Copper Age state societies

Copper Age state societies

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

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 (Sumer, predynastic Egypt , Protominoan Crete ), with late Neolithic societies of comparable complexity emerging in the Indus Valley (Mehrgarh ) and in China.

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 Mesopotamia c. 3700 BC, in Egypt c. 3300 BC,in the Indus Valley c. 3300 BC, and in China c. 1600 BC.

List of known polities

 * Assur  3500 BC
 * Bad-tibira     5000 BC to 2300 BC
 * Eridu     5400 BC onward
 * Isin    3500 to 2100 BC
 * Jericho     Neolithic (first settlement) until Late Bronze Age ( Influence / Visitors: Nilhites )
 * Kish     4000 to 2300 BC
 * Lagash     4000 to 2250 BC
 * Heliopolis (Lower Egypt)    3500 BC? ( Influence / Visitors:  Old Osirians )
 * Mari  5000 to 1759 BC
 * Girsu     5000 to 2100 BC
 * Nippur     5000 to 2450 BC
 * Susa     4200 to 2330 BC ( Influence / Visitors:  The Guardian )
 * Nekhen (Upper Egypt)    3500 BC? ( Influence / Visitors: RAs }
 * Ur     4000 to 2000 BC ( Influence / Visitors: Annunaki }
 * Uruk     4000 to 3100 BC ( Influence / Visitors: Annunaki }