To date most research concerned with Chalcolithic Anatolian metallurgy has neglected to consider the social roles important to its development of this technology, particularly symbolic/ideological aspects. Using cross-cultural behavioural analogy, this thesis identifies a variety of social behaviours associated with metalworking technology, demonstrating that Anatolian metalworking had social roles of a similarly complex and important nature. A set of symbolic beliefs, reflected in associated rituals, surrounded the metalwork of Chalcolithic Anatolia, whose value as a traded prestige commodity was a significant factor in the development of complex societies in this region.