The Chalcolithic is an archaeological period characterized by the increasing use of smelted copper. It follows the Neolithic and precedes the Bronze Age. It occurs at different periods in different areas, and is absent in some parts of the world, such as Russia. Stone tools were still predominantly used during this period.
The Starčevo culture is an archaeological culture of Southeastern Europe, dating to the Neolithic period between c. 6200 and 4500 BCE. It originates in the spread of the Neolithic package of peoples and technological innovations including farming and ceramics from Anatolia to the area of Sesklo. The Starčevo culture marks its spread to the inland Balkan peninsula as the Cardial ware culture did along the Adriatic coastline. It forms part of the wider Starčevo–Körös–Criş culture which gave rise to the central European Linear Pottery culture c. 700 years after the initial spread of Neolithic farmers towards the northern Balkans.
The area known as Croatia today has been inhabited throughout the prehistoric period, ever since the Stone Age, up to the Migrations Period and the arrival of the White Croats.
The Cucuteni–Trypillia culture, also known as the Cucuteni culture or the Trypillia culture, is a Neolithic–Chalcolithic archaeological culture of Southeast Europe. It extended from the Carpathian Mountains to the Dniester and Dnieper regions, centered on modern-day Moldova and covering substantial parts of western Ukraine and northeastern Romania, encompassing an area of 350,000 km2 (140,000 sq mi), with a diameter of 500 km.
The Lengyel culture is an archaeological culture of the European Neolithic, centered on the Middle Danube in Central Europe. It flourished from 5000 to 4000 BC, ending with phase IV, e.g., in Bohemia represented by the 'Jordanow/Jordansmühler culture'. It is followed by the Funnelbeaker culture/TrB culture and the Baden culture. The eponymous type site is at Lengyel in Tolna county, Hungary.
The Vučedol culture flourished between 3000 and 2200 BCE, centered in Syrmia and eastern Slavonia on the right bank of the Danube river, but possibly spreading throughout the Pannonian plain and western Balkans and southward. It was thus contemporary with the Sumer period in Mesopotamia, the Early Dynastic period in Egypt and the earliest settlements of Troy. Archaeogenetics link the culture from Yamnaya migrations directly from the steppes that mixed with Neolithic people. The need for copper resulted in the expansion of the Vucedol Culture from its homeland of Slavonia into the broader region of central and southeastern Europe.
The Catacomb culture was a Bronze Age culture which flourished on the Pontic steppe in 2500–1950 BC.
The Baden culture or Baden-Pécel culture was a Chalcolithic culture from c. 3520–2690 BC. It was found in Central and Southeast Europe, and is in particular known from Moravia, Romania, Hungary, southern Poland, Slovakia, northern Croatia and eastern Austria. Imports of Baden pottery have also been found in Germany and Switzerland. It is often grouped together with the Coțofeni culture as part of the Baden-Coțofeni culture.
The Varna Necropolis, or Varna Cemetery, is a burial site in the western industrial zone of Varna, internationally considered one of the key archaeological sites in world prehistory. The oldest gold treasure and jewelry in the world, dating from 4,600 BC to 4,200 BC, was discovered at the site. Several prehistoric Bulgarian finds are considered no less old – the golden treasures of Hotnitsa, Durankulak, artifacts from the Kurgan settlement of Yunatsite near Pazardzhik, the golden treasure Sakar, as well as beads and gold jewelry found in the Kurgan settlement of Provadia – Solnitsata. However, Varna gold is most often called the oldest since this treasure is the largest and most diverse.
The Ottomány culture, also known as Otomani culture in Romania or Otomani-Füzesabony culture in Hungary, was an early Bronze Age culture in Central Europe named after the eponymous site near the village of Ottomány, today part of Sălacea, located in modern-day Bihor County, Romania. The Middle Bronze Age period of the Ottomány culture in eastern Hungary and western Romania is also known as the Gyulavarsánd culture.
Giurgiulești is a commune in the Cahul District of Moldova. It is also a border crossing point to Romania, located 10 km (6.2 mi) from Galați.
The Körös culture/Criș culture is a Neolithic archaeological culture in Central Europe that was named after the river Körös in eastern Hungary. The same river has the name Criș in Romania, hence the name Criş culture. The 2 variants of the river name are used for the same archaeological culture in the 2 regions. The Criș culture survived from about 5800 to 5300 BC. It is related to the neighboring Starčevo culture and is included within a larger grouping known as the Starčevo–Körös–Criş culture.
Bükk culture may have belonged to a dense pocket of Cro-magnon type people inhabiting the Bükk mountains of Hungary and the upper Tisza and its tributaries. The surrounding Neolithic was mainly of a more gracile Mediterranean type, with a Cro-magnon admixture as another possibility. As to whether the Cro-magnons were a remnant squeezed into this pocket, there is no sign of conflict there and the Cro-magnons were doing rather well in the obsidian trade. They were, so to speak, the wealthy men of the European Neolithic.
The Sintashta culture is a Middle Bronze Age archaeological culture of the Southern Urals, dated to the period c. 2200–1900 BCE. It is the first phase of the Sintashta–Petrovka complex, c. 2200–1750 BCE. The culture is named after the Sintashta archaeological site, in Chelyabinsk Oblast, Russia, and spreads through Orenburg Oblast, Bashkortostan, and Northern Kazakhstan. The Sintashta culture is thought to represent an eastward migration of peoples from the Corded Ware culture. It is widely regarded as the origin of the Indo-Iranian languages, whose speakers originally referred to themselves as the Arya.
The Tisza culture is a Neolithic archaeological culture of the Alföld plain in modern-day Hungary, Western Romania, Eastern Slovakia, and Ukrainian Zakarpattia Oblast in Central Europe. The culture is dated to between 5400 BCE and 4500/4400 BCE.
The Prehistory of Transylvania describes what can be learned about the region known as Transylvania through archaeology, anthropology, comparative linguistics and other allied sciences.
The Linear Pottery culture (LBK) is a major archaeological horizon of the European Neolithic period, flourishing c. 5500–4500 BC. Derived from the German Linearbandkeramik, it is also known as the Linear Band Ware, Linear Ware, Linear Ceramics or Incised Ware culture, falling within the Danubian I culture of V. Gordon Childe.
The Bodrogkeresztúr culture was a middle Copper Age culture which flourished in Hungary and Romania from 4000 to 3600 BC.
The Sopot culture is a neolithic archaeological culture that was first identified in eastern Slavonia in modern-day Croatia, and was since also found in several sites in Hungary. It was a continuation of the Starčevo culture and strongly influenced by the Vinča culture. Some of the archeological sites where artifacts of it were found include Samatovci, Vinkovci–Sopot, Otok, Privlaka, Vinkovci–Ervenica, Osijek, Bapska, Županja, Klokočevik. It spread into northern Bosnia from its original area to the west to northwestern Croatia and to the north to Hungarian Transdanubia, where it helped Lengyel culture start. The culture dates to around 5000 BC. Settlements were raised on the river banks. Houses were square and made of wood using interlace technique, sometimes separated into multiple rooms. Artefacts include many weapons made of bone, flint, obsidian, and ironed volcanic rocks and some ceramic pottery of various sizes decorated by carvings or light stabbings and painting.
