The

Chalcolithic The Chalcolithic ( ) (also called the Copper Age and Eneolithic) was an archaeological period characterized by the increasing use of smelted copper. It followed the Neolithic and preceded the Bronze Age. It occurred at different periods in di ...

(also Eneolithic, Copper Age) period of Prehistoric Europe lasted roughly from 5000 to 2000 BC, developing from the preceding

Neolithic The Neolithic or New Stone Age (from Ancient Greek, Greek 'new' and 'stone') is an archaeological period, the final division of the Stone Age in Mesopotamia, Asia, Europe and Africa (c. 10,000 BCE to c. 2,000 BCE). It saw the Neolithic Revo ...

period and followed by the

Bronze Age The Bronze Age () was a historical period characterised principally by the use of bronze tools and the development of complex urban societies, as well as the adoption of writing in some areas. The Bronze Age is the middle principal period of ...

. It was a period of

Megalith A megalith is a large stone that has been used to construct a prehistoric structure or monument, either alone or together with other stones. More than 35,000 megalithic structures have been identified across Europe, ranging geographically f ...

ic culture, the appearance of the first significant economic stratification, and probably the earliest presence of

Indo-European The Indo-European languages are a language family native to the northern Indian subcontinent, most of Europe, and the Iranian plateau with additional native branches found in regions such as Sri Lanka, the Maldives, parts of Central Asia (e. ...

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 Mining is the Resource extraction, extraction of valuable geological materials and minerals from the surface of the Earth. Mining is required to obtain most materials that cannot be grown through agriculture, agricultural processes, or feasib ...

of metal and stone was particularly developed in some areas, along with the processing of those materials into valuable goods.

Ancient Chalcolithic

From c. 5000 BC to 3000 BC, copper started being used first in

Southeast Europe Southeast Europe or Southeastern Europe is a geographical sub-region of Europe, consisting primarily of the region of the Balkans, as well as adjacent regions and Archipelago, archipelagos. There are overlapping and conflicting definitions of t ...

, then in Eastern Europe, and Central Europe. From onwards, there was an influx of people into Eastern Europe from the Pontic-Caspian steppe (

Yamnaya culture The Yamnaya ( ) or Yamna culture ( ), also known as the Pit Grave culture or Ochre Grave culture, is a late Copper Age to early Bronze Age archaeological culture of the region between the Southern Bug, Dniester, and Ural rivers (the Pontic–C ...

), creating a plural complex known as Sredny Stog culture. This culture replaced the Dnieper-Donets culture, and migrated northwest to the Baltic and Denmark, where they mixed with natives ( TRBK A and C). This may be correlated with the spread of Indo-European languages, known as the

Kurgan hypothesis The Kurgan hypothesis (also known as the Kurgan theory, Kurgan model, or steppe theory) is the most widely accepted proposal to identify the Proto-Indo-European homeland from which the Indo-European languages spread out throughout Europe and part ...

. Near the end of the period, another branch left many traces in the lower Danube area (culture of Cernavodă culture I), in what seems to have been another invasion. Meanwhile, the Danubian Lengyel culture absorbed its northern neighbours of the

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, also known as Czechia, and historically known as Bohemia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the south ...

and Poland over a number of centuries, only to recede in the second half of the period. In

Bulgaria Bulgaria, officially the Republic of Bulgaria, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern portion of the Balkans directly south of the Danube river and west of the Black Sea. Bulgaria is bordered by Greece and Turkey t ...

and

Wallachia Wallachia or Walachia (; ; : , : ) is a historical and geographical region of modern-day Romania. It is situated north of the Lower Danube and south of the Southern Carpathians. Wallachia was traditionally divided into two sections, Munteni ...

(Southern

Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...

), the Boian-Marica culture evolved into a monarchy with a clearly royal cemetery near the coast of the Black Sea. This model seems to have been copied later in the Tiszan region with the culture of Bodrogkeresztur. Labour specialization, economic stratification and possibly the risk of invasion may have been the reasons behind this development. The influx of early

Troy Troy (/; ; ) or Ilion (; ) was an ancient city located in present-day Hisarlik, Turkey. It is best known as the setting for the Greek mythology, Greek myth of the Trojan War. The archaeological site is open to the public as a tourist destina ...

