What is Prehistory? How is it different from History?
Prehistory describes the life of people, who led their life before the invention of the writing system. The prehistory shows the life and habitat of people who lived 3.3 million years ago. During this period, people mainly used symbols, marks, and images for expressing their ideas. People started writing systems and human culture only after the nineteenth century. The prehistory came to end on different dates in different places. The written records of history gave complete information about the ancient people. The written records belong to 3200 BCE discovered by Archaeologists in Egypt. So, they kept ancient history as the beginning of history, as they could find the written records of history. The written records of history will give more information about their life and how the ecosystem was. The main source of information for prehistory is given in detail in this article. Here, students can learn what is prehistory and how is it different from history.
Information from Prehistory
Many historians guessed that modern human beings should enter into the world- before 200,000 to 30000 years ago. And the age of the planet must be around 4.5 billion years. So, they believed that the human being arrived late to the planet because the planet remains stable from long back. As humans came to the world - before 200,000 years ago, now every human being on earth must be born after an average of 6000 generations. While thinking about the scope, our earth should come under various adventures, sorrows, environmental changes, and the rise and fall of various civilizations during this vast period.
Written Records
Human beings started using tools in their life to protect themselves from animals and to search for their food. Many historians who came after having the knowledge to maintain records took many sources of prehistory and maintained records. Even today, archaeology and anthropology departments were doing research on these records to analyze the life of ancient people. The oldest records discovered by archaeologists were 5000 years old and they belonged to Egypt. So, historians started to believe that, that is the time when prehistory came to end and the world entered into history. But on the other hand, there is no exact evidence for it.
There is no surety that all the written records were correct and accurate. As it may be derived from the dead language. So, archaeology and anthropology departments will handle written records of history carefully and thoughtfully. If we got the written records of one side, it is difficult to make biased decisions, without considering another side. Most of the time, the basic instructions to be followed by generation were written only once. Then they are just transmitted orally through speech and it will change consciously or unconsciously according to that situation. The incident which happened yesterday may have two directions for observers. So, knowing the information that has happened in prehistory was tougher even without any written records.
But many archaeologists have identified many tools and structures of ancient people from their burial sites and also researched remaining fossils and artifacts. Through the artifacts and several other techniques, archaeologists can easily calculate the approximate age of fossils. They can use carbon dating measurement for finding the number of radioactive carbons deposited on fossils to calculate the age. For finding the age of artifacts, they used the age of the layer of rocks to identify its exact buried year. This method is known as stratigraphic dating. The linguists and geneticists can research and find how the human migrated from one place to another and how they spread and intermingled in various locations in a different atmosphere.
Uncertainty Behind Prehistory
After analyzing all the details as given above, present historians can construct and narrate the complete information about the past. Even though historians can predict some information from existing tools, many other data remain undiscovered with the available sources. Even today archaeological departments were researching and finding small pieces, but those are not sufficient to find complete history.
What is the Difference Between History and Prehistory?
The below table shows the major differences between prehistory and history in detail.
Conclusion
This article explained what is prehistory and history, how historians classified history and prehistory, and the uncertainty behind prehistory in detail. In simple words we can say that the prehistory was a period before the invention and recording of writing systems.
FAQs on Prehistoric Age: Life of Human in Prehistory Period
1. What is the main difference between history and prehistory?
The main difference is the existence of written records. Prehistory covers the period of human life before writing was invented, so we study it through physical objects. History, on the other hand, is the study of the past using written documents and other recorded sources.
2. What do we mean by the 'Prehistoric Age'?
The Prehistoric Age refers to the vast period in the human past before written language existed. Our knowledge of this era comes from physical evidence studied by archaeologists, such as fossils, stone tools, pottery, and ancient cave paintings.
3. How did early humans live during the Prehistoric Age?
Early humans were primarily hunter-gatherers. They lived a nomadic life, moving from place to place to find food and shelter. They used simple tools made of stone, bone, and wood to hunt animals and gather edible plants, fruits, and nuts.
4. What are the main periods of the Stone Age?
The Stone Age is divided into three main periods, classified by the type of stone tools used:
- Palaeolithic Age (Old Stone Age): Characterised by crude, chipped stone tools used for hunting and cutting.
- Mesolithic Age (Middle Stone Age): A transitional period with smaller, more refined stone tools.
- Neolithic Age (New Stone Age): Marked by polished stone tools and the beginning of farming.
5. How do we know about prehistoric life if there were no written records?
We learn about prehistoric times through archaeology. Archaeologists study physical remains, known as artefacts, to understand the past. These include:
- Tools: Stone axes and arrowheads show their level of technology.
- Pottery: Clay pots tell us about food storage and art.
- Fossils: The bones of early humans and animals reveal what they looked like and what they ate.
- Cave Paintings: Art on cave walls provides glimpses into their daily life, beliefs, and hunting practices.
6. Why was the discovery of fire so important for early humans?
The ability to control fire was a major turning point for early humans. It was crucial for survival because it provided warmth in cold climates, protection from wild animals, a way to cook food to make it safer and easier to digest, and light to see in the dark.
7. What were the biggest changes for humans during the Neolithic Revolution?
The Neolithic Revolution brought about the most significant change in human history: the invention of agriculture. People learned to grow crops and domesticate animals. This meant they no longer had to be nomadic hunter-gatherers and could build permanent settlements, which eventually grew into villages and towns.
8. Besides stone, what other materials did prehistoric people use to make tools?
While stone is the most famous material, prehistoric people were very resourceful. They also used bone to create needles and fishhooks, wood for spear shafts and handles, antlers for picks and tools, and animal hides for making clothing and shelters.
