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{{short description|Span of time before recorded history}}
{{other uses}}
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{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2024}}
[[File:PSM V44 D647 Delineations on pieces of antler.jpg|thumb|upright=1.
{{Human history and prehistory}}
'''Prehistory''', also called '''pre-literary history''',<ref>{{cite journal |date=1973 |title=Prehistory as a Kind of History |jstor=202691 |last1=McCall|first1=Daniel F. |last2=Struever|first2=Stuart |last3=Van Der Merwe|first3=Nicolaas J.|last4=Roe|first4=Derek |journal=[[Journal of Interdisciplinary History]] |volume=3 |issue=4 |pages=733–739 |doi=10.2307/202691}}</ref> is the period of [[human history]] between the first known use of [[stone
In the early [[Bronze Age]], [[Sumer]] in [[Mesopotamia]], the [[Indus Valley Civilisation]], and [[ancient Egypt]] were the first civilizations to develop their own scripts and
The period when a culture is written about by others, but has not developed its own writing system, is often known as the [[protohistory]] of the culture. By definition,<ref>{{cite web|title=Dictionary Entry|url=http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/prehistory|access-date=8 August 2017|archive-date=8 August 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170808114821/http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/prehistory|url-status=live}}</ref> there are no written records from human prehistory, which can only be known from material [[Archaeology|archaeological]] and [[Anthropology|anthropological]] evidence: prehistoric materials and human remains. These were at first understood by the collection of [[folklore]] and by analogy with pre-literate societies observed in modern times. The key step to understanding prehistoric evidence is dating, and reliable dating techniques have developed steadily since the nineteenth century.<ref>Graslund, Bo. 1987. ''The birth of prehistoric chronology.'' Cambridge:Cambridge University Press.</ref> The most common of these dating techniques is [[radiocarbon dating]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=What is Carbon Dating? {{!}} University of Chicago News |url=https://news.uchicago.edu/explainer/what-is-carbon-14-dating#:~:text=Radiocarbon%20dating,%20or%20carbon-14,of%20the%20carbon-14%20isotope. |access-date=2024-10-21 |website=news.uchicago.edu |language=en}}</ref> Further evidence has come from the reconstruction of [[Proto-language|ancient spoken languages]]. More recent techniques include forensic chemical analysis to reveal the use and provenance of materials, and genetic analysis of bones to determine kinship and physical characteristics of prehistoric peoples.
==Definition==
[[File:Göbekli Tepe, Urfa.jpg|thumb
[[File:Caveman 6.jpg|thumb|upright|An early sketch imagining an adult and a juvenile from prehistoric times making a stone tool]]
[[File:Prehistoric man.jpg|thumb
=== Beginning and end ===
The beginning of prehistory is normally taken to be marked by human-like beings appearing on Earth.<ref name="renfrew">Renfrew, Colin. 2008. ''Prehistory: The Making of the Human Mind.'' New York: Modern Library</ref><ref name="fagan07">Fagan, Brian. (2007). ''World Prehistory: A brief introduction'' New York: Prentice-Hall, (Seventh ed.), Chapter One</ref> The date marking its end is typically defined as the advent of the contemporary [[List of languages by first written accounts|written historical]] record.<ref>{{Cite book|title=World Prehistory: A brief introduction|last=Fagan|first=Brian|date=2017|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-317-27910-5|edition=Ninth|location=London|page=8|oclc=958480847}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Forsythe |first=Gary |url=https://archive.org/details/criticalhistoryo0000fors/page/12/mode/2up |title=A critical history of early Rome : from prehistory to the first Punic War |date=2005 |publisher=University of California Press |isbn=978-0-520-94029-1 |location=Berkeley |page=12 |oclc=70728478 |url-access=registration}}</ref>
Both dates consequently vary widely from region to region. For example, in [[Europe]]an regions, prehistory cannot begin before {{Circa|
=== Time periods ===
{{Main|Three-age system|Geologic time scale}}
In dividing up human prehistory in Eurasia, historians typically use the three-age system, whereas scholars of pre-human time periods typically use the [[chronostratigraphy|well-defined]] [[geologic record]] and its internationally defined [[stratum]] base within the [[era (geology)|geologic time scale]]. The three-age system is the [[periodization]] of human prehistory into three consecutive [[time period]]s, named for their predominant tool-making technologies: [[Stone Age]], [[Bronze Age]] and [[Iron Age]].<ref name="Minds">{{cite book |editor-first=Matthew Daniel |editor-last=Eddy |title=Prehistoric Minds: Human Origins as a Cultural Artefact |date=2011 |publisher=Royal Society of London |url=https://www.academia.edu/3088568 |access-date=
For the prehistory of the Americas see [[Pre-Columbian era]].
