The Near East (4365–4222 BCE): The Chalcolithic Epoch Begins

Renewed Settlement of Cyprus

After a fifteen-hundred-year hiatus, human habitation resumed on Cyprus around 4500–4000 BCE. Excavations reveal small village sites near Curium at Sotira and within the Kyrenia Mountain range. Notably, artifacts crafted from picrolite and copper highlight early trade and cultural practices on the island.

Naqada Culture Emergence

The Naqada culture (circa 4400–3000 BCE), named after the necropolis site near present-day Naqada in Egypt, represents a significant prehistoric and predynastic cultural phase. Initially defined by British Egyptologist William Flinders Petrie in 1894, it comprises three sub-periods: Naqada I (Amratian), Naqada II (Gerzean), and Naqada III (Semainean). Naqada I (about 4400–3500 BCE) is distinguished by black-topped pottery and trade networks reaching Nubia, Western Desert oases, and the eastern Mediterranean, as well as Ethiopian obsidian imports. Modern chronologies extend slightly earlier than initially defined, emphasizing continuity and cultural complexity across the region.