Chalcolithic age

Also called: Copper-Stone Age, Chalcolithic, Copper Age · Topic: Prehistory: Human Origins and Stone Age Cultures · NCERT: Class 6, Ch 4 "Timeline and Sources of History"; Class 9, Ch 4 "Early Humans and Beginning of Civilisation"

Meaning

The Chalcolithic age (the "Copper-Stone Age") is the stage when people began to make objects of copper but still kept using stone tools. Copper was added; stone did not go away.

It matters because it was the subcontinent's first step into the metal age. At Mehrgarh this step came by c. 4000 BCE and led on to the Bronze Age Sindhu–Sarasvatī (Harappan) civilisation around 3500 BCE. It was a stage that different regions reached at different times. It was not one fixed period for the whole of India.

Explanation

Background: from Neolithic villages to copper

• The name. "Chalcolithic" comes from two Greek words, chalkos (copper) and lithos (stone). Together they mean "copper-stone".
• What came before. The Neolithic ("New Stone Age") was the stage when people ground and polished stone tools, grew crops, kept animals and settled in one place.
• Mehrgarh was first in both.
• Mehrgarh, on the Bolan River in present-day Pakistan, is the subcontinent's oldest Neolithic site (c. 7000 BCE).
• Its people were also the first in the subcontinent to make copper objects.

• By c. 4000 BCE Mehrgarh had become Chalcolithic.

• Settled farming came first. Copper-working grew out of village life that was already settled. The people had:

• sun-dried brick houses (mud bricks dried in the sun, not baked in a kiln);
• granaries (rooms to store grain);
• crops of wheat and barley, and herds of sheep, goats and zebu cattle (the Indian humped cattle).

Main features

• Copper and stone together. People made copper objects but still depended on stone tools.
• Settled farming and herding. Chalcolithic communities were villages that farmed and kept animals.
• Long-distance exchange. At Mehrgarh, ornaments were made of lapis lazuli (a deep blue stone), carnelian (a red-orange stone) and shell. None of these is found at the site, so they must have come from far away through trade.
• Seals and craft.
• Ahar–Banas (Rajasthan) is known for its terracotta seals (seals of baked clay). [5]

• At the Jorwe levels in Maharashtra, archaeologists found a terracotta cylinder seal. It shows a procession: a horse pulling a cart, a deer behind it, and a long-necked animal that may be a camel. [7]

• Copper objects. Daimabad (Maharashtra) has yielded well-known copper objects of the Chalcolithic period. [8]

How it changed over time

• North-west first. The sequence at Mehrgarh runs:
• Neolithic village (c. 7000 BCE) → Chalcolithic (c. 4000 BCE) → Bronze Age Sindhu–Sarasvatī civilisation (c. 3500 BCE).

• The layers at the site are over 11 metres deep and cover the 7th to the 3rd millennium BCE. [2]

• Other regions later. Chalcolithic cultures appeared elsewhere at different times.

• Ahar–Banas lived next to the Indus civilisation and at the same time as it. [5]

• Inamgaon (Pune, Maharashtra) has three periods: Period I (1600–1400 BC), Period II (1400–1000 BC), Period III (1000–700 BC). [6]

• Side by side with stone-users. By 2500 BCE, Neolithic agro-pastoral groups (people who both farmed and herded animals) covered most of the subcontinent. In places they were interacting with Chalcolithic neighbours who already used copper. One did not simply replace the other.

Results

• The metal age began. Copper-working at Mehrgarh laid the base for the Bronze Age civilisation.
• Local growth. The unbroken sequence at Mehrgarh shows that the civilisation grew from local villages. It did not arrive ready-made from outside.
• A mixed map. Stone-using and copper-using peoples lived and traded side by side for a long time.

Time, place and evidence

• When.
• North-west: Mehrgarh became Chalcolithic by c. 4000 BCE.

• Western and central India: Chalcolithic cultures came later. At Inamgaon they lasted until c. 700 BC. [6]

• Where.