===History of the term===
The notion of "prehistory" emerged during the Enlightenment in the work of antiquarians who used the word "primitive" to describe societies that existed before written records.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Eddy |first=Matthew Daniel |title=The Line of Reason: Hugh Blair, Spatiality and the Progressive Structure of Language |journal=Notes and Records of the Royal Society |year=2011 |volume=65 |pages=9–24 |url=https://www.academia.edu/1112084 |doi=10.1098/rsnr.2010.0098 |s2cid=190700715 |access-date=2 February 2014
The geologic time scale for pre-human time periods, and the [[three-age system]] for human prehistory, were
{{cite book
|title=The Invention of Prehistory: Empire, Violence, and Our Obsession with Human Origins
|first=Stefanos
|last=Geroulanos
|date=2024
|publisher=[[Boni %26 Liveright#More recent developments|Liveright Publishing Corporation]]
|location=New York
|chapter=Chapter 4: Humanity, Divided by Three
|pages=63–72
|url={{GBurl|qQjHEAAAQBAJ|p=1845}}
|isbn=978-1-324-09145-5
}} [https://search.worldcat.org/title/1379265149 OCLC 1379265149].</ref><ref name="Minds"/>
==Means of research==
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[[File:Map-of-human-migrations.svg|thumb|upright=1.6|Proposed map of [[early human migrations]], according to [[Mitochondrial DNA|mitochondrial]] [[population genetics]] with numbers that are [[millennia]] before the present (its accuracy is disputed)]]
"Palaeolithic" means "Old Stone Age", and begins with the first use of [[stone tool]]s. The Paleolithic is the earliest period of the [[Stone Age]]. It extends from the earliest known use of stone tools by [[Hominini|hominins]] {{circa
The early part of the Palaeolithic is called the [[Lower Paleolithic]] (as in excavations it appears underneath the Upper Paleolithic), beginning with the earliest stone tools dated to around 3.3
[[Early Homo sapiens|Early ''Homo sapiens'']] originated some 300,000 years ago,<ref name="Irhoud">{{cite journal | vauthors = Hublin JJ, Ben-Ncer A, Bailey SE, Freidline SE, Neubauer S, Skinner MM, Bergmann I, Le Cabec A, Benazzi S, Harvati K, Gunz P | display-authors = 6 | title = New fossils from Jebel Irhoud, Morocco and the pan-African origin of Homo sapiens | journal = Nature | volume = 546 | issue = 7657 | pages = 289–292 | date = June 2017 | pmid = 28593953 | doi = 10.1038/nature22336 | bibcode = 2017Natur.546..289H | s2cid = 256771372 | url = https://kar.kent.ac.uk/62267/1/Submission_288356_1_art_file_2637492_j96j1b.pdf | access-date = 27 July 2022 | archive-date = 8 January 2020 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20200108234003/https://kar.kent.ac.uk/62267/1/Submission_288356_1_art_file_2637492_j96j1b.pdf | url-status = live }}</ref> ushering in the [[Middle Palaeolithic]]. Anatomic changes indicating modern language capacity also arise during the Middle Palaeolithic.<ref>Race and Human Evolution. By Milford H. Wolpoff. p. 348.</ref> During the Middle Palaeolithic Era, there is the first definitive evidence of human use of fire. Sites in Zambia have charred
The [[Upper Paleolithic]] extends from 50,000 and 12,000 years ago, with the first organized settlements and blossoming of artistic work.
