Who among the following cultures were the first to paint their pottery?

Q. Who among the following cultures were the first to paint their pottery?

1. Mesolithic
2. Neolithic
3. Chalcolithic
4. Iron age

Answer: Chalcolithic

Chalcolithic cultures were the first to paint their pottery

At one point, all human societies relied on stone tool technology. Eventually, some of these cultures started the process of developing agriculture, still with stone tools, which we call the Neolithic period or New Stone Age. Then, many societies discovered bronze, which kicked off what historians call the Bronze Age. The transition from the Neolithic to the Bronze Age took experimentation, failure, and innovation, creating a society that actually relied on bronze tools.

The period between the late Neolithic and the early Bronze Age, during which human societies started experimenting with metal tools and slowly reorganizing their societies, is called the Chalcolithic period. Like the Stone Ages and the Bronze Age, it's also named after the material that changed everything. Welcome to the Copper Age.

Chalcolithic or Eneolithic period marks the use of the metals among which the Copper was first. Chalcolithic means use of copper and stone. Copper was probably the first metal used by humans and the period of Copper Age was from 1800-800 BC. Thus, the chalcolithic period was a transition between the Stone Age and metal age. This was the period in which stone tools were losing their significance and copper tools were finding grounds.

A main identifying characteristic of the Chalcolithic period is polychrome painted pottery. Chalcolithic Era, the first metal age, is marked by the occurrence of distinct cultures in various parts of our country namely – Ahar culture in South-Eastern Rajasthan, Malwa culture in Western MP, Jorwe culture in Western Maharashtra, etc.

People of this age used different kinds of pottery. The presence of painted pottery is a hallmark of the Chalcolithic period.