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Prehistory: Recorded History or Written History Is A

The document discusses the definitions and transitions between different historical periods: - Prehistory refers to the time before written records and ends with the development of writing systems. Protohistory is the transition period after literacy develops but before professional historians. - Recorded history begins around 4000 BC with early writing and accounts, allowing information to be preserved across generations. However, what is recorded can vary depending on the culture and topic. - Classical antiquity encompasses the civilizations of ancient Greece and Rome from around 800 BC to the 5th century AD. The Early, High, and Late Middle Ages then followed the decline of Rome across Europe between the 5th and 15th centuries AD. Ancient history includes recorded events before the Middle Ages

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78 views

Prehistory: Recorded History or Written History Is A

The document discusses the definitions and transitions between different historical periods: - Prehistory refers to the time before written records and ends with the development of writing systems. Protohistory is the transition period after literacy develops but before professional historians. - Recorded history begins around 4000 BC with early writing and accounts, allowing information to be preserved across generations. However, what is recorded can vary depending on the culture and topic. - Classical antiquity encompasses the civilizations of ancient Greece and Rome from around 800 BC to the 5th century AD. The Early, High, and Late Middle Ages then followed the decline of Rome across Europe between the 5th and 15th centuries AD. Ancient history includes recorded events before the Middle Ages

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danish_1985
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© © All Rights Reserved
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Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Prehistory traditionally refers to the span of time before recorded history,

ending with the invention of writing systems. Prehistory refers to the past in
an area where no written records exist, or where the writing of a culture is
not understood. Since the 20th century, the study of prehistory is considered
essential to implicit exclusion of certain preliterate civilizations, such as
those of Sub-Saharan Africa, pre-Columbian America, Australian Aboriginals
and New Zealand Mori.
Protohistory refers to the transition period between prehistory and history,
after the advent of literacy in a society but before the writings of the first
historians. Protohistory may also refer to the period during which a culture or
civilization has not yet developed writing, but other cultures have noted its
existence in their own writings.
More complete writing systems were preceded by proto-writing (they were a
development based on earlier traditions of symbol systems that cannot be
classified as writing proper, but have many characteristics strikingly similar
to writing. These systems may be described as proto-writing.). Early
examples are the Jiahu symbols (ca. 6600 BCE), Vina signs (ca. 5300 BCE),
early Indus script (ca. 3500 BCE) and Nsibidi script (ca. before 500 CE). There
is disagreement concerning exactly when prehistory becomes history, and
when proto-writing became "true writing"
Recorded history or written history is a historical narrative based on a
written record or other documented communication. Recorded history can be
contrasted with other narratives of the past such as mythological or oral
traditions.
For world history, recorded history begins with the accounts of the ancient
world around the 4th millennium BC, and coincides with the invention of
writing. For some regions of the world, written history is limited to a
relatively recent period in human history. Moreover, human cultures do not
always record all information relevant to later historians, such as natural
disasters or the names of individuals; thus, recorded history for particular
types of information is limited based on the types of records kept. Because of
these limits, recorded history in different contexts may refer to different
periods of time depending on the historical topic.
The interpretation of recorded history often relies on historical method, or
the set of techniques and guidelines by which historians use primary sources
and other evidence to research and then to write accounts of the past. The
question of the nature, and even the possibility, of a sound historical method

is raised in the philosophy of history as a question of epistemology. The


study of historical method and writing is known as historiography.

Classical antiquity (also the classical era, classical period or classical age) is
a broad term for a long period of cultural history centered on the Mediterranean
Sea, comprising the interlocking civilizations of ancient Greece and ancient Rome,
collectively known as the Greco-Roman world. It is the period in which Greek and
Roman society flourished and wielded great influence throughout Europe, North
Africa and the Middle East.
Conventionally, it is taken to begin with the earliest-recorded Greek poetry of Homer
(8th7th century BC), and continues through the emergence of Christianity and the
decline of the Roman Empire (5th century AD). It ends with the dissolution of
classical culture at the close of Late Antiquity (AD 300600), blending into the Early
Middle Ages (AD 6001000).
The Early Middle Ages (or Early Mediaeval Period) was the period of European
history lasting from the 5th century to the 10th century. The Early Middle Ages
followed the decline of the Western Roman Empire and preceded the High Middle
Ages (c. 10011300).
The High Middle Ages (or High Medieval Period) was the period of European
history around the 11th, 12th, and 13th centuries (c. 10011300). The High Middle
Ages were preceded by the Early Middle Ages and followed by the Late Middle Ages,
which by convention end around 1500.
The Late Middle Ages or Late Medieval Period was the period of European
history generally comprising the 14th and 15th centuries (c. 13011500). The Late
Middle Ages followed the High Middle Ages and preceded the onset of the early
modern era (and, in much of Europe, the Renaissance).
Ancient history is the aggregate of past events from the beginning of recorded
human history to the Early Middle Ages or the Postclassical Era. Post-classical
history (also called the Postclassical Era) is the period of time that immediately
followed ancient history. Depending on the continent, the era generally falls
between the years AD 200-600 and AD 12001500.

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