Throughout the Palaeolithic, humans generally lived as [[nomad]]ic [[hunter-gatherer]]s. [[Hunter-gatherer#Social and economic structure|Hunter-gatherer societies]] tended to be very small and egalitarian,<ref>Vanishing Voices : The Extinction of the World's Languages. By Daniel Nettle, Suzanne Romaine Merton Professor of English Language University of Oxford. pp. 102–103.</ref> although hunter-gatherer societies with abundant resources or advanced food-storage techniques sometimes developed sedentary lifestyles with complex social structures such as chiefdoms,<ref>{{Cite journal|title=Chiefdoms|journal=Current Anthropology|volume=30|issue=1|pages=84–88|jstor = 2743311|last1 = Earle|first1 = Timothy|year=1989|doi=10.1086/203717|s2cid=145014800}}</ref> and [[social stratification]]. Long-distance contacts may have been established, as in the case of [[Indigenous Australian]] "highways" known as [[songlines]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/allinthemind/songlines-indigenous-memory-code/7581788|title=Songlines: the Indigenous memory code|date=2016-07-08|website=Radio National|language=en-AU|access-date=2019-02-18|archive-date=2018-12-21|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181221042151/https://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/allinthemind/songlines-indigenous-memory-code/7581788|url-status=live}}</ref>▼
▲Throughout the Palaeolithic, humans generally lived as [[nomad]]ic [[hunter-gatherer]]s. [[Hunter-gatherer#Social and economic structure|Hunter-gatherer societies]] tended to be very small and egalitarian,<ref>Vanishing Voices : The Extinction of the World's Languages. By Daniel Nettle, Suzanne Romaine Merton Professor of English Language University of Oxford. pp. 102–103.</ref> although hunter-gatherer societies with abundant resources or advanced food-storage techniques sometimes developed sedentary lifestyles with complex social structures such as chiefdoms,<ref>{{Cite journal|title=Chiefdoms|journal=Current Anthropology|volume=30|issue=1|pages=84–88|jstor = 2743311|last1 = Earle|first1 = Timothy|year=1989|doi=10.1086/203717|s2cid=145014800}}</ref> and [[social stratification]]. Long-distance contacts may have been established, as in the case of [[Indigenous Australian]] "highways" known as [[songlines]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/allinthemind/songlines-indigenous-memory-code/7581788|title=Songlines: the Indigenous memory code|date=8 July 2016
=== Mesolithic ===
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The Mesolithic, or Middle Stone Age (from the [[Greek language|Greek]] ''mesos'', 'middle', and ''lithos'', 'stone'), was a period in the development of human [[technology]] between the Palaeolithic and [[Neolithic]].
The Mesolithic period began with the retreat of glaciers at the end of the [[Pleistocene]] epoch, some 10,000
Regions that experienced greater environmental effects as the [[Last glacial period|last ice age]] ended have a much more evident Mesolithic era, lasting millennia. In [[Northern Europe]], societies were able to live well on rich food supplies from the [[marsh]]lands fostered by the warmer climate. Such conditions produced distinctive human behaviours that are preserved in the material record, such as the [[Maglemosian]] and [[Azilian]] cultures. These conditions also delayed the coming of the Neolithic until as late as 4000
Remains from this period are few and far between, often limited to [[midden]]s. In forested areas, the first signs of [[deforestation]] have been found, although this would only begin in earnest during the Neolithic, when more space was needed for [[agriculture]].
