Chalcolithic

The Chalcolithic ( ) (also called the Copper Age and Eneolithic) was an archaeological period characterized by the increasing use of smelted copper. It followed the Neolithic and preceded the Bronze Age. It occurred at different periods in different areas, but was absent in some parts of the world, such as Russia, where there was no well-defined Copper Age between the Stone and Bronze Ages. Stone tools were still predominantly used during this period.

monument in the Golan Heights

migrations out of the Pontic-Caspian steppe

The Darkveti-Meshoko culture, also known as the Pricked Pearls Pottery culture, is a Chalcolithic culture spread in the Western Caucasus, named after major sites of Darkveti (Imereti region) and Meshoko (Adygea). First sites of this culture were discovered in 1958 by Russian anthropologists, but were at first considered to be sites of Maykop culture. In 1980s the site of Svobodnoe was discovered, which bore a close resemblance to the site of Meshoko. An argument among anthropologists culminated in attributing the Svobodnoe and Meshoko sites to a culture separate from Maykop, the attribution of