Copper Age

The Copper Age was a time period between the Neolithic and the Bronze Age. It is also named Chalcolithic ( khalkos "copper" +  lithos "stone").  

The Copper Age happened at different times in different places. The earliest evidence we have of copper production is from around 6,500 BC.Pompeani, David P.; Steinman, Byron A.; Abbott, Mark B.; Pompeani, Katherine M.; Reardon, William; DePasqual, Seth; Mueller, Robin H. (April 2021). "On the Timing of the Old Copper Complex in North America: A Comparison of Radiocarbon Dates from Different Archaeological Contexts". Radiocarbon. 63 (2): 513–531. Bibcode:2021Radcb..63..513P. doi:10.1017/RDC.2021.7. ISSN 0033-8222. 

 Use of copper 
During the Copper Age, people used copper to produced edged weapons (such as knives, swords, spearheads, and axes), brooches, pins, belt boxes, and vessels for food and drink.Trigger, Bruce C. 1996. A history of archaeological thought. 2nd ed, Cambridge University Press. p226 However, they still made most of their tools out of stone.Pearsall, Judy (1998). "Chalcolithic". The New Oxford Dictionary of English. Clarendon Press. p. 301. ISBN 0-19-861263-X. 

During this age, people learned to add tin to copper to make bronze, an alloy which is much harder than either tin or copper. However, they did not do this very often because tin was scarce. Later, during the Bronze Age, people used bronze widely. Its hardness made it more useful than copper, a soft metal, for things like weapons. 

It is important to note that not every human or group knew how to use copper. However, a growing number of people were learning about copper and using it during this era. 

 Timeline 
The Vinča culture was the first to develop the knowledge and skills to process copper, in the late 6th millennium BC.Miljana Radivojević et al.: On the origins of extractive metallurgy: new evidence from Europe. In: Journal of Archaeological Science, Vol 37, Issue 11, 2010, pp 2775-2787 

By the mid-4th millennium, people in Mesopotamia had a rapidly developing copper industry, using copper to cast tools and weapons. This contributed to the growth of cities in the area. By 3000 BC, people knew about copper in the Middle East, the Mediterranean area, and the Neolithic cultures of Europe. 

The transition from Copper Age to Bronze Age happened from around 5000 BC to the late 3rd millennium BC.

References

Category:Periods and ages in history
Category:Copper