Prehistory, also called pre-literary history,[1] is the period of human history between the first known use of stone tools by hominins c. 3.3 million years ago and the beginning of recorded history with the invention of writing systems. The use of symbols, marks, and images appears very early among humans, but the earliest known writing systems appeared c. 5,200 years ago. It took thousands of years for writing systems to be widely adopted, with writing spreading to almost all cultures by the 19th century. The end of prehistory therefore came at different times in different places, and the term is less often used in discussing societies where prehistory ended relatively recently.
In the early Bronze Age, Sumer in Mesopotamia, the Indus Valley Civilisation, and ancient Egypt were the first civilizations to develop their own scripts and keep historical records, with their neighbours following. Most other civilizations reached their end of prehistory during the following Iron Age. The three-age division of prehistory into Stone Age, Bronze Age, and Iron Age remains in use for much of Eurasia and North Africa, but is not generally used in those parts of the world where the working of hard metals arrived abruptly from contact with Eurasian cultures, such as Oceania, Australasia, much of Sub-Saharan Africa, and parts of the Americas. With some exceptions in pre-Columbian civilizations in the Americas, these areas did not develop complex writing systems before the arrival of Eurasians, so their prehistory reaches into relatively recent periods; for example, 1788 is usually taken as the end of the prehistory of Australia.
The period when a culture is written about by others, but has not developed its own writing system is often known as the protohistory of the culture. By definition,[2] there are no written records from human prehistory, which can only be known from material archaeological and anthropological evidence: prehistoric materials and human remains. These were at first understood by the collection of folklore and by analogy with pre-literate societies observed in modern times. The key step to understanding prehistoric evidence is dating, and reliable dating techniques have developed steadily since the nineteenth century.[3] Further evidence has come from the reconstruction of ancient spoken languages. More recent techniques include forensic chemical analysis to reveal the use and provenance of materials, and genetic analysis of bones to determine kinship and physical characteristics of prehistoric peoples.
^McCall, Daniel F.; Struever, Stuart; Van Der Merwe, Nicolaas J.; Roe, Derek (1973). "Prehistory as a Kind of History". Journal of Interdisciplinary History. 3 (4): 733–739. doi:10.2307/202691. JSTOR 202691.
^"Dictionary Entry". Archived from the original on 8 August 2017. Retrieved 8 August 2017.
^Graslund, Bo. 1987. The birth of prehistoric chronology. Cambridge:Cambridge University Press.
Prehistory, also called pre-literary history, is the period of human history between the first known use of stone tools by hominins c. 3.3 million years...
This timeline of prehistory covers the time from the appearance of Homo sapiens approximately 315,000 years ago in Africa to the invention of writing,...
The Prehistory of Transylvania describes what can be learned about the region known as Transylvania through archaeology, anthropology, comparative linguistics...
Hungarian prehistory (Hungarian: magyar őstörténet) spans the period of history of the Hungarian people, or Magyars, which started with the separation...
Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word football normally means the...
Mecca (/ˈmɛkə/; officially Makkah al-Mukarramah, commonly shortened to Makkah) is the capital of Mecca Province in the Hejaz region of western Saudi Arabia...
South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a considerably smaller portion in the Northern...
Ethiopia, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country located in the Horn of Africa region of East Africa. It shares...
The prehistory of Australia is the period between the first human habitation of the Australian continent and the colonisation of Australia in 1788, which...
The prehistory of the Levant includes the various cultural changes that occurred, as revealed by archaeological evidence, prior to recorded traditions...
The prehistory of Anatolia stretches from the Paleolithic era through to the appearance of classical civilisation in the middle of the 1st millennium BC...
National Museum of Prehistory may refer to: National Museum of Prehistory (France), in Les Eyzies, France National Museum of Prehistory (Taiwan), in Taitung...
Tamil Nadu (/ˌtæmɪl ˈnɑːduː/; Tamil: [ˈtamiɻ ˈnaːɽɯ] , abbr. TN) is the southernmost state of India. The tenth largest Indian state by area and the sixth...
Prehistoric religion is the religious practice of prehistoric cultures. Prehistory, the period before written records, makes up the bulk of human experience;...
Prehistory of the United States may refer to: Geological history of North America History of Native Americans in the United States This disambiguation...
The geologic time scale or geological time scale (GTS) is a representation of time based on the rock record of Earth. It is a system of chronological dating...
A large amount of research on prehistory has been dedicated to the role of women in pre-literary society. Tasks typically undertaken by women are thought...
The provincial island of Marinduque is found in between Oriental Mindoro and Quezon Province at the Southern Part of Luzon. It is part of the Region IV-B...
The prehistory of the Iranian plateau, and the wider region now known as Greater Iran, as part of the prehistory of the Near East is conventionally divided...
presences. Lombardy has a rich, diverse cultural heritage ranging from prehistory to the present day. Artefacts from the Roman period and the Renaissance...
Guangdong is a coastal province located in South China, on the north shore of the South China Sea. The provincial capital is Guangzhou. With a population...
Santiago (/ˌsæntiˈɑːɡoʊ/, US also /ˌsɑːn-/; Spanish: [sanˈtjaɣo]), also known as Santiago de Chile, is the capital and largest city of Chile and one of...
The prehistory of the Netherlands was heavily influenced by the region's constantly changing, low-lying geography. Inhabited by humans for at least 37...
According to Tim Dyson: Genetic research has contributed to knowledge of the prehistory of the subcontinent's people in other respects. In particular, the level...
The Prehistory of Siberia is marked by several archaeologically distinct cultures. In the Chalcolithic, the cultures of western and southern Siberia were...
appearance of Homo sapiens to before the invention of writing see: Timeline of prehistory These timelines of world history detail recorded events since the creation...
Leicester (/ˈlɛstər/ LES-tər) is a city, unitary authority area, unparished area and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England...
The prehistory of the Philippines covers the events prior to the written history of what is now the Philippines. The current demarcation between this period...
Global Information