Abstract
The idea that there was a Copper Age between the Neolithic and Bronze Age was inspired by the discovery of the use of native copper in prehistoric North America. Its currency in European prehistory owes much to the 1861 observations by William Wilde that copper tools preceded the use of bronze in Ireland, though Wilde did not postulate a Copper Age per se. Acceptance of the existence of a Copper Age was a long process, not least as it seemed to contradict the premises of the Three Age System and was conflated with arguments for the local development of copper metallurgy, but the 1876 and 1880 international prehistoric archaeology congresses were key moments in its recognition. By the mid 1880s its validity was widely accepted in Europe. In contemporary dating schemes, the definition of the Copper Age varies according to regional and national traditions. This paper touches on the debate concerning the use of technological stages as chronological periods and examines the history of alternative conceptualisations of the early periods of metallurgy in Europe, including those that posit socio-economic phases of development.
Highlights
The history of archaeological concepts is of significance in that it can show us how terms acquired their meaning and the debates that underlie them, and help us to contextualise the work of earlier authors, who may use terms in ways that differ from the ways in which they are used, so that we can understand their discourse more fully
In 1878, the Italian, Innocenzo Regazzoni, discussed the concept of the Copper Age in his monograph L’uomo preistorico nella provincia di Como. His discourse is of interest, as he clearly understood Wilde as well as Lubbock to have posited a Copper Age, but his conclusions are conventional for the period—he allowed for a Copper Age in North America, but argued that pure copper artefacts were so rare in Europe and in Italy that ‘if in some places this metal was known and used before bronze, this was of no importance and did not last long enough to constitute a true Copper Age’ (Regazzoni 1878, p. 82; my translation)
The idea that there was a Copper Age in Europe between the Neolithic and Bronze Age was inspired by the discovery of the use of native copper in prehistoric North America
Summary
The history of archaeological concepts is of significance in that it can show us how terms acquired their meaning and the debates that underlie them, and help us to contextualise the work of earlier authors, who may use terms in ways that differ from the ways in which they are used, so that we can understand their discourse more fully. His discourse is of interest, as he clearly understood Wilde as well as Lubbock to have posited a Copper Age, but his conclusions are conventional for the period—he allowed for a Copper Age in North America, but argued that pure copper artefacts were so rare in Europe and in Italy that ‘if in some places this metal was known and used before bronze, this was of no importance and did not last long enough to constitute a true Copper Age’
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