List of Copper Age states

This article is about the period from 5000 BC to 3300 BC. For the succeeding article, see List of Bronze Age states.

Chalcolithic Eneolithic, Aeneolithic or Copper Age
↑ Stone Age ↑ Neolithic
Near East Ghassulian culture, Naqada culture, Uruk period Europe Yamna culture, Corded Ware Cernavodă culture, Decea Mureşului culture, Gorneşti culture, Gumelniţa–Karanovo culture, Petreşti culture, Coțofeni culture Remedello culture, Gaudo culture India Ahar-Banas culture, Jorwe China Mesoamerica
Metallurgy, Wheel, Domestication of the horse,
↓ Bronze Age

Painting of a Copper Age walled city, Los Millares, Iberia

The Chalcolithic (English /ˌkælkəlˈlɪθɪk/; Greek: χαλκός khalkós, "copper" and λίθος líthos, "stone") period or Copper Age, also known as the Eneolithic or Æneolithic (from Latin aeneus "of bronze"), is a phase of the Bronze Age before it was discovered that adding tin to copper formed the harder bronze. The Copper Age was originally defined as a transition between the Neolithic and the Bronze Age. However, because it is characterized by the use of metals, the Copper Age is considered a part of the Bronze Age rather than the Stone Age.

Development of States

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 Mesopatamia c. 3700 BC, in Egypt c. 3300 BC, in the Indus Valley c. 2500 BC, India c 1700 BC, and in China c. 1600 BC. As they interacted with their less developed neighbors through trade, warfare, migration, and more generalized ideological influences, the primary states directly or indirectly fostered the emergence of secondary states in surrounding areas, for example, the Hittites in Anatolia, the Minoan and Mycenaean states of the Aegean, or the Nubian kingdoms in the Sudan. Professor Gil Stein at the University of Chicago Oriental Institute states The excavations and archaeological surveys of the last few decades have vastly increased both the quantity and quality of what we know about ancient states and urbanism. Archaeologists have broadened the scope of their research beyond the traditional focus on rulers and urban elites. Current research now aims at understanding the role of urban commoners, craft specialists, and village-based farmers in the overall organization of ancient states and societies. Given the immense geographical scope encompassed by the term “the Ancient World.

This is a list of states that existed between 5000 BC to 3300 BC.

States

State	Years
Assur	3500-1800 BC
Bad-tibira	5000-2300 BC
Eridu	5400-600 BC
Isin	3500-2100 BC
Jericho - Ancient	9000-1573 BC
Kish	4000-2300 BC
Lagash	4000-2250 BC
Lower Egypt - Predynastic	9000-3200 BC
Mari	5000-1759 BC
Girsu	5000-2100 BC
Nippur	5000-2450 BC
Sredny Stog Culture	4500-3500 BC
Susa	4200-2330 BC
Upper Egypt - Predynastic	4500-3200 BC
Ur	4000-2000 BC
Uruk	4000-3100 BC

See also

• List of Bronze Age states
• List of Classical Age states
• List of Iron Age states
• List of states during late Antiquity
• List of states during the Middle Ages