• Mehrgarh: on the Bolan River, on the Kachi plain near the mouth of the Bolan Pass, about 30 km from Sibi (Baluchistan, Pakistan). The site covers about 250 hectares. [2]
• Ahar–Banas: Rajasthan. [5]
• Inamgaon: Pune, Maharashtra. [6]
• Daimabad: Maharashtra. [8]

• Jorwe levels: Maharashtra. [7]

• Key people. Mehrgarh was dug by a French–Pakistani team led by Jean-François Jarrige, in 1974–1986 and again in 1997–2000. [2]

• How we know.
• Archaeological finds: copper objects, seals, ornaments, houses, granaries and graves.
• The deep layers of Mehrgarh, which show change over about 4,000 years at one place. [2]
• ASI excavation records for Maharashtra. [7]
• Photo-archive records of the Daimabad copper objects. [8]

• A study of human tooth enamel from Inamgaon. [6]

• Heritage status. Mehrgarh is on UNESCO's Tentative List of World Heritage Sites. [2]

• Debate. A 2025 radiocarbon study of human tooth enamel argues that farming in the Indus Valley began later than earlier estimates. [4] For the exam, keep the NCERT dates.

Don't confuse with

• Neolithic age: stone tools only, with farming and settled life. The Chalcolithic adds copper to stone. Mehrgarh was Neolithic from c. 7000 BCE and Chalcolithic only by c. 4000 BCE.
• Bronze Age (Sindhu–Sarasvatī / Harappan civilisation, c. 3500 BCE): uses bronze (copper mixed with tin) and has cities. The Chalcolithic uses plain copper and is mostly village-based.
• Southern Neolithic (Sanganakallu, Kodekal, Utnur): these were stone-using hilltop and herding settlements (Sanganakallu c. 2000 BCE; Kodekal and Utnur c. 2900 BCE). [3] They are not Chalcolithic, even though some were contemporary with copper-using cultures.
• "Chalcolithic = one all-India period": wrong. Mehrgarh reached it by c. 4000 BCE, while Inamgaon was still Chalcolithic between 1600 and 700 BC. [6]

Prelims Hooks

• The first copper objects in the subcontinent were made at Mehrgarh (Bolan River, Pakistan). It was Chalcolithic by c. 4000 BCE.
• Correct order: Neolithic Mehrgarh (c. 7000 BCE) → Chalcolithic (c. 4000 BCE) → Bronze Age Sindhu–Sarasvatī civilisation (c. 3500 BCE).
• Ahar–Banas is in Rajasthan. It was contemporary with the Indus civilisation and is known for terracotta seals. [5]
• Inamgaon (Pune, Maharashtra) is a Chalcolithic site with three periods: 1600–1400 BC, 1400–1000 BC, 1000–700 BC. [6]
• Daimabad (Maharashtra) is known for Chalcolithic copper objects. [8]
• Trap: Chalcolithic people did not give up stone tools. Copper was used along with stone.

Mains Points

• The Chalcolithic shows local continuity.
• Mehrgarh's 11-metre-deep sequence runs from village farming to copper to the Bronze Age civilisation. [2]

• This weakens the claim that the subcontinent's urban civilisation was simply brought in from West Asia.

• The three-age scheme is a teaching tool, not a timetable.

• Mehrgarh used copper by c. 4000 BCE. Sanganakallu was still Neolithic around 2000 BCE, and Inamgaon was Chalcolithic until 700 BC. [6]

• Stone-using and copper-using groups traded side by side, so the Stone–Copper–Bronze ages overlapped from region to region.

• Dates are still being debated. A 2025 tooth-enamel study suggests farming in the Indus Valley may have begun later than once thought. [4] A strong answer can mention this debate and still use the NCERT dates.

Related concepts

• Mehrgarh
• Burzahom
• Gufkral
• Chirand
• Koldihwa
• Mahagara
• Lahuradewa
• Daojali Hading
• Sarutaru
• Brahmagiri

Read more

• Neolithic and Chalcolithic in the subcontinent