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=== Neolithic ===
[[File:Malta - Qrendi - Hagar Qim and Mnajdra Archaeological Park - Hagar Qim 08 ies.jpg|thumb|Entrance to the Ġgantija phase temple complex of [[Ħaġar Qim]], [[Malta]], 3900 BCE<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.heritagemalta.org/hagarqim.html |title=Hagarqim « Heritage Malta |access-date=
[[File:Néolithique 0001.jpg|thumb|An array of Neolithic artefacts, including bracelets, axe heads, chisels, and polishing tools – Neolithic stone artefacts are by definition polished and, except for specialty items, not chipped]]
"Neolithic" means "New Stone Age", from about 10,200 BCE in some parts of the Middle East, but later in other parts of the world,<ref name="Bellwood">''First Farmers: The Origins of Agricultural Societies'' by [[Peter Bellwood]], 2004</ref> and ended between 4,500 and 2,000 BCE. Although there were several species of humans during the [[Paleolithic]], by the [[Neolithic]] only ''[[Homo sapiens sapiens]]'' remained.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.worldmuseumofman.org/neolithic.php |title=World Museum of Man: Neolithic / Chalcolithic Period |publisher=World Museum of Man |access-date=21 August 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/
Early Neolithic farming was limited to a narrow range of plants, both wild and domesticated, which included [[einkorn wheat]], [[millet]] and [[spelt]], and the keeping of [[origin of the domestic dog|dogs]], [[sheep]], and [[goat#History|goats]]. By about 6,900–6,400
[[File:Luni sul Mignone monumental building.jpg|thumb|left|The monumental building at Luni sul Mignone in [[Blera]], Italy, 3500 BCE]]
Settlements became more permanent, some with circular houses made of [[mudbrick]] with a single room. Settlements might have a surrounding stone wall to keep domesticated animals in and hostile tribes out. Later settlements have rectangular mud-brick houses where the family lived in single or multiple rooms. Burial findings suggest an [[ancestor cult]] with [[Plastered human skulls|preserved skulls]] of the dead. The [[Vinča culture]] may have created the earliest system of writing.<ref>{{cite book|title = Pre-writing in Southeastern Europe: The Sign System of the Vinča Culture ca. 4000 BC|last = Winn|first = Shan|publisher = Western Publishers|year = 1981|location = Calgary}}</ref> The [[megalith]]ic temple complexes of [[Ġgantija]] are notable for their gigantic structures. Although some late Eurasian Neolithic societies formed complex stratified chiefdoms or even states, states evolved in Eurasia only with the rise of metallurgy, and most Neolithic societies on the whole were relatively simple and egalitarian.<ref name="Leonard D. Katz Rigby 2000 352">{{cite book| author = Leonard D. Katz Rigby| author2 = S. Stephen Henry Rigby| title = Evolutionary Origins of Morality: Cross-disciplinary Perspectives| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=6wFHth05xkoC&pg=PA158| year = 2000| publisher = Imprint Academic| location = United kingdom| isbn = 978-0-7190-5612-3| page = 158| access-date =
== Chalcolithic ==
{{Main|Chalcolithic}}
[[File:Los Millares recreacion cuadro.jpg|thumb|Artist's impression of a Copper Age walled city, [[Los Millares]], [[Iberia]]]]
In Old World archaeology, the "Chalcolithic", "Eneolithic", or "Copper Age" refers to a transitional period where early [[copper]] metallurgy appeared alongside the widespread use of stone tools. During this period, some weapons and tools were made of copper. This period was still largely Neolithic in character. It is a phase of the [[Bronze Age]] before it was discovered that adding [[tin]] to [[copper]] formed the harder [[bronze]]. The
[[File:TimnaChalcolithicMine.JPG|thumb|left|upright=
An archaeological site in [[Serbia]] contains the oldest securely dated evidence of copper making at high temperature, from 7,500 years ago. The find in
== Bronze Age ==
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[[File:Maler der Grabkammer des Sennudem 001.jpg|thumb|Painting of an [[ox]]-drawn [[plough]], accompanied by script, [[ancient Egypt|Egypt]], {{Circa|1200 BCE}}]]
The Bronze Age is the earliest period in which some civilizations reached the end of prehistory, by introducing written records. The Bronze Age, or parts thereof, are thus considered to be part of prehistory only for the regions and civilizations who developed a system of keeping written records during later periods. The [[History of writing|invention of writing]] coincides in some areas with the beginnings of the Bronze Age.
