Notes on History Part One
Prehistory: the period of time before written records.
The occurrence of written materials varies generally from culture to culture. Some cultures came into the “historical times” in the Late Stone Age, while others came in the later Bronze Age or within the Iron Age. Historians increasingly do not restrict themselves to evidence from written records and are coming to rely more upon evidence from the natural and social sciences, thereby blurring the distinction between the terms “history” and “prehistory.”
In archaeology and anthropology, human prehistory is subdivided around the three-age system. This list includes the use of the three-age system as well as a number of various designations used in reference to sub-ages within the traditional three.
The Lists of Time Periods going back as far as man can research:
- The Stone Age
- Paleolithic Age
- Lower Paleolithic
- Middle Paleolithic
- Upper Paleolithic
- Mesolithic Age
- Neolithic Age
- Paleolithic Age
- The Copper Age. Note: The Copper Age was not part of the original three-age system.
- The Bronze Age
- The Iron Age
The dates for each age can vary by region. On the geologic time scale, the Holocene epoch starts at the end of the most recent Ice age (around 10,000 BC) and continues to the present. The beginning of Mesolithic is usually considered to correspond to the beginning of the Holocene epoch.
Archaeological periods in Europe
Northern Europe:
Mesolithic
Neolithic
Bronze Age
Iron Age
Roman Iron Age (c. CE 1 – 400)
Germanic Iron Age (c. CE 400 – 800)
Viking Age (c. CE 800 – 1066)
Medieval period (1066 – c. 1500)
Post-medieval period (c. 1500 – c. 1800)
Industrial/Modern
Western Europe:
Paleolithic (pre c. 8800 BCE)
Mesolithic (c. 8800 – 4900 BCE)
Neolithic (c. 4900 – 2000 BCE)
Bronze Age (c. 2000 – 800 BCE)
Iron Age (c. 800 – 0 BCE)
Roman (c. CE 0 – 400)
Early medieval period (c. CE 400 – 800)
Medieval period (800 – c. 1500)
Post-medieval period (c. 1500 – c. 1800)
Industrial/Modern
South Eastern Europe:
Paleolithic
Epipaleolithic
Neolithic
Chalcolithic
Bronze Age
Iron Age
Hellenistic
Roman Byzantine period
Ottoman Empire
- Posted in: Notes
- Tagged: History, prehistory, three-age system
