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Prehistory

The term "prehistory" is used to refer to those groups of people across time who did not rely on written documents to record information about their society. Instead, these peoples often used other tools like oral tradition or pneumonic devices to forge a collective memory.

Prehistory does not occur in one particular time or place. In parts of the Near East, one must go back deep into the B.C. period to talk about prehistory, while in others like the Northeastern U.S. prehistory continues until the 16th century with the coming of Europeans.

Prehistory is not only used to talk about the lives of fully modern humans but is also applied to early hominids like Homo erectus and Neandertal who have been shown to engage in cultural expression (e.g. build shelters, use fire, tool making, ritual, etc.)

Sites in Prehistory

NM's Creative Impulse Prehistory
A collection of links broken down by time period.

Prehistory.org
A portal offering prehistory news, research and conference information.

The Prehistoric Society
Concerned with prehistory world-wide, its membership is drawn from many countries. Newsletters online, lectures, events, grants, merchandise.

The Long Foreground: Human Prehistory
An interactive tutorial produced by the Learning Commons of Washington State University.

Stone Age Habitats
Overview of construction by early humans. Includes a summary of environmental alteration by prehistoric peoples.

Reflections on Prehistory
Offers an overview of prehistory ranging from topics on early hominids to regional discussions of prehistory in the Near East and the American Southwest.

Prehistoric Man by History Link 101
Offers links categorized in five areas: art, daily life, maps, pictures, and research on early man.

Prehistory and Disease
A educational series created by the BBC that discusses the origins of modern medicine.

Ecological Role of Prehistoric Humans
An overview of how populations altered ecosystems and extinguished species prior to developing advanced technology.

Edge 3rd Culture
A talk by Jared Diamond, Ph.D. from UCLA that addresses the question of why human history unfolded differently on different continents for the last 13,000 years.

Human Prehistory: An Exhibition
Offers an overview of human evolution and prehistory with a particular emphasis on early human developments in the Old World. The graphically enhanced tours open with a discussion of the origins of the study of "hominid evolution".

Prehistory Objectives
Portion of World History course, which provides an overview of both the Paleolithic and Neolithic periods as well as a section on different theoretical models used to conceptualize prehistory.

Archaeology and Language: The Puzzle of Indo-European Origins
Norman Berdichevsky finds that this book by Colin Renfrew upsets established ideas. From Contemporary Review.

Prehistory of Alaska
An overview from the American National Park Service. Includes a bibliography of print resources on the topic.

Ancient Man
A collection of resources and links, categorized by continent, for exploring prehistoric people and early civilizations.

Ancient Greece and Early America
Early West and Native/Colonial America: artifacts, music, film clips, maps/time-lines, plus contributions from visual artists and historians.

Systematics in Prehistory ebook
Robert C. Dunnell questions the validity of the concepts and assumptions of scientific classification of prehistoric societies based upon artifacts. A hypertext companion to the book with the same title that features chapter summaries and a glossary.