prehistory
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AI overview
Prehistory refers to the long period of human existence before the invention of writing, during which people left behind physical evidence like engraved tools and artifacts that help us understand how they lived. It matters because studying these remains allows us to learn about the origins of human creativity, technology, and culture that shaped everything that came after.
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Article
21 sectionsContents
- History of the term
- Means of research
- Definition
- Beginning and end
- Time periods
- Stone Age
- Palaeolithic
- Mesolithic
- Neolithic
- Chalcolithic
- Bronze Age
- Iron Age
- Timeline
- Paleolithic
- Mesolithic/Epipaleolithic
- Neolithic
- Chalcolithic
- By region
- See also
- References
- External links
thumb|upright=1.2|Engraved images of animals on antler
Prehistory, sometimes referred to as pre-literary history, is the period of human history between the first known use of stone tools by hominins 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 years ago. The adoption of writing across the globe has been a slow process, so that the end of prehistory occurred at different times in different places, and the term is less often used in discussing societies where prehistory ended relatively recently. 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.