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History vocabulary · Periods and Eras

Prehistory

Meaning in history, with examples

/ˌpriːˈhɪstri/nounCore term

In history, prehistory means: The long period of human history before writing was invented, known mainly through archaeology, fossils and other physical remains.

In Turkish: tarih öncesi, tarih öncesi çağlar

How it is used

The end of prehistory differs from region to region, because writing appeared at different times; in Mesopotamia it was around 3200 BC. The adjective prehistoric is common: prehistoric tools, prehistoric settlements, prehistoric art.

Example sentences

  1. Most of what we know about prehistory comes from stone tools and bones.

  2. The museum's prehistoric collection includes finds from Çatalhöyük.

Common collocations

  • prehistoric tools
  • prehistoric settlements
  • human prehistory
  • prehistoric art
  • NeolithicRelating to the New Stone Age, when people began farming, keeping animals and living in permanent villages, starting around 10,000 BC in the Near East.
  • Bronze AgeThe period when people made tools and weapons mainly from bronze, an alloy of copper and tin; in the Near East roughly 3300 to 1200 BC.
  • archaeologyThe study of the human past through the material remains people left behind, such as buildings, tools, pottery, bones and traces in the soil.
  • BCShort for 'before Christ': written after a year to show that it comes before the traditional starting point of the Western calendar, as in 500 BC.

More terms: Periods and Eras

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