Pre‑History Archives

Topics

Featured

Stone Age

When Was the Stone Age? The Stone Age began about 2.6 million years ago, when researchers found the earliest evidence of humans using stone tools, and lasted until about 3,300 B.C. when the Bronze Age began. It is typically broken into three distinct periods: the Paleolithic Period, Mesolithic Period and Neolithic Period. Did you know? […]

Neolithic Revolution

Neolithic Age The Neolithic Age is sometimes called the New Stone Age. Neolithic humans used stone tools like their earlier Stone Age ancestors, who eked out a marginal existence in small bands of hunter‑gatherers during the last Ice Age. Australian archaeologist V. Gordon Childe coined the term “Neolithic Revolution” in 1935 to describe the radical […]

Hunter‑Gatherers

Who Were the Hunter‑Gatherers? Hunter‑gatherer culture developed among the early hominins of Africa, with evidence of their activities dating as far back as 2 million years ago. Among their distinguishing characteristics, the hunter‑gatherers actively killed animals for food instead of scavenging meat left behind by other predators and devised ways of setting aside vegetation for […]

Iron Age

When Was the Iron Age? The Iron Age began around 1200 B.C. in the Mediterranean region and Near East with the collapse of several prominent Bronze Age civilizations, including the Mycenaean civilization in Greece and the Hittite Empire in Turkey. Ancient cities including Troy and Gaza were destroyed, trade routes were lost and literacy declined […]