The stage of technological development between the introduction of copper and the manufacture of bronze (an alloy of copper and tin) in the Bronze Age. As copper was initially very scarce, the impact of metallurgy was often slight, and it was used only for ornaments and rare daggers or flat axes.

Copper appeared at very different dates in various parts of the world. In some cases there was no separate stage before the adoption of true bronze or even iron: in others, Andean South America for example, it was in use for very much longer.