The Bronze Age refers to a period in human cultural development when the most advanced [[metalworking]] (at least in systematic and widespread use) included techniques for smelting copper and [[tin]] from naturally occurring outcroppings of ores, and then combining them to cast [[bronze]]. These naturally occurring ores typically included [[arsenic]] as a common impurity. Tin ores are rare, as reflected in the fact there were no tin bronzes in [[Western Asia]] before 3000
While copper is a common ore, deposits of tin are rare in the [[Old World]], and often had to be traded or carried considerable distances from the few mines, stimulating the creation of extensive trading routes. In many areas as far apart as China and England, the valuable new material was used for weapons, but for a long time apparently not available for agricultural tools. Much of it seems to have been hoarded by social elites, and sometimes deposited in extravagant quantities, from [[Chinese ritual bronze]]s and [[Copper Hoard Culture|Indian copper hoards]], to European [[hoard]]s of unused axe-heads.
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{{Further|Protohistory|Ancient history}}{{Main|Iron Age|Classical antiquity}}
The Iron Age is not part of prehistory for all civilizations who had introduced written records during the Bronze Age. Most remaining civilizations did so during the Iron Age, often through conquest by
In archaeology, the Iron Age refers to the advent of [[ferrous metallurgy]]. The adoption of [[iron]] coincided with other changes
== Timeline ==
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All dates are approximate and conjectural, obtained through research in the fields of [[anthropology]], archaeology, [[genetics]], [[geology]], or [[linguistics]]. They are all subject to revision due to new discoveries or improved calculations. BP stands for "[[Before Present]] (1950)." BCE stands for "[[Before Common Era]]".
===
; [[Lower Paleolithic]]
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* c. 300,000 BP – [[Anatomically modern humans]] ''([[Homo sapiens sapiens]])'' appear in Africa,<ref name="Irhoud"/> one of whose characteristics is a lack of significant body hair compared to other primates. See [[Jebel Irhoud]].
* c. 300,000–30,000 BP – [[Mousterian]] ([[Neanderthal]]) culture in Europe.<ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Shea | first1 = J.J. | year = 2003 | title = Neanderthals, competition and the origin of modern human behaviour in the Levant | journal = Evolutionary Anthropology | volume = 12 | issue = 4| pages = 173–187 | doi = 10.1002/evan.10101 | s2cid = 86608040 }}</ref>
* c. 170,000–83,000 BP – Invention of [[clothing]]<ref>{{cite journal| title= Origin of Clothing Lice Indicates Early Clothing Use by Anatomically Modern Humans in Africa| journal= Molecular Biology and Evolution| volume= 28| issue= 1| pages= 29–32| date= September 2010| url= http://mbe.oxfordjournals.org/content/28/1/29.full| doi= 10.1093/molbev/msq234| pmid= 20823373| pmc= 3002236| last1= Toups| first1= M.A.| last2= Kitchen| first2= A.| last3= Light| first3= J.E.| last4= Reed| first4= D. L.| archive-date=
* c. 75,000 BP – [[Toba catastrophe theory|Toba Volcano]] supereruption.<ref>{{cite news | first=Tim | last=Jones | title=Mount Toba Eruption – Ancient Humans Unscathed, Study Claims | date=
* c. 80,000–50,000 BP – ''[[Homo sapiens]]'' exit Africa as a single population.<ref name="NYT-20160921">{{cite news |last=Zimmer |first=Carl |author-link=Carl Zimmer |title=How We Got Here: DNA Points to a Single Migration From Africa |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/22/science/ancient-dna-human-history.html |date=
* c. 80,000–50,000? BP – [[Behavioral modernity]], by this point including [[language]] and sophisticated cognition
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* c. 28,000–20,000 BP – [[Gravettian]] period in Europe. Harpoons, needles, and saws invented.
