Society
The information available about the people of the Copper Age has not substantially increased along with the number of archaeological sites. Several ideas have been proffered, one of the most followed is that the metal itself did not bring abrupt transformation into the people's life (Cunliffe 1998) or even more that ‘early copper does not produce anything useful at all’ (Renfrew 1986, 146), meaning with this that with the copper, they produced mainly jewellery and, overall, weapons that obviously were not within reach of the majority of the population but only to privileged individuals. In other words, the real importance of the metal is not utilitarian but social. This is a suitable explanation about the rising of Great Cultures of Metal such as Vinča culture (Ex-Yugoslavia) Tiszapolgar and Unetice culture (Central Europe), Remedello and Rinaldone (Italy), Montagne Noire (France), El Argar and Targas (Spain), etc.
As the period moved forward, especially around the 3rd millennium, new and complex realities would appear strongly linked to the metal, like the impressive fortified villages of Los Millares (Spain), Vila Nova de Sao Pedro (Portugal) or the more modest cairn next to Copa Hill (United Kingdom) apparently destinated to control the centres of extraction, or the equally stunning and generalized cultural phenomenons of Megalithism, Rock Art, Bell Beakers Vessels… that are known from Scandinavia to the South of Spain and from Scotland to Turkey.
Read more about this topic: Metallurgy During The Copper Age In Europe
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