prehistorian
Studies before writing
A prehistorian is a scholar who studies human history before the existence of written records.
The work relies on archaeology, anthropology, and other sciences rather than documents: The prehistorian examined tool fragments to understand early human migration patterns.
Distinguished from historians, who work primarily with written sources.
Science of ancestral human remains
- anthropologyStudy of human cultures
- hunter-gatherersSubsistence through wild resources
- migrationsLarge-scale population movements
- domesticationAdapting species to captivity
cave-paintings · rituals · tribes · clans · pottery · agriculture · shamanism · megafauna
Study of physical remnants
- excavationAct of unearthing
- carbon-datingIsotope-based age measurement
- stratigraphyStudy of rock layers
- artifactsHuman-made historical objects
potsherds · flintknapping · typology · seriation · fieldwork · trowel · sieving · documentation
Temporal ordering of events
- NeolithicFinal prehistoric stone-tool era
- PaleolithicEarliest archaeological era
- MesolithicMiddle stone era
- HoloceneCurrent geological epoch
Pleistocene · epoch · era · period · Chalcolithic · glaciation · interglacial · periodization
Prehistoric megalithic circle
- LascauxPaleolithic painted cavern
- AltamiraSpanish cave with paintings
- ÇatalhöyükProto-city in Turkey
- CarnacBreton megalithic complex
Higher education community
- researchSystematic fact-finding effort
- publicationIssued written material
- interpretationAssigned meaning
- theoryExplanatory set of principles
museum · curation · ethnography · classification · analysis · monograph · conference
paleoanthropology
Science of ancestral human remains
- anthropologyStudy of human cultures
- hunter-gatherersSubsistence through wild resources
- migrationsLarge-scale population movements
domestication · cave-paintings · rituals · tribes · clans · pottery · agriculture · shamanism · megafauna · ochre
archaeology
Study of physical remnants
- excavationAct of unearthing
- carbon-datingIsotope-based age measurement
- stratigraphyStudy of rock layers
artifacts · potsherds · flintknapping · typology · seriation · fieldwork · trowel · sieving · documentation · preservation
chronology
Temporal ordering of events
- NeolithicFinal prehistoric stone-tool era
- PaleolithicEarliest archaeological era
- MesolithicMiddle stone era
Holocene · Pleistocene · epoch · era · period · Chalcolithic · glaciation · interglacial · periodization
Stonehenge
Prehistoric megalithic circle
- LascauxPaleolithic painted cavern
- AltamiraSpanish cave with paintings
- ÇatalhöyükProto-city in Turkey
Carnac · megalith · dolmen · barrow · midden · tell · henge · cairn
academia
Higher education community
- researchSystematic fact-finding effort
- publicationIssued written material
- interpretationAssigned meaning
theory · museum · curation · ethnography · classification · analysis · monograph · conference
prehistorianhistorian
Expert on past events
chronicler · medieval historian · annalist · archivist · medievalist
prehistorianfuturist
Tomorrow trends scholar
futurologist · modernist · prognosticator · trend forecaster
- prehistoric toolsImplements predating written records
- prehistoric monster
- prehistoric timesEra predating written records
- prehistoric lifeOrganisms predating human records
- prehistoric humansHumans before recorded history
- prehistoric creatureAnimal from ancient eras