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Chalcholithic
Age ( Copper Age) ( 5500-3000 BC)
Turkey
Chalcholithic Age ( Copper Age) ( 5500-3000 BC)
In this period, in addition to stone tools copper pieces also
come into sight. The need to change valuable goods
(ceramics, textile) for both raw and shaped mines helped
the trade develop, and this brought the exchange between
peoples and the preparation of inventory listings with
the beginning of communication. Symbols, hieroglyphs,
writing with pictures, came into use. By the end of the
4000 BC cities emerged and the first steps of the human
civilization were made. Burdur-Hacilar level 5 ( 5500
BC) is the oldest site in Anatolia where metal objects
are discovered. Regarding technique and forms; the
handmade pottery production reached to an advanced level
here and the single-colored, polished, ceramic pots were
produced as an alternative to the metallic pots which
were respectively more valuable. The surface of the pots
is finely polished with a special technique to create a
metallic effect.
One other important settlement area of the Chalcholithic
period in Western Anatolia is the Beycesultan site, going
back to 4000-3000 BC, located on the 5 km southeast of
town of Civril in Denizli, excavated by Seton Lloyd.
Here, some of the mud-brick structures with a rectangular
plan look like long megaron houses (megaron is a long and
narrow room that has a hearth in the center). Inside the
structures are hearths, seats along the walls and
storage. Here, in a pot, is discovered a collection of
silver and copper rings, part of a dagger and metallic
pins. The ceramic of this period has a background of
gray, black and brown.
Canhasan site, on the 13 km northeast of Karaman town in
Konya, unearthed by David French was a bridge between
west and east Anatolia and Mesopotamia for trade and
cultural exchange. Copper rings and bracelets are among
the most important finds here. Anatolia which had the
most advanced culture on earth during the Paleolithic
period has lost its leadership in the Chalcolithic period
to Mesopotamia and Egypt, after writing was discovered
there Due to the fact that writing got to be used in
Anatolia a thousands years later, the level of culture
here could not go beyond that of Neolithic period
primitive village, even though people were using metal in
daily life.
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