The Copper Age: characteristics of this stage of Prehistory

Although the other periods of the Metal Age (the Bronze Age and the Iron Age) represented a unprecedented advance by allowing the design of agricultural utensils in a more malleable material than the stone, the importance of the Copper Age has not always been so defined. In fact, until the end of the 19th century it was hardly taken into consideration when classifying the prehistoric periods, and this stage used to be included in the Neolithic as a kind of extension of the same.

And it is that there are many experts who agree that the production of copper objects was simply one more of the many innovations that occurred around the 6th millennium BC. c. The Copper Age did not bring about a radical change in society at all, although it did allow a gradual evolution towards a greater stratification of society, as we will see. What is the importance, then, of the Copper Age? What are their characteristics? In this article we will try to find out.

The Copper Age in Prehistory: what is its origin?

After the Neolithic agricultural revolution (the last phase of the Stone Age) experts place the Copper Age, the first stage of the Metal Age. The period is also known as Chalcolithic, a word formed by the Greek words khalkos (copper) and lithos (stone).

This first step towards the expansion of metallurgy must be placed in the 6th millennium BC. c., period to which the vestiges found in Çatal Huyuk (Turkey) and the Zagros Mountains, in Iraq, belong. It is in Asia, then, where we can locate the birth of the manufacture of copper, because in the cave of Shanidar, a important archaeological site located in Iran, even older objects have appeared, dating from the X millennium BCE c.

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A single origin?

The numerous deposits of native copper (that is, the metal in its natural state) that the region of the Zagros explains why it was precisely in this area and not in another where the first objects of copper. Later, and based on archaeological evidence, the procedure was spreading, first by Anatolia and Mesopotamia and, later, by more distant areas such as Egypt and the Balkans.

However, this diffusionist theory is currently facing numerous criticisms. And it is that currently the experts are more inclined towards the theory of indigenous innovation; according to this hypothesis, the manufacture of copper appeared simultaneously in different areas that, a priori, were not connected to each other.

Thus, it is believed that the copper production of the Balkans and that of other European territories, such as the deposit of Los Millares in Almería (Spain), arose spontaneously and in parallel, as an absolutely indigenous. The question is inevitable: how is it possible that in two places so far apart the use of copper for the manufacture of objects arose in parallel?

The case of the Balkans is really fascinating, to the point that many experts speak of this area as "the first European civilization".. Indeed, the vestiges that this culture has left us are extraordinarily sophisticated: delicate goldsmithing and a profusion of ornaments, which leads us to think that, already in the V millennium BC. C., there was an evident display of wealth in the area by the local oligarchy. This ostentation was reinforced by the possession of metal objects, as we will see below.

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An increasingly hierarchical society

The first copper objects were used as mere ornaments and therefore had no other function than to establish a status within the group. In this way, for a long time everyday items continued to be manufactured with stone and ceramic, relegating copper to a strictly formal and aesthetic use.

This is demonstrated by the first discoveries of objects made of copper, such as the famous oval pendant found in the Shanidar cave, in Iraq, and also the numerous grave goods scattered throughout different geographical areas, where there is clearly a growing social stratification in which the most important individuals of the town have a greater number of objects, not only bronze, but also ceramic, silver and gold.

We can deduce, in the light of archaeological evidence, that the society of the late Neolithic and early Metal Ages was a society with a clear trend, first, towards diversity, in which there is increasing specialization in the manufacture of products; and second, to the hierarchy, since the production surplus and, above all, the acquisition of luxury objects, was in the hands of a few.

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ceramic and copper

The real revolution had appeared with the invention of ceramics. This product soon became an item reserved only for powerful minorities, as later happened with copper. Ceramics and copper were therefore a sign of status.

Suffice it to inquire into the so-called culture of the bell-shaped vessels, which developed in central Europe during the Chalcolithic and is one of its most genuine manifestations. During the III millennium a. C., many of the peoples established on the European continent produced bell-shaped ceramic vessels inverted (hence the name) and profusely decorated, found mainly in the grave goods of important characters.

Several things can be deduced from this. One, that, indeed, and in a similar way to what happened with copper objects, ceramics were related to high status within the population; and two, that the exchanges during the Copper Age were constant, since they have been found these vessels in numerous places not only in Europe, but also in southern Africa and even Scandinavia.

Along with the Beakers, arrowheads, triangular copper daggers, and bone ornaments have been found in the grave goods of Chalcolithic Europeans. However, the analysis of the remains of these vessels has allowed us to demonstrate that they not only had funerary use, but also they were also used to contain food and drink, as well as to contain molten copper in its process of manufacturing.

the first metallurgy

The first copper objects (such as those found at Shanidar) were made from native copper (which is usually found in the form of nuggets), applying a technique of cold molding by hammering. Copper is relatively "soft" in its natural state, but obviously not as soft as when it is subjected to fire.

Communities familiar with cold copper manufacturing soon realized that copper could be extracted from of other materials such as malachite and that, under the appropriate temperature, its softening allowed a greater malleability. In reality, the process did not mean any revelation, as we remember that ceramics were already known and, with it, kilns and the subjection of materials to high temperatures. The casting of copper "only" required, therefore, an improvement of the techniques used for ceramics. To melt copper, it is necessary to reach 1083 degrees Celsius, a temperature that had almost been reached by Neolithic pottery kilns.