Period between prehistory and written history
Protohistory
is the period between
prehistory
and
written history
, during which a
culture
or
civilization
has not yet developed
writing
, but other cultures that have developed writing have noted the existence of those pre-literate groups in their own writings.
Protohistoric may also refer to the transition period between the advent of
literacy
in a society and the writings of the first
historians
. The preservation of oral traditions may complicate matters, as they can provide a secondary historical source for even earlier events. Colonial sites involving a literate group and a nonliterate group are also studied as protohistoric situations.
The term can also refer to a period in which fragmentary or external historical documents, not necessarily including a developed writing system, have been found. For instance, the
Proto?Three Kingdoms of Korea
, the
Yayoi
[1]
and the
Mississippian
groups, recorded by early European explorers, are protohistoric.
Use of term
[
edit
]
In
The Oxford Illustrated History of Prehistoric Europe
,
[2]
an article
[3]
by
Timothy Taylor
stated:
Because of the existence in some but not all societies of historical writing during the first millennium BC, the period has often been termed 'protohistoric' instead of prehistoric. Of course, the understanding of the past gained through archaeology is broadly different in nature to understanding derived from historical texts. Having both sorts of evidence is a boon and a challenge.
?
Timothy Taylor, The Oxford Illustrated Prehistory of Europe
In the abstract of a later paper on "slavery in the first millennium Aegean, Carpatho-Balkan and
Pontic
regions",
[4]
Taylor, primarily an archaeologist, stated,
I have taken the rather unusual step of trusting what the classical authors tell us they knew.
?
Timothy Taylor, The Archaeology of Slavery
For other examples, see also the writings of
Brian M. Fagan
on the protohistory of
North America
[5]
and the work of Muhammed Abdul Nayeem on that of the Arabian Peninsula
[6]
Chronology
[
edit
]
As with prehistory, determining when a culture may be considered prehistoric or protohistoric is sometimes difficult for
anthropologists
. Data varies considerably from culture to culture, region to region, and even from one system of reckoning dates to another.
In its simplest form, protohistory follows the same chronology as prehistory and is based on the technological advancement of a particular people with regard to
metallurgy
:
Civilizations and peoples
[
edit
]
The best-known protohistoric civilizations and
ethnic groups
are those for whom the term was originally coined: the
barbarian
tribes mentioned by European and Asian writers. Many protohistoric peoples also feature in prehistory and in history:
See also
[
edit
]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
Bahn, Paul (ed.)
The Penguin Archaeology Guide
Penguin Books Ltd (29 Nov 2001)
ISBN
978-0-14-029308-1
p. 368
- ^
Cunliffe, Barry (2001).
The Oxford Illustrated History of Prehistoric Europe
. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
ISBN
978-0-19-285441-4
.
- ^
Taylor, Timothy
(1994). "Thracians, Scythians and Dacians". In Cunliffe, Barry (ed.).
The Oxford Illustrated Prehistory of Europe
. Oxford: Oxford University Press. pp.
373?410
.
ISBN
978-0-19-814385-7
.
- ^
Timothy Taylor (2001). "Believing the Ancients: Quantitative and Qualitative Dimensions of Slavery and the Slave Trade in Later Prehistoric Eurasia".
World Archaeology
.
33
(1). World Archaeology, Vol. 33, No. 1, The Archaeology of Slavery (Jun., 2001), pp. 27?43: 27?43.
doi
:
10.1080/00438240120047618
.
JSTOR
827887
.
S2CID
162250553
.
- ^
Fagan, Brian (2005).
Ancient North America: The Archaeology of a Continent
(4th ed.). London: Thames & Hudson.
ISBN
978-0-500-28532-9
.
- ^
Nayeem, Muhammed Abdul, ed. (1990).
Prehistory and Protohistory of the Arabian Peninsula (5 volumes)
. Hyderabad: Hyderabad Pub.
- ^
"Alani"
.
Encyclopædia Britannica
. Retrieved
March 12,
2016
.
- ^
Herodotus.
"The Histories"
.
Sacred Texts
.
- ^
Sultzman, Lee.
"Erie"
.
Dick Shovel
.
- ^
"Gaul - World History Encyclopedia"
.
World History Encyclopedia
.
- ^
Van Rhyn, G. A. F. (1879).
"Germanic Races and Languages"
.
The American Cyclopædia
. Vol. VII.
- ^
Maenchen-Helfen, Otto J.
(1973). Max Knight (ed.).
The World of the Huns: Studies in Their History and Culture
. University of California Press.
ISBN
0-520-01596-7
.
- ^
K?z?, Yamamura; John Whitney Hall (1997).
The Cambridge history of Japan
. Cambridge University Press.
- ^
"Mid-America : an historical review"
.
Internet Archive
. p. 228
. Retrieved
2015-07-16
.
- ^
"Where are the Susquehannock"
.
The Susquehannock Fire Ring
. Archived from
the original
on 9 January 2010
. Retrieved
13 March
2016
.