(Troy I) is clear in both the expansion of metallurgy and social organization. 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 Flint, occasionally flintstone, is a sedimentary cryptocrystalline form of the mineral quartz, categorized as the variety of chert that occurs in chalk or marly limestone. Historically, flint was widely used to make stone tools and start ...

. Despite this unity, the signs of conflicts are clear, as many skeletons show violent injuries. This was the time and area where

Ötzi Ötzi, also called The Iceman, is the natural mummy of a man who lived between 3350 and 3105 BC. Ötzi's remains were discovered on 19 September 1991, in the Ötztal Alps (hence the nickname "Ötzi", ) at the Austria–Italy border. He i ...

, 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. File:Grave offerings.jpg, Varna culture artefacts, 4500 BC File:Bodrogkeresztur gold.jpg,

Bodrogkeresztúr Bodrogkeresztúr (shortly, ''"Keresztúr"'', ) is a village in Borsod-Abaúj-Zemplén county, in the Tokaj District, Hungary. Before World War II, there was a sizable Jewish community in Bodrogkeresztúr. At its height, there were 535 Jews in the ...

gold idol, 4000-3500 BC BC File:Goddess figurine with Tattoos.jpg, Cucuteni-Trypillia figurine, 4000 BC File:Archaeological finds in National Museum of the History of Ukraine 02.jpg, Cucuteni–Trypillia pottery File:Maidanetske 3D model.jpg, Maidanetske, Ukraine, File:CucuteniBattleAxes.JPG, Copper tools, Old Europe, c. 4000 BC File:Wheel 1a.jpg, 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 The Coțofeni culture (), also known as the Baden-Coțofeni culture, and generally associated with the Usatove culture, was an Early Bronze Age archaeological culture that existed between 3500 and 2500 BC in the mid-Danube area of south-easter ...

in a mountainous region, none of them show any ''eastern'' (or presumably Indo-European) traits. The Baden culture was succeeded by the Vučedol culture. The new Ezero culture in Bulgaria, had the first traits of pseudo-bronze (an alloy of copper with

arsenic Arsenic is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol As and atomic number 33. It is a metalloid and one of the pnictogens, and therefore shares many properties with its group 15 neighbors phosphorus and antimony. Arsenic is not ...

); as did the first significant Aegean group: the Cycladic culture after . 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 (

), surely eastern Indo-Europeans, ancestors of Iranians, took over southern Russia and Ukraine. In the West the only sign of unity comes from the Megalithic super-culture, which extended from southern Sweden to southern Spain, including large parts of southern Germany. But the Mediterranean and Danubian groupings of the previous period appear to have been fragmented into many smaller pieces, some of them apparently backward in technological matters. After 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 Estremadura (culture of Vila Nova de São Pedro), strongly embedded in the Atlantic Megalithic culture; the other near

Almería Almería (, , ) is a city and municipalities in Spain, municipality of Spain, located in Andalusia. It is the capital of the province of Almería, province of the same name. It lies in southeastern Iberian Peninsula, Iberia on the Mediterranean S ...

(SE Spain), centred on the large town of Los Millares, of Mediterranean character, probably affected by eastern cultural influxes ('' tholoi''). Despite the many differences the two civilizations seemed to be in friendly contact and to have productive exchanges. In the area of

Dordogne Dordogne ( , or ; ; ) is a large rural departments of France, department in south west France, with its Prefectures in France, prefecture in Périgueux. Located in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region roughly half-way between the Loire Valley and ...

(

Aquitaine Aquitaine (, ; ; ; ; Poitevin-Saintongeais: ''Aguiéne''), archaic Guyenne or Guienne (), is a historical region of southwestern France and a former Regions of France, administrative region. Since 1 January 2016 it has been part of the administ ...

