Several cultures started using metal, mostly copper and low-grade bronze with the end of the Neolithic Age. The culture based on the use of copper and stone was termed as Chalcolithic, meaning stone-copper Phase. The term Chalcolithic means “copper” and “stone” or Copper Age; it is also known as the Eneolithic or Aeneolithic.

Chalcolithic Culture in India

• In India, the Chalcolithic period spanned around 2000 BC to 700 BC.
• The culture was mainly seen in the Pre-Harappan phase but extended to the Post-Harappan phase in many places.
• The people were mostly rural and lived near hills and rivers.

Characteristics of this Culture include:

Pottery

• Polychrome painted pottery was a main identifying characteristic of the Chalcolithic period.
• Ceramic forms found on Chalcolithic sites include “fenestrated pottery,” pots with openings cut into the walls.

Domestication of Animals

• Farmers raised domestic animals such as sheep-goats, cattle, and pigs, supplemented by hunting and fishing.
• Milk and milk by-products were important, as were fruit trees such as fig and olive.

Agriculture

• The major crops cultivated were barley, wheat, lentil, bajra, jowar, ragi millets, green pea, green and black gram.
• Traces of rice cultivation are also found, showing that their food included fish and rice.
• Eastern India produced rice and Western India produced barley.

Houses and Burial Styles

• Houses built by Chalcolithic farmers were constructed of stone or mudbrick.
• One characteristic pattern is a chain building, a row of rectangular houses connected to one another by shared party walls on the short ends.
• Burials varied widely from group to group, from single interments to jar burials to small box-shaped above-ground ossuary and even rock-cut tombs.

Tools and Weapons

• Metals such as copper and its alloys were used to make knives, axes, fishing hooks, chisels, pins, and rods.

Art and Craft

• The people of Chalcolithic Age were expert coppersmiths, ivory carvers, lime makers, and terracotta artisans.
• Ornaments were made from semiprecious stones and beads such as agate, jasper, chalcedony, and carnelian.
• People had knowledge of spinning and weaving, and flax, cotton, and silk thread were found at sites in Maharashtra.