Towards the end of the Neolithic period (2500-2200 BC) new influences came to the British Isles as a result of increased contact with mainland Europe. A distinctive type of fine ceramic, known as Beaker pottery, is associated with these innovations and gives its name to a ‘package’ of material culture, ideas and technologies, including metalworking.

Across much of mainland Europe there is a recognisable Copper Age when people made things from pure copper, rather than alloying it with tin to produce bronze, which is harder. Some copper items are known from Britain and Ireland, including axes, daggers, halberds and awls, but this copper-using phase was brief and bronze quickly became the primary metal used.

Beaker burials frequently contain copper knives, daggers and personal ornaments as well as other grave-goods. Most of these copper objects were made by cold hammering. Copper, like gold, is a relatively soft metal which can be flattened and formed without the extreme heat necessary for forging or casting. However some early objects were cast using simple open moulds and copper halberds were cast in two-piece moulds.