The Chalcolithic a name derived from the Greek: χαλκός khalkós, “copper” and from λίθος líthos, “stone”or Copper Age, also known as the Eneolithic[1] or Aeneolithic (from Latin aeneus “of copper”) is an archaeological period which researchers usually regard as part of the broader Neolithic (although scholars originally defined it as a transition between the Neolithic and the Bronze Age). In the context of Eastern Europe, archaeologists often prefer the term “Eneolithic” to “Chalcolithic” or other alternatives.

In the Chalcolithic period, copper predominated in metalworking technology. Hence it was the period before it was discovered that adding tin to copper formed bronze (a harder and stronger metal)

The Copper Age in the Ancient Near East began in the late 5th millennium BC and lasted for about a millennium before it gave rise to the Early Bronze Age.

Bronze Age

CANAANITE 3100 – 1200 BC

The Bronze Age is a historical period characterized by the use of bronze and in some areas proto-writing, and other early features of urban civilization.

The Bronze Age is divided into

1. A) Early Bronze Age

The Chronology of this period -an entire millennium- is pegged to a few reliable dates, and these are only relative and not absolute. The most important in correlation between Early Bronze II and the First Dynasty of Egypt, is based on the presence of Canaanite vessels among the funerary offerings in the royal tombs of the First Dynasty. These vessels have become one of the cornerstones in the chronology of the Near East in the Early Bronze period. The Early bronze period extended over a very long span of time; during which there were contacts between various regions of the Near East. In the absence of historical records, the nature of these contacts can be

understood only in so far as they were reflected in the material culture and especially in the pottery.

1. b) Middle Bronze Age

The MB period is known to archeology so far mainly through its tombs, rather than through occupational strata of excavated sites, a situation which reflects clearly the archaeological-historical character of the age. Remains of this period, rather than strata in the usual sense of the word, have been uncovered in various sites, such as Tell Beth Mirsim, Lachish, Megiddo, Jericho, Hazor, Beth Yerah, and other. The information supplied by these remains is not of the kind which regularly emerges from excavations, but rather evidence of a negative nature: there are no city walls, there are hardly any building remains, and there are some cave-dwellings. Stratum Hat Tell Beth Mirsim and the corresponding strata at Jericho supply a picture of Simi-sedentary life existing on these sites and in there vicinity (in the case of Jericho, upon the site of a large destroyed city of the EB). This connection of the simi-nomadic character of the population in this period is somewhat impaired by the excavation at Mt. Yeroham in the Negev, which produced a well-preserved small settlement about one acre in size, which architecture, pottery, and artifacts, including copper ingots. This cultural is usually thought to be connected with the arrival of the Amorites in Canaan.

1. c) Late Bronze Age

The Late Bronze period has been pegged to Egyptian history: it corresponds to the whole duration of the new Kingdom (Dynasties XVIII and XIX). This synchro ology is based on the fact that the history of Canaan in this period, more than in any other, is tied to the history of Egypt, which ruled or influenced Canaan for most of this time. The reign of Akhenaton (Amenhotep IV, 1380-1363 BC.), that is, the Amarna period, is important for the history of the period both in Egypt and beyond. The city Akhenaton built, and which he made his capital, has become the basis for the chronology of countries far from Amarna itself. A short-lived site is always a welcome phenomenon for the history of culture, so much the more when it can be dated exactly. The Mycenaean pottery found in the ruins and dumps of that short-lived city has become the decisive criterion for dating the culture of countries situated in the Eastern Mediterranean: Canaan, Upper Canaan, Cilicia, the Hittite lands, and the sphere of influence in Western Anatolia, Greece and its islands, and even farther westward. As for Canaan – the development of the pottery falls into three general phases, the second of which is pegged to Amarna. There is every justification for that, since the history of this chapter in Canaan is reflected in the Amarna Letters.

THE IRON AGE

The Iron Age is the final epoch of the three-age division of the prehistory and protohistoric of humanity. It was preceded by the Stone Age (Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic, and Chalcolithic) and the Bronze Age. The concept has been mostly applied to Europe and the Ancient Near East, and, by analogy, also to other parts of the Old World. The Iron Period is subdivided into three main periods. This system is based on the conception that there are two main ‘shifts’ from phase to phase in the culture history of the country during this long period: the first around 1000 BC, with the consolidation of the Kingdoms, and the second around 800 BC, with the dwindling of Phoenician influence and the strengthening of Assyrian influence and intervention.

Persian period

Yehud Medinata (Aramaic for the State of Judah/Jews), or simply Yehud, was an autonomous state of the Persian Achaemenid Empire, roughly equivalent to the older kingdom of Judah but covering a smaller area, within the satrapy of Eber-Nari. The area of Yehud Medinata corresponded to the previous Babylonian province of Yehud, which was formed after the fall of the kingdom of Judah to the Neo-Babylonian Empire (c.597 after its conquest of the Mediterranean east coast, and again in 585/6 BCE after suppressing an unsuccessful Judean revolt). Yehud Medinata continued to exist for two centuries, until being incorporated into the Hellenistic empires following the conquests of Alexander the Great.

Hellenistic period

The Hellenistic period covers the period of Mediterranean history between the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC and the emergence of the Roman Empire as signified by the Battle of Actium in 31 BC and the conquest of Ptolemaic Egypt the following year. The Ancient Greek word Hellas (Ἑλλάς, Ellás) is the original word for Greece, from which the word Hellenistic was derived.

During the Hellenistic period Greek cultural influence and power reached the peak of its geographical expansion, being dominant in the Mediterranean World and most of West and Central Asia, even in parts of the Indian subcontinent, experiencing prosperity and progress in the arts, exploration, literature, theatre, architecture, music, mathematics, philosophy, and science. It is often considered a period of transition Hellenistic period

Herodian period (jesses time)

Herod the Great and Herod I, was a Roman client king of Judea referred to as the Herodian kingdom. The history of his legacy has polarized opinion, as he is known for his colossal building projects throughout Judea, including his renovation of the Second Temple in Jerusalem and the expansion of the Temple Mount towards its north the construction of the port at Caesarea Marittima, the fortress at Masada, and Her odium. Vital details of his life are recorded in the works of the 1st century CE Roman–Jewish historian Josephus. Herod also appears in the Christian Gospel of Matthew as the ruler of Judea who orders the Massacre of the Innocents at the time of the birth of Jesus, although a majority of Herod biographers do not believe this event to have occurred. Despite his successes, including singlehandedly forging a new aristocracy from practically nothing, he has still garnered criticism from

various historians. His reign polarizes opinion amongst scholars and historians, some viewing his legacy as evidence of success, and some as a reminder of his tyrannical rule.

Upon Herod’s death, the Romans divided his kingdom among three of his sons and his sister—Achelous became ethnarch of Judea, Samaria, and Idumea, Herod Antipas became tetrarch of Galilee and Peraea, Philip became tetrarch of territories north and east of the Jordan, and Salome I was given a toparchy including the cities of Jabneh, Ashdod, and Phasaelis.

Byzantine Period

The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire, or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinople (modern Istanbul, formerly Byzantium). It survived the fragmentation and fall of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century AD and continued to exist for an additional thousand years until it fell to the Ottoman Turks in 1453 during most of its existence, the empire was the most powerful economic, cultural and military force in Europe. “Byzantine Empire” is a term created after the end of the realm; its citizens continued to refer to their empire simply as the Roman Empire (Greek: Βασιλεία Ῥωμαίων, tr. Basileia Rhōmaiōn; Latin: Imperium Romanum), or Romania (Ῥωμανία), and to themselves as “Romans”.