The Préhistoire is defined like the period ranging between the appearance of the Homme and the appearance of the first written documents. If the Histoire starts with the writing, this one does not appear however simultaneously in all the areas of the world. The concept of Protohistoire was thus introduced to name the stage during which populations do not have themselves the writing, but are mentioned by texts emanating of other contemporary people.

Gradually, the definition of Protohistoire integrated economic and social parameters: Protohistoire indicates today for the majority of the authors one period during which the subsistence of the human populations is ensured by the production. The groups of stockbreeders and farmers, often sedentary, exploit resources which they control and which they manage partly. Protohistoire would then include/understand the Neolithic , the Chalcolithique, the Bronze Age and the Âge of iron. It is characterized by an increasing structuring of the company (modification of habitat, agglomeration, Socialisation advanced, hierarchisation, administrative capacity, economy advanced, Monnaie, commercial exchanges, etc).

She is opposed:

  • on the one hand with the Prehistory, which precedes it and which relates to the populations whose subsistence is ensured by the predation. The groups of Hunters-gatherers, fishermen, collectors exploit natural resources available without controlling them. Prehistory strictly speaking would thus include/understand the Paléolithique, the Épipaléolithique and the Mesolithic .
  • in addition with the History, which succeeds to him and which concerns the populations of producers having adopted the writing but also generally a centralized capacity.

Chronology

In archeology, the periodisation is more difficult to encircle, since the data collected vary considerably according to the culture, the area considered, or even according to the chronological system employed. These problems of chronology are discussed in the article on the Préhistoire.

To simplify, it is possible to compare Protohistoire to the ages of metals :

Civilizations and people

Civilizations or the protohistoric Ethnie S the best known ones (those for which the discipline was forged) are the European “barbarians”. Because of their historical movements, their protohistoric origins and formation of homogeneous cultural surfaces as of prehistory, their study encroaches on three disciplines and covers the three eras of the Human history.

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