Copper Age state societies - Misplaced Pages

Polities extant at some time in 5000 BC to 3300 BC This article is about the period from 5000 BC to 3300 BC. For the succeeding article, see List of Bronze Age states.

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Chalcolithic Eneolithic, Aeneolithic, or Copper Age
↑ Stone Age ↑ Neolithic
By regionAfrica (2600 BC–1600 AD) Naqada culture, Gerzeh culture, A-Group culture, C-Group culture, Kerma culture West Asia (6000–3500 BC) Ghassulian culture, Uruk period Europe (5500–2200 BC) Metallurgy during the Copper Age in Europe Vinča culture, Varna culture Cucuteni–Trypillia culture Yamna culture, Corded Ware Cernavodă culture, Decea Mureşului culture, Gorneşti culture, Gumelniţa–Karanovo culture, Petreşti culture, Coțofeni culture Remedello culture, Gaudo culture, Monte Claro culture Central Asia (3700–1700 BC) Botai culture, BMAC culture, Afanasevo culture South Asia (4300–1800 BC) Periodisation of the Indus Valley civilisation, Bhirrana culture, Hakra Ware culture Ahar–Banas culture Kaytha culture, Malwa culture, Savalda Culture, Jorwe culture, Anarta tradition Ajay culture China (5000–2900 BC) Mesoamerica (6500–1000 BC)
Related topicsMetallurgy, Wheel, Domestication of the horse
↓ Bronze Age ↓ Iron Age
v t e

The Chalcolithic or Copper Age is the transitional period between the Neolithic and the Bronze Age. It is taken to begin around the mid-5th millennium BC, and ends with the beginning of the Bronze Age proper, in the late 4th to 3rd millennium BC, depending on the region.

The Chalcolithic is part of prehistory, but based on archaeological evidence, the emergence of the first state societies can be inferred, notably in the Fertile Crescent (notably Sumer) Predynastic Egypt, and Proto-Minoan Crete, with late Neolithic societies of comparable complexity emerging in the Indus Valley (Mehrgarh), China, and along the north-western shores of the Black Sea.

The development of states—large-scale, populous, politically centralized, and socially stratified polities/societies governed by powerful rulers—marks one of the major milestones in the evolution of human societies. Archaeologists often distinguish between primary (or pristine) states and secondary states. Primary states evolved independently through largely internal developmental processes rather than through the influence of any other pre-existing state.

The earliest known primary states appeared in Anatolia c. 5200 BC, in Mesopotamia c. 3700 BC,, in Greece c. 3500 BC, in Egypt c. 3300 BC, in the Indus Valley c. 3300 BC, and in China c. 1600 BC.

List of known polities

Further information: List of cities of the ancient Near East See also: List of state leaders in the 4th and 3rd millennia BC

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City	period
Anau	4000 BC to 1000 BC
Anshan	4000 BC to 1000 BC
Bad-tibira	5000 BC to 2300 BC
Çatalhöyük	6700 BC to 5700 BC
Güvercinkayası	5200 BC to 4750 BC
Ebla	3500 BC to 1600 BC
Eridu	5400 BC to 2050 BC
Girsu	5000 to 2100 BC
Heliopolis (Lower Egypt)	3500 BC to ~1000BC
Isin	3500 to 2100 BC
Jericho	9600 BC to 1400 BC
Kish	4000 to 2300 BC
Knossos	7000 to 1900 BC
Lagash	4000 to 2250 BC
Laish	4500 to 1350 BC
Mari	2900 to 1759 BC
Mehrgarh	5500 to 2500 BC
Nekhen (Upper Egypt)	3500 BC to ~150BC
Nippur	5000 to 2450 BC
Susa	4200 to 2330 BC
Rakhigarhi	6500 BC to 1900 BC
Ugarit	6000 BC to 1190 BC
Ur	4000 to 2000 BC
Uruk	4000 to 3100 BC

References

The New Oxford Dictionary of English (1998) ISBN 0-19-861263-X, p. 301: "Chalcolithic /,kælkəl'lɪθɪk/ adjective Archaeology of, relating to, or denoting a period in the 4th and 3rd millennium BCE, chiefly in the Near East and SE Europe, during which some weapons and tools were made of copper. This period was still largely Neolithic in character. Also called Eneolithic... Also called Copper Age - Origin early 20th cent.: from Greek khalkos 'copper' + lithos 'stone' + -ic".
Pavlů, Ivan; Gülçur, Sevil; Jačkova, I.; Buzek, F. (2009). "Pavlů, I., Gülçur, S., Jačkova, I., & Buzek, F. (2009). 13C and 15N Isotopic Data on Grinding Stones from the Güvercinkayası Site, Turkey. Anatolia antiqua. Eski Anadolu, 17(1), 19-30". Anatolia Antiqua. Eski Anadolu. 17 (1): 19–30. doi:10.3406/anata.2009.1275.
"Chronology". www.minoancrete.com. Retrieved 2021-08-04.

Lists of political entities by century

AD (CE)

Current list of sovereign states
Centuries	1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th 9th 10th 11th 19th
Decades	1400s 1460s 1490s 1500s 1520s 1620s 1640s 1660s 1750s 1760s 1770s 1780s 1790s 1800s 1810s 1820s 1830s 1840s 1850s 1860s 1870s 1880s 1890s 1900s 1910s 1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s 2000s 2010s 2020s
Ages	Classical Late Antiquity Middle

BC (BCE)

Centuries	35th BC 21st BC 20th BC 19th BC 18th BC 17th BC 16th BC 15th BC 14th BC 13th BC 12th BC 11th BC 10th BC 9th BC 8th BC 7th BC 6th BC 5th BC 4th BC 3rd BC 2nd BC 1st BC
Ages	Copper Bronze Iron Classical

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