Concept in Definition ABC

As his name describes it, Prehistory is the period before the History of the human being. Although in it we find the first evolutionary forms of man, the foundational elements of human life in society, such as the development of human life, do not yet appear in it. writing (element from which Prehistory ends), life in societies and the establishment of the first governments.

The beginning of the Prehistory could be indicated near the 2.5 million years a. C., at which time the first hominids began to develop the first tools. This historical period then closes with the invention of writing, an event dating back to around 5,000 years ago (in 3,000 BC. C.). With the aim of better ordering the events that occurred in this period (since scholars do not have written material or documents), Three stages have been identified within Prehistory, each of which was characterized by having a specific level of technology.

In this way, we must divide Prehistory into the Stone, Bronze and Iron Ages according to the type of material with which the instruments and tools with which man had been made have been made primitive. At the same time, the Stone Age can be subdivided into

Paleolithic, Mesolithic and Neolithic also according to the type of evolution of the stone elements built by the human being.

In Prehistory we find characteristics of slow but certain human evolution, such as the control of fire, the development of rock art, the improvement of hunting and gathering techniques and finally the all-important Neolithic Revolution that allowed the human being to dominate the farming and not need to travel in search of food, thus becoming sedentary.

It is considered to continent African as the cradle of Humanity, the oldest fossils having been found in different regions. From there, the evolution of the first hominids and the need to search for new habitats and food, made the communities will advance towards the Asian and European territories to finally conquer, through the Bering Strait, the continent American. This conquest was achieved by the Homo Sapiens Sapiens, the last and most evolved of the hominids that got to know the entirety of the planet Earth.

Topics in Prehistory