Third period of the Prehistory: Age of Metals. This period is divided into Calcolithic, Bronze and Iron Age. New inventions led to the development of trade such as wheel and sail. An increasing specialisation led to social inequalities.

1. AGE OF METALS

2. AGE OF
METALS
• The Metal Ages began about 7,000 years
ago. During the Metal Ages people started
using metals, like copper, tin, bronze and
iron, to make tools and weapons.
• They heated and shaped the metals in hot
furnaces. People often used precious metals,
like gold and silver, to make jewellery.
• Villages and towns also became bigger and
more prosperous. In time, people started
building the first cities. The Metal Age is
divided into three stages: the Copper Age,
the Bronze Age and the Iron Age.

3. AGE OF METALS: COPPER, BRONZE AND IRON.
CHALCOLITIC OR
COPPER AGE (5000 BC)
NEAR EAST
BRONZE AGE (COPPER
+ TIN)
(3000 BC)
IRON AGE
(2000 BC)

5. MEGALITHS
• During the Metal Ages, people started using large blocks of stone called
megaliths to build monuments. The most important megalithic
monuments from this period are called dolmens.

7. BELL-BEAKER
CULTURE
• They also invented new techniques for making clay pottery. The most characteristic examples are
beaker pots. They look like upside-down bells. the Bell Beaker culture is understood as not only a
collection of characteristic artefact types, but a complex cultural phenomenon involving metalwork
in copper and gold, long-distance exchange networks, specific types of ornamentation, and
(presumably) shared ideological, cultural and religious ideas, as well as social stratification and
the emergence of regional elites.

8. WHEEL
• The Wheel
• The wheel enabled the invention of the cart which allowed peopled to transport more goods
further and easily. That led to the development of medium and long distance trade.

9. SAIL
• The sail made it possible for boats to be
pushed by the wind. Since then, people
could travel further (maritime and fluvial)
discovering new lands and cultures.

10. PLOUGH
• The plough
• The plough pulled by oxen, mules or donkeys enabled the ground to be
worked more efficiently, which means they could have better crops and
more food available.

11. CITIES
• The first cities thanks to the development of agriculture and cattle raising, trade and
metallurgy. Population grew. Some villages got to have hundreds of inhabitants, and
became small cities.
• Cities, surrounded by walls, had buildings with different functions: houses, stores, shops or
workshops. Houses were small, with walls made of adobe or stone and ceilings made of
straw.
Byblos
(Phoenicians)
Jerusalem.

12. SOCIAL CLASSES
• In the Metal Age the complexity of society grew. There was a greater specialization of labor
that produced a new social division into an elite and craftsmen with special knowledge. Metal
workers and those who traded in metals were probably the most important and wealthiest
people. This could be because of the increase of agrarian production by the use of new
instruments. Some Bronze Age societies developed a ruling class who were supported by
military power. Labor specialization led to increase social inequalities.
• This social division has been studied through individual graves