Cuprulithic Age

Cuprulithic

Period	Prehistorical Era
Dates	5,500-3,000 BCE
Preceded by	Novalithic Age
Followed by	Bronze Age (Ancient Era)

The Cuprulithic Age, also known as the Copper Age or simply as the Cuprulithic, is the period of time between the Novalithic Age and the Ancient Era. It is originally regarded by scholars as a transitional period between the Novalithic and the Bronze Age and where early copper metallurgy appeared in Plevapotamia. However, because it is characterized by the use of metals, the Copper Age is considered a part of the Bronze Age rather than the Novalithic Age while simultaneously a part of the Prehistorical Era.

In the Cuprulithic, copper predominated in metalworking technology. Hence it was the period before it was discovered that by adding tin to copper one could create bronze, a metal alloy harder and stronger than either component.

An archaeological site in XXX contains the oldest securely dated evidence of copper making at high temperature, from 7,500 years ago. The find in XXX extends the known record of copper smelting by about 800 years, and suggests that copper smelting may have been invented independently in separate parts of Hesterath, North Domica, and Naphtora at that time, rather than spreading from a single source. The process of transition from Novalithic to Cuprulithic in the XXX is characterized in archaeological stone tool assemblages by a decline in high quality raw material procurement and use.

Terminology

The term "Cuprulithic" comes from the Alarican word cupru, “copper”; and Pylosan λίθος, “lithos”, "stone".

History by region

TBA

See also

• Prehistorical Era