Prehistory Before History: The Bronze Age

Prehistory, as what the prefix of the word suggests means “before history”. It can refer to the time since the beginning of the universe but more often human prehistory is the span of time when modern humans first appear as recorded in history, about 5 million years ago and finishes with the invention of writing, about 6000 years ago. [1] It is the period before written history became available to further our knowledge of the past. It starts and ends at different moments in time regarding to the region concerned. Daniel Wilson , President of Toronto University College, was the first one to introduce the term in 1851. Paul Tournal originally coined the term in describing the finds he had made in the caves of southern France. [2] There are no written documents that exist during this kind of time and the material remains are the only basis to study their ways

During this time, some of early civilizations has already established written records and this age has been the start of there historic period. Therefore, the Bronze Age or parts thereof are thus considered to be part of prehistory only for the regions and civilizations who adopted or developed a system of keeping written records during later periods. The term Bronze Age refers to a period in human cultural development when the most advanced metalworking (at least in systematic and widespread use) included techniques for smelting copper and tin from naturally occurring outcroppings of ores, and then combining them to cast bronze.

The Iron Age is not part of prehistory for all cultures who had introduced written records during the Bronze Age.

Most remaining society did so during the Iron Age. In archaeology, the Iron Age refers to the advent of ferrous metallurgy. Ferrous metallurgy involves processes and alloys based on iron. This period coincides with the “Axial Age” in Philosophy.