5 Chalcolithic period (ca. 6400–3800 B.C.)the Caucasus Mountains

Between ca. 11,000 and 9000 B.C., hunters and gatherers settle the first permanent villages in southeastern and central Anatolia. They produce sophisticated utilitarian tools from readily available resources of animal bone and stone. Perhaps to meet the demands of a growing population, a shift to an economy based largely on farming occurs in the Neolithic period (ca. 11,000–6400 B.C.). The period is divided into an early phase without pottery and a later phase when pottery is present. Obsidian (volcanic glass) from Anatolia is widely traded across the Near East.

In the Chalcolithic period (ca. 6400–3800 B.C.) there is a continuity of Neolithic traditions with an increase in the use of copper. In the 

Early Bronze Age

 (ca. 3000–2000 B.C.), the region’s rich resources in such metals as tin and silver attract new populations, customs, and artistic styles from the surrounding regions of Mesopotamia, Syria, and the Caucasus Mountains