, France), a new unexpected culture of bowmen appeared, the culture of Artenac, which would soon take control of western and even northern France and Belgium. In Poland and nearby regions, the putative Indo-Europeans reorganized and consolidated again with the culture of the Globular Amphoras. Nevertheless, the influence of many centuries in direct contact with the still-powerful Danubian peoples had greatly modified their culture. In the southwestern

Iberian peninsula The Iberian Peninsula ( ), also known as Iberia, is a peninsula in south-western Europe. Mostly separated from the rest of the European landmass by the Pyrenees, it includes the territories of peninsular Spain and Continental Portugal, comprisin ...

, owl-like plaques made of

sandstone Sandstone is a Clastic rock#Sedimentary clastic rocks, clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of grain size, sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate mineral, silicate grains, Cementation (geology), cemented together by another mineral. Sand ...

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

(

copper age The Chalcolithic ( ) (also called the Copper Age and Eneolithic) was an archaeological period characterized by the increasing use of smelted copper. It followed the Neolithic and preceded the Bronze Age. It occurred at different periods in dif ...

) cultural period. They have generally a head, two rounded eyes, and a body. Theses species were modeled after two owl species, the

little owl The little owl (''Athene noctua''), also known as the owl of Athena or owl of Minerva, is a bird that inhabits much of the temperate and warmer parts of Europe, the Palearctic east to Korea, and North Africa. It was introduced into Britain at t ...

(Athene Noctua) and the

long-eared owl The long-eared owl (''Asio otus''), also known as the northern long-eared owlOlsen, P.D. & Marks, J.S. (2019). ''Northern Long-eared Owl (Asio otus)''. In: del Hoyo, J., Elliott, A., Sargatal, J., Christie, D.A. & de Juana, E. (eds.). Handbook o ...

(Asio otux).

Late Chalcolithic

This period extended from to 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. the new

Catacomb culture The Catacomb culture (, ) was a Bronze Age culture which flourished on the Pontic steppe in 2,500–1,950 BC.Parpola, Asko, (2012)"Formation of the Indo-European and Uralic (Finno-Ugric) language families in the light of archaeology: Revised an ...

, which originated from the Yamnaya peoples in the regions north and east of the Black Sea. Some of these infiltrated Poland and may have played a significant but unclear role in the transformation of the culture of the Globular Amphorae into the new

Corded Ware culture The Corded Ware culture comprises a broad archaeological horizon of Europe between – 2350 BC, thus from the Late Neolithic, through the Copper Age, and ending in the early Bronze Age. Corded Ware culture encompassed a vast area, from t ...

. In Britain, copper was used between the 25th and 22nd centuries BC, but some archaeologists do not recognise a British Chalcolithic because production and use was on a small scale.Miles, ''The Tale of the Axe'', pp. 363, 423, n. 15 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 ( Single Grave culture), while the mid-Danubian basin, though showing more continuity, also displayed clear traits of new Indo-European elites ( Vučedol culture). Simultaneously, in the west, the Artenac peoples reached Belgium. With the partial exception of Vučedol, the Danubian cultures, so buoyant just a few centuries ago, were wiped off the map of Europe. The rest of the period was the story of a mysterious phenomenon: the Beaker people. This group seems to have been of mercantile character and preferred being buried according to a very specific, almost invariable, ritual. Nevertheless, out of their original area of western Central Europe, they appeared only inside local cultures, so they never invaded and assimilated but rather went to live among those peoples, keeping their way of life. The rest of the continent remained mostly unchanged and in apparent peace. From the first Beaker Pottery appeared in Bohemia and expanded in many directions, but particularly westward, along the Rhone and the sea shores, reaching the culture of Vila Nova (Portugal) and Catalonia (Spain) as its limit. Simultaneously but unrelatedly, in the Aegean region, the Cycladic culture decayed, being substituted by the new palatine phase of the

Minoan The Minoan civilization was a Bronze Age culture which was centered on the island of Crete. Known for its monumental architecture and Minoan art, energetic art, it is often regarded as the first civilization in Europe. The ruins of the Minoan pa ...

culture of

Crete Crete ( ; , Modern Greek, Modern: , Ancient Greek, Ancient: ) is the largest and most populous of the Greek islands, the List of islands by area, 88th largest island in the world and the List of islands in the Mediterranean#By area, fifth la ...

. The second phase of Beaker Pottery, from 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 , 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.

References

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External links