions of Andalusia and Extremadura, as well as Alentejo and Algarve, in Spain and Portugal respectively, where fortified and abundant megalitos villages erected. His two cultural poles were Vila Nova and Los Millares (3100 BC), very active in the production of idols, bells and decorated stone plates.
Copper Age Inventions and Tools
The copper allowed to make ornaments, domestic utensils and religious statuettes. Besides allowed to set swords and shields capable of resisting the onslaught of stone weaponssince they deformed instead of broken and could return to their original state through hammering. In alloys with arsenic, copper acquired great hardness, and these new elements translated into the military superiority of the time.
On the other hand, the intense network of exchanges that began to occur between the primitive cultures of the world allowed the massive use of The wheel and the car, as well as the dissemination of bell -closed ceramics and new plow forms.
Some villages also met gold, used as precious metal for ritual burials of leaders or bosses.
End of copper age
Copper’s age had an end when, in attempts to find a more resistant and noble metal than copper, His alloy with tin was discovered, which produces bronze. The different populations achieved this technical advance at different times; Towards 3200 a. C. in the next East, towards 3000 a. C. in Egypt, around 2500 a. C. in Greece and towards 2000 a. C. in Central Asia.
Continue with: Bronze Age
References
- Eiraa, JJ (2003). Notions of general prehistory. Grupo Planeta (GBS).
- Food, MH, & Steve, MJ (eds.). (1989). Prehistory (vol. 1). 21st century of Spain editors.
- “Copper Age” on Wikipedia.
- “Copper Age” in The Encyclopaedia Britannica.
