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Awls, hooks, flat axes, knives, daggers, halberds, personalised adornments made from copper appeared. Bone and stone were gradually replaced by copper, which led to new manufacturing techniques as well as new ways of living.
Fortified settlements were now being constructed high up on plateaus. The most notable examples of this were [https://argarica.es/index.php/allcategories-es-es/14-argarica/calcolitico/35-visita-al-yacimiento-calcolitico-de-los-millares the culture of Los Millares ] and subsequently, the Argar (Almeria) and Zambujal in Torres Vedras (Portugal), which were the most magnificent architectural settlements on the Chalcolithic Iberian Peninsula. However, most communities were still typically found in the flatlands (particularly on river terraces and in valleys), which were more suitable for farming or raising livestock. Excavations at these sites have unearthed grain stores, landfills, store rooms, ditches and pits at these sites dating from this same time period. These societies also left behind an extensive fields of ring-diches which served as storage pits, particularly at les Jovades en Concentaina site, in Alicante and at the Ventorro site in Madrid. Notable exceptions to the settlements on the plains were those in caves or rock shelter such as the cova des Moro in Manacor (Mallorca) or cova des Fum in Formentera or Estremera in Madrid. Collective burying of their dead and the [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IEKCytXtatQ construction of megalithic burial chambers ] typical of the Late Neolithic continued to be common in the southeast, southwest, Northern Plateau and northwest of the Peninsula. These customs endured until the introduction of [https://www.um.es/web/sala-prensa/-/el-vaso-campaniforme-desmonta-la-expansion-migratoria-de-nuestros-ancestros-peninsulares-hacia-europa bell-shaped ceramic pots], which then allowed them to bury just a single individual.
Despite regional variations in dating and definitively describing the period known as the Copper Age, it can be roughly classified into two periods: the Early Chalcolithic, dating from the first half of the Third Millennium (starting in 2250 BC) and the Late Chalcolithic, occurring from 2250 BC to 1900 BC. In the latter period, new ceramic pots began to appear in communities throughout Europe, allowing for more efficient preservation, storage, and transportation of goods. They were made by hand, generally with red clay, in an inverted bell shape, and then elaborately decorated with horizontal bands containing geometric or shell-shaped patterns, impressed or cut with combs or cords, and sometimes glazed. On the Peninsula, this pottery was initially decorated with international designs, referred to as Maritime, Corded or Mixed (2200-2150 BC), but later, a diverse array of regional designs appeared.}}
[[File:Enelaboracion.jpg|left|thumb|none|200px|Image:Belt from Aliseda Hoard. Museo Arqueológico Nacional, Madrid
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The use of this new metal technology, which required furnaces capable of reaching extremely high temperatures, did not spread homogenously throughout the Peninsula. Iron-making first began on the coastline in the middle of the 8<sup>th</sup> century BC by such predominant protohistoric cultures as [https://historia.nationalgeographic.com.es/a/tartessos-busca-reino-perdido_6233/3 the Tartessos ] while inland civilisations continued to work with bronze and were slower to adopt this new technology. These diverse regional differences (evident at some archaeological sites) led to transformations in how these societies were organised throughout the territory, signalling that the Iberian people were entering into a new era (known as ancient history) and leaving Prehistory behind.
This long epoch known as the Iron Age is conventionally divided into two stages: the Early Iron Age (750 BC - 500 BC) and the Late Iron Age (500 BC - 200 BC, as illustrated in the maps of the same tittle.