* c. 26,500 BP – [[Last Glacial Maximum]] (LGM). Subsequently, the ice melts and the glaciers retreat again ([[Late Glacial Maximum]]). During this latter period human beings return to Western Europe (see [[Magdalenian]] culture) and enter North America from Eastern Siberia for the first time (see [[Paleo-Indians]], [[pre-Clovis]] culture and [[Prehistoric migration and settlement of the Americas from Asia|Settlement of the Americas]]).
* c. 26,000 BP / 24,000 BCE – People around the world use fibres to make baby-carriers, clothes, bags, baskets, and nets.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/prehistoric-art/paleolithic-art/a/venus-of-willendorf|title=Venus of Willendorf|website=Khan Academy|language=en|access-date=
* c. 25,000 BP / 23,000 BCE – [[Dolní Věstonice (archaeology)|A settlement]] consisting of huts built of rocks and [[mammoth]] bones is founded near what is now [[Dolní Věstonice]] in [[Moravia]] in the [[Czech Republic]]. This is the oldest human permanent settlement that has been found by archaeologists.<ref>{{cite book|last=Stuart|first=Gene S.|title=Mysteries of the Ancient World|year=1979|publisher=National Geographic Society|page=19 |chapter=Ice Age Hunters: Artists in Hidden Cages}}</ref>
* c. 23,000 BP / 21,000 BCE – Small-scale trial cultivation of plants in [[Ohalo II]], a hunter-gatherers' sedentary camp on the shore of the Sea of Galilee, Israel.<ref>{{cite journal | doi = 10.1371/journal.pone.0131422 | volume=10 | title=The Origin of Cultivation and Proto-Weeds, Long Before Neolithic Farming | year=2015 | journal=PLOS ONE | page=e0131422 | last1 = Snir | first1 = Ainit | issue=7 | pmid=26200895 | pmc=4511808| bibcode=2015PLoSO..1031422S | doi-access=free }}</ref>
* c. 16,000 BP / 14,000 BCE – [[Wisent]] (bison) sculpted in clay deep inside the cave now known as [[Cave of the Trois-Frères|Le Tuc d'Audoubert]] in the French [[Pyrenees]] near what is now the border of Spain.<ref>{{cite book|last=Stuart|first=Gene S.|title=Mysteries of the Ancient World|year=1979|publisher=National Geographic Society|pages=8–10|chapter=Ice Age Hunters: Artists in Hidden Cages}}</ref>
* c. 14,800 BP / 12,800 BCE – The [[African humid period|Humid Period]] begins in North Africa. The region that would later become the [[Sahara]] is wet and fertile, and the [[aquifer]]s are full.<ref>"Shift from Savannah to Sahara was Gradual", by Kenneth Chang, ''[[New York Times]]'',
===
* {{Circa|12,500}} to 9,500 BCE – [[Natufian culture]]: a culture of sedentary hunter-gatherers who may have cultivated [[rye]] in the [[Levant]] ([[Eastern Mediterranean]])
===
[[File:Map of Early Neolithic migrations.jpg|thumb|Neolithic migrations in Europe c. 5000–4000 BC. The people of the Proto-Indo-European [[Sredny Stog culture]] were the result of a genetic admixture between the [[Eastern Hunter-Gatherer|Eastern hunter-gatherers]] and [[Caucasus hunter-gatherer]]s.]]
