prehistoric era
Before written records
The prehistoric era refers to the vast span of human existence before the invention of writing systems, which marks the beginning of recorded history.
This period encompasses millions of years, from the earliest human ancestors through the development of agriculture and settled communities.
What counts as prehistoric varies by region since writing emerged at different times in different places.
Cave paintings offer glimpses into the prehistoric era.
- deep timeImmense spans of Earth's history
- JurassicDinosaur-dominated geological period
- PaleolithicEarliest archaeological era
- CambrianEarliest Paleozoic period
- CarboniferousCoal-depositing geological period
mass extinction · Neanderthal · Devonian · Australopithecus · Bronze Age · Cro-Magnon · Cretaceous · Iron Age · hominid · stone tools · petroglyph · Homo erectus · Ordovician · Pleistocene · Permian · Silurian · woolly · fossil record
- erasera, epoch, age, bronze age, period
- historical erasStone Age, Bronze Age, Iron Age, Middle Ages, Renaissance
- primeval settingsancient forest, old growth, dawn of time, early earth, ancient world
prehistoric erarecorded history
Past preserved through documentation
modern era · contemporary era · modern times · classical antiquity · ancient history
prehistoric eramodern age
Current historical epoch
information age · digital age · space age · atomic age · computer age