Protohistory

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Protohistory is the period between

Germanic tribes are considered to have been protohistoric when they began appearing in Greek and Roman
sources.

Protohistoric may also refer to the transition period between the advent of

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The term can also refer to a period in which fragmentary or external historical documents, not necessarily including a developed writing system, have been found.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

groups, recorded by early European explorers, are protohistoric.

Use of term

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

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

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

References

  1. p. 368
  2. .
  3. .
  4. .
  5. .
  6. ^ Nayeem, Muhammed Abdul, ed. (1990). Prehistory and Protohistory of the Arabian Peninsula (5 volumes). Hyderabad: Hyderabad Pub.
  7. ^ "Alani". Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved March 12, 2016.
  8. ^ Herodotus. "The Histories". Sacred Texts.
  9. ^ Sultzman, Lee. "Erie". Dick Shovel.
  10. ^ "Gaul - World History Encyclopedia". World History Encyclopedia.
  11. The American Cyclopædia
    . Vol. VII.
  12. .
  13. ^ Kōzō, Yamamura; John Whitney Hall (1997). The Cambridge history of Japan. Cambridge University Press.
  14. ^ "Mid-America : an historical review". Internet Archive. p. 228. Retrieved 2015-07-16.
  15. ^ "Where are the Susquehannock". The Susquehannock Fire Ring. Archived from the original on 9 January 2010. Retrieved 13 March 2016.