* {{circa|9,400}}–9,200 BCE – [[Figs]] of a [[parthenocarpic]] (and therefore sterile) type are cultivated in the early [[Neolithic]] village [[Gilgal I]] (in the [[Jordan Valley (Middle East)|Jordan Valley]], 13 km north of [[Jericho]]). The find predates the domestication of [[wheat]], [[barley]], and [[legume]]s, and may thus be the first known instance of agriculture.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Kislev |first1=M. E. |last2=Hartmann |first2=A. |last3=Bar-Yosef |first3=O. |title=Early Domesticated Fig in the Jordan Valley |journal=Science |publisher=American Association for the Advancement of Science |location=Washington, DC |volume=312 |issue=5778 |pages=1372–1374 |year=2006a |doi=10.1126/science.1125910 |pmid=16741119 |bibcode=2006Sci...312.1372K |s2cid=42150441}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Kislev |first1=M. E. |last2=Hartmann |first2=A. |last3=Bar-Yosef |first3=O. |title=Response to Comment on "Early Domesticated Fig in the Jordan Valley" |journal=Science |publisher=American Association for the Advancement of Science |location=Washington, DC |volume=314 |issue=5806 |page=1683b |year=2006b |doi=10.1126/science.1133748 |pmid=17170278 |bibcode=2006Sci...314.1683K |doi-access=free}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Lev-Yadun |first1=S. |last2=Ne'Eman |first2=G. |last3=Abbo |first3=S. |last4=Flaishman |first4=M. A. |title=Comment on "Early Domesticated Fig in the Jordan Valley" |journal=Science |publisher=American Association for the Advancement of Science |location=Washington, DC |volume=314 |issue=5806 |page=1683a |year=2006 |doi=10.1126/science.1132636 |pmid=17170278 |bibcode=2006Sci...314.1683L |doi-access=free}}</ref>
* {{circa|9,000 BCE}} – Circles of T-shaped stone pillars erected at [[Göbekli Tepe]] in the [[Southeastern Anatolia Region]] of Turkey during [[pre-pottery Neolithic A]] (PPNA) period. As yet unexcavated structures at the site are thought to date back to the epipaleolithic.
* {{circa|8,000
===
* {{circa|3,700 BCE}} – [[Pictogram|Pictographic]] [[proto-writing]], known as [[Cuneiform#History|proto-cuneiform]], appears in [[Sumer]], and records begin to be kept. According to the majority of specialists, the first Mesopotamian writing (actually still pictographic proto-writing at this stage) was a tool for record-keeping that had little connection to the spoken language.<ref>Glassner, Jean-Jacques. ''The Invention of Cuneiform: Writing In Sumer''. Trans. [[Zainab
* {{circa|3,300 BCE}} – Approximate date of death of "[[Ötzi]] the Iceman", found preserved in ice in the [[Ötztal Alps]] in 1991. A copper-bladed axe, which is a characteristic technology of this era, was found with the corpse.
* {{circa|3,100 BCE}} – [[Skara Brae]] is constructed. This stone-built village consisted of ten clustered houses with stone hearths, beds, cupboards, and an ancient sewer system. This village occupied for 600 years before being abandoned in {{circa|2,500 BCE}}.
* {{circa|3,000 BCE}} – [[Stonehenge]] construction begins. In its first version, it consisted of a circular ditch and bank, with 56 wooden posts.<ref>Caroline Alexander, "Stonehenge", ''National Geographic'', June 2008.</ref>
* {{circa|3,000 BCE}} – The [[Yamnaya culture|Yamnaya]] expansions from the [[Pontic–Caspian steppe]] into Europe and Asia. These migrations are thought to have spread Yamnaya [[Western Steppe Herders|Steppe pastoralist]] ancestry and [[Indo-European languages]] across large parts of Eurasia.<ref>{{cite news |first=Andrew |last=Curry |title=The first Europeans weren't who you might think |url=https://www.nationalgeographic.com/culture/article/first-europeans-immigrants-genetic-testing-feature |work=National Geographic |date=August 2019 |access-date=
== By region ==
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* Oceania
** [[Prehistoric Australia]]
** [[Archaeology_of_New_Zealand#Date of first Māori arrival and settlement|Prehistoric New Zealand]]
** [[Ancient Hawaii]]
== See also ==
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* [[History of the family]]
* [[Human evolution]]
* [[Paleoanthropology]]
* [[Pantribal sodality]]
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