The Chalcolithic period (2,800 BC-2,200 BC) saw the early use of metals (copper, gold, silver and lead) and the manufacture of Bell-beaker pottery, so called because of its inverted bell shape. The fabrication of work tools already used in the Neolithic was improved and they began to make arrow heads, daggers, needles, etc. from copper, which they worked with cold.
The inhabitants of the time lived in small villages and occasionally in caves. The practice of agriculture and livestock farming intensified, as did the use of their products (bread, beer, cheese, etc.).
The dead continued to be buried in boxes formed by slabs, albeit larger ones now, built at ground level and covered by a mound of stones or tumulus: dolmens. Some of these tombs were incorporated into a corridor leading to the sepulchre. They were collective tombs where burials were carried out successively over time. During this period we also find collective burial sites in caves of varying dimensions. The dead continued to be buried with their tools and utensils of daily living (grave goods).
Most Chalcolithic materials on show at the museum also come from archaeological burial grounds. Many of these are megaliths excavated by Fr. Serra Vilaró in the early twentieth century and published in his book La civilització megalítica a Catalunya (The Megalithic Civilisation in Catalonia), such as the Dolmen of Llanera. Others were burial caves also excavated by Serra and published in El vas campaniforme (Bell-Beaker Ware), such as the Aigües Vives cave.