prehistory
Before written records
Prehistory is the period of human existence before written records—the vast stretch of time known only through archaeology, fossils, and oral traditions.
The prefix *pre-* marks what came before: the prehistory of the internet, the prehistory of jazz.
Something belonging to this era is prehistoric, a term often used hyperbolically for anything outdated: His views on women are prehistoric.
Earliest archaeological era
- MesolithicMiddle stone era
- NeolithicFinal prehistoric stone-tool era
- Stone AgeEra of knapped tools
- Bronze AgeEarly metalworking civilization period
Iron Age · Ice Age · Pleistocene · Holocene · Precambrian · Cambrian · Devonian · Carboniferous
Act of unearthing
- artifactsHuman-made historical objects
- digUnearth by shoveling
- stratigraphyStudy of rock layers
- carbon-datingIsotope-based age measurement
potsherds · trowel · site · ceramics · lithics · burial · midden · settlement
Subsistence through wild resources
- nomadicWithout fixed residence
- tribesAncestral social groups
- clanRelated group sharing ancestry
- foragingSeeking wild food sources
shamanism · rituals · barter · toolmaking · flintknapping · cave-paintings · megaliths · domestication
Hardened ancient tree secretion
- trilobiteExtinct segmented marine arthropod
- dinosaurExtinct Mesozoic reptile
- petrifiedSolidified or fear-paralyzed
- paleontologyStudy of ancient organisms
extinct · imprint · remains · skeleton · megafauna · mammoths · hominids · Australopithecus
Prehistoric megalithic circle
- LascauxPaleolithic painted cavern
- AltamiraSpanish cave with paintings
- ÇatalhöyükProto-city in Turkey
- CarnacBreton megalithic complex
Point of creation
- beginningsInitial stages of something
- dawnDay's first glow
- emergenceComing into existence
- ancestryFamily line of descent
roots · formation · birth · inception · provenance · proto-human
Paleolithic
Earliest archaeological era
- MesolithicMiddle stone era
- NeolithicFinal prehistoric stone-tool era
- Stone AgeEra of knapped tools
Bronze Age · Iron Age · Ice Age · Pleistocene · Holocene · Precambrian · Cambrian · Devonian · Carboniferous · Jurassic
excavation
Act of unearthing
- artifactsHuman-made historical objects
- digUnearth by shoveling
- stratigraphyStudy of rock layers
carbon-dating · potsherds · trowel · site · ceramics · lithics · burial · midden · settlement · hearths
hunter-gatherers
Subsistence through wild resources
foraging · shamanism · rituals · barter · toolmaking · flintknapping · cave-paintings · megaliths · domestication · agriculture
amber
Hardened ancient tree secretion
- trilobiteExtinct segmented marine arthropod
- dinosaurExtinct Mesozoic reptile
- petrifiedSolidified or fear-paralyzed
paleontology · extinct · imprint · remains · skeleton · megafauna · mammoths · hominids · Australopithecus · Neanderthal
Stonehenge
Prehistoric megalithic circle
- LascauxPaleolithic painted cavern
- AltamiraSpanish cave with paintings
- ÇatalhöyükProto-city in Turkey
genesis
Point of creation
- beginningsInitial stages of something
- dawnDay's first glow
- emergenceComing into existence
ancestry · roots · formation · birth · inception · provenance · proto-human
flint
Spark-producing sedimentary rock
bow · scraper · blade · pottery · harpoon · adze · chopper · obsidian · chert
- historyancient civilizations, past events, epochs, era, epoch
- timesecond, minute, hour, day, seconds
- pastago, before, once, previously, prior
- ancient historyancient world, classical antiquity, ancient empires, Mesopotamia, Babylon
- ancient thingsruins, relics, artifacts, fossils, monuments
- erasera, epoch, age, bronze age, period
prehistoryfuture
Time still to come
posterity · futurity · the present · modernity · contemporary times
- 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