Definition Prehistory

a prehistoric man , boy.



man in wilderness



beginning

the term prehistory can refer vast span of time since beginning of universe or earth, more refers period since life appeared on earth, or more time since human-like beings appeared.

end

the date marking end of prehistory in particular culture or region, is, date when relevant written historical records become useful academic resource, varies enormously region region. example, in egypt accepted prehistory ended around 3200 bc, whereas in new guinea end of prehistoric era set more recently, @ around 1900 ad. in europe relatively well-documented classical cultures of ancient greece , ancient rome had neighbouring cultures, including celts , lesser extent etruscans, little or no writing, , historians must decide how weight give highly prejudiced accounts of these prehistoric cultures in greek , roman literature.

time periods

in dividing human prehistory, historians typically use three-age system, whereas scholars of pre-human time periods typically use well-defined geologic record , internationally defined stratum base within geologic time scale. three-age system periodization of human prehistory 3 consecutive time periods, named respective predominant tool-making technologies:

stone age
bronze age
iron age.

history of term

the notion of prehistory began surface during enlightenment in work of antiquarians used word primitive describe societies existed before written records. first use of word prehistory in english, however, occurred in foreign quarterly review in 1836.

the use of geologic time scale pre-human time periods, , of three-age system human prehistory, system emerged during late nineteenth century in work of british, german , scandinavian archeologists, antiquarians , anthropologists.