What is meant by Prehistory and when did it end? From Homo habilis to the invention of writing

With the term “Prehistory” conventionally indicates the longest period of time in all of human history. Generally it began with the first traces of the presence of the genus Man on our planetapproximately two million years agoand by convention it ended in Eurasia between the 4th and 3rd millennium BC with the invention of the writing. Prehistory has also been divided by scholars into three main periods: Paleolithic, Mesolithic (or Epipaleolithic) and Neolithiceach with peculiar changes and fundamental technical and cultural achievements.

What is meant by Prehistory

The use of the term “Prehistory” derives from a very important discriminantat the base of the methodology with which we study the past, that is the use of sources. This is a period of time, the longest in human history, which is precisely “before History”or the last part of our journey on Earth, reconstructable in part thanks to the use of written sourcesfrom the invention of writing onwards. In the total absence of documentsthe only methodology we have to investigate Prehistory is the archaeological researchwhich by its very nature deals with the study of material traces and finds left by our ancestors.

What are the three periods of Prehistory?

Over the years, archaeologists studying prehistory have long debated how this period of human history might have been Periodized. To date, the chronology most accepted divides Prehistory into three large macro-periods: Paleolithic, Mesolithic And Neolithic. Let’s look at them in more detail.

Paleolithic

Overall, the Paleolithic is the longest phase in human history since its appearance on earth. In proportion, our species, Homo sapienslives in the city alone” a few thousand yearsbut instead lived as a nomad for 195,000 yearsThe term “Paleolithic” comes from the Greek: palaces“ancient“, And lithos“stone“, Therefore “Old Stone Age“. Conventionally, the Paleolithic is dated to begin around 2.4 million years agowith the presence in Africa Of man of abilitythe first species of the genus Man that he left us Machined toolsThe oldest instruments ever found by archaeologists.

This first phase is known as “Lower Paleolithic“, and conventionally ended about 120,000 years agofor a total duration of 2.3 million years. In this very long period it happened theevolution from man of ability to Homo erectus. This exponent of the genre Man He is believed to have been the first to domesticate the fire and get out of Africa starting from 1.8 million years ago.

The Lower Paleolithic was followed by the “Middle Paleolithic“, which ended between 50,000 and 40,000 years ago. This period, with a total duration of about 70,000 yearssaw the evolutionary turning point of our species. In Eurasia, representatives of the species prospered during this period Neanderthal manprobably evolved from that part of the population of Homo erectus that left Africa. Neanderthals developed more sophisticated and elaborate stone toolsand were almost certainly able to articulate a complex language and to develop a symbolic thinkingthat is, they possessed a dimension artistic And religious. At the same time, in Africa, the our species, Homo sapiensstarting from at least 200,000-100,000 years ago. Groups of Homo sapiens they began to leave Africa about 50,000 years ago and to spread on all the continents of the world except for Antarctica.

The last phase of the Paleolithic is known as “Upper Paleolithic“. Conventionally, this last tail of the Paleolithic is made to end 12,000 years ago, around 10,000 BC During this period there was thelast glacial peakwhich ended around the 9700 BC In the first phase of the Upper Paleolithic, in Eurasia, Neanderthal man And Homo sapiens coexisted for at least 10,000 yearsbut gradually the first species ended up to become extinctfor reasons that still elude scholars in their entirety. The last traces of the presence of Neanderthals in Eurasia date back between 40,000 and 35,000 years ago. In the last phase of the Upper Paleolithic, Homo sapiens progressed technologically and culturally and managed to colonize the Americas andAustralia.

Mesolithic (or Epipaleolithic)

There end of the glaciation and the progressive rising temperatures led to a growth of the different human groups. This period is known as “Mesolithic“, that is to say “middle stone age“, although archaeologists are lately preferring the term “Epipaleolithic“, or “after the Paleolithic”. This period is conventionally dated to begin around the 10,000 BC and ends with theintroduction of agriculturewhose dating It varies from area to area of the world. In the Mesolithic the end of the glaciation led to themegafauna extinction (mammoths, woolly rhinos etc.) and to thesea ​​level rise. This had significant repercussions on man’s life: they changed the prey of hunter-gatherer communities, which became the smaller animals (promoting the invention and use of thebow rather than the spear), and also the better environmental conditions led to the growth of the communities, which being nomadic spread more pervasively in the world, even with primitive techniques of navigation.

Neolithic

The last phase of Prehistory is the “Neolithic“, the age “of the new stone“. This period marked a revolution that would have changed forever the history of man on earth, or the invention of theagriculture and of thefarm. This happened in Middle Eastin the famous “Fertile Crescent“, between 9000 and 8000 BC From these areas it gradually began to spread as a successful social and productive model, with the formation of villages and of larger populations. That known among archaeologists as “Neolithic Revolution” arrived in Central-Western Europe between the 7th and 6th millennium BC There growth of the population thanks to the greater food availability led to the birth of the first urban agglomerations and to an ever-increasing complexity of the Neolithic societies.

How and when Prehistory ended

Conventionally, Prehistory is made to end with the appearance of the first written sources. This happened in Mesopotamiaat the Sumerian civilization with the cuneiform writingand in Egypt with that hieroglyphics, at the end of the 4th millennium BC The most widely accepted theory sees the birth of writing as a consequence of the need to keep track of the growingsurplus agricultural. Since the invention and use of writing occurred only in certain places at certain times, and also because some rather advanced civilizations did not have the need to develop writing systems, the use of this chronological caesura it has often been revealed inaccurate And confused. For example, at the time of the invention of writing in the Middle East, in Western Europe the Neolithic Revolution was still coming. For this reason archaeologists felt the need to create another word that could act as “umbrella term” to periodize European history before the spread of writing from the classical era: Protohistory. This term refers to those time periods in which writing was in use in Europe absent or marginal (Bronze Age, Iron Age) but already massively used by the civilizations of the Near East.