Since the "ages" are a measurement of humankind's development, the dates are different in

Europe and the Americas. The first person to divide human history into a Stone Age, a
Bronze Age and and Iron Age was Titus Lucretius Carus (LUCRETIUS), a Roman
philosopher and poet (about 95-55 BC). 

Stone Age
A period from two million years ago until 4000 BC in Europe. (The equivalent in the
Americas was from 30,000BC, when human beings first arrived in the New World, to
2500BC.) This is the earliest of the three prehistoric periods, when stone tools and weapons
were used.

Eolithic

Paleolithic (Old Stone Age): Two million BC until the close of the last ice age around
13,000 BC. Chipped stone tools were first used, and hunting and gathering were common.
Near the latter part of the paleolithic, specialized implements such as needles and harpoons
were used. This was the era of Cro-Magnon man in France, and the source of wall
paintings. 
[ See also: Gargas | Lacoste | Murs | Sault ]

Mesolithic (Middle Stone Age): after 13,000 BC, when the weather was more clement and
food became more readily available. During the latter part of this period, around 8000 BC,
the first agricultural villages were developed.

Neolithic (New Stone Age): 6,000 BC - 3,000 BC in Europe and western Asia. From the
Greek neos ("new") and lithos ("stone"). The Neolithic Period, or New Stone Age, refers to
the second part of the stone age, and represents the time when stone and horn tools were
refined by grinding and polishing. During this period there was also the beginning of pottery
and some use of copper. Man also first tamed wild animals, used the wheel, weaved, and
cultivated crops. 
[ See also: Mazan | Vacqueyras ]

Chalcolithic (Chalcolithique) Period

The Chalcolithic is a period of Prehistoric Europe from about 3500 to 1700 BC. Chalcolithic
is named from the Greek for copper + stone. This was the transition period between the
neolithic and the bronze ages. 
[ See also: Comps; Vaison-la-Romaine ]

Bronze Age
Around 1500 BC in Europe. This age describes the time when most tools and weapons
were made of bronze, succeeding the earlier stone or copper implements. During this time,
agricultural villages evolved into townships. Animals were used for riding and for pulling
wheeled vehicles, and trading and shipping began. The plough was developed, along with
writing and arithmetic, and men became specialized in their jobs. 
[ See also: Sault ]

Iron Age
Around 1000 BC in southern Europe, and later in northern Europe. 
[ See also: Vence ]

Hallstatt Culture
Hallstatt Culture: (from about 750 to 450 BC) is characteristic of an early stage of the Iron
Age in western Europe (named from an Austrian village). This early part of the iron age is
characterized by elaborate funeral rites and is marked by an increasing use of iron and an
increasing skill in ironwork. Hallstatt art remains in geometric-patterned ironwork, bronze
work and pottery, used especially as grave furniture. 
[ See also: St. Rémy ]

La Tène Culture
La Tène Culture is the latter stage of the Iron Age in central and northwestern Europe, from
about 450 BC to the subjugation of Gaul by Julius Caesar in 58 BC. La Tène is named from
a Celtic site in Switzerland (meaning The Shallows), where a 19th-century discovery was
made of many iron weapons, implements, and jewelry. Features of this culture include
curvilinear ornamentation (S shapes and spirals) and animal art forms.

Prehistory
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

For other uses, see Prehistory (disambiguation).

For a timeline of events in the early history of the universe and prehistoric Earth, see Timeline of
prehistory.

Massive stone pillars at Göbekli Tepe, in southeast Turkey, erected for ritual use by early Neolithic people
11,000 years ago.

Human history
and prehistory

↑ before Homo  (Pliocene epoch)
 Prehistory
(three-age system)

Stone Age

Lower Paleolithic  

 Homo
 Homo erectus
Middle Paleolithic 

Early  Homo sapiens

Upper Paleolithic  

Behavioral modernity

Neolithic 

Cradle of civilization

Bronze Age
 China
 Europe
 India
 Near East
Iron Age

Bronze Age collapse

 China
 Europe
 India
 Japan
 Korea
 Near East
 Nigeria

Recorded history

Ancient history

Earliest records

Postclassical era

Modern history

 Early
 Later
 Contemporary
 ↓ Future

 v
 t
 e

Prehistory means literally "before history", from the Latin word for "before," præ, and Greek ιστορία.

Human prehistory is the period from the time that behaviorally and anatomically modern humans first
appear until the appearance of recorded historyfollowing the invention of writing systems. Since both
the time of settlement of modern humans and the evolution of human civilisations differ from region
to region, prehistory starts and ends at different moments in time, depending on the region
concerned.
Sumer in Mesopotamia, the Indus valley civilisation and ancient Egypt were the first civilisations to
develop their own scripts, and to keep historical records; this took place already during the
early Bronze Age. Neighbouring civilisations were the first to follow. Most other civilisations reached
the end of prehistory during the Iron Age.
The beginning of written materials (and so the beginning of local "historic times") varies; in many
cultures, especially outsideEurasia, it follows conquest by a culture with writing, and often the
earliest written sources on pre-literate cultures come from their literate neighbours. The period when
a culture is written about by others, but has not developed its own writing is often known as
the protohistory of the culture.
By definition, there are no written records from human prehistory, so dating of prehistoric materials is
crucial. Clear techniques for dating were not well-developed until the 19th century. [1]
This article is concerned with human prehistory as defined here above. There are separate articles
for the overall history of the Earthand the history of life before humans. However, for the human race
as a whole, prehistory ends when recorded history begins with the accounts of the ancient
world around the 4th millennium BC, and coincides with the invention of writing.
Beginning
The term "prehistory" can refer to the vast span of time since the beginning of the Universe or
the Earth, but more often it refers to the period since life appeared on Earth, or even more
specifically to the time since human-like beings appeared. [2][3]
End
The date marking the end of prehistory in a particular culture or region, that is, the date
when relevant written historical records become a useful academic resource, varies
enormously from region to region. For example, in Egypt it is generally accepted that
prehistory ended around 3200 BC, whereas in New Guinea the end of the prehistoric era is
set much more recently, at around 1900 AD. In Europe the relatively well-documented
classical cultures of Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome had neighbouring cultures, including
the Celts and to a lesser extent the Etruscans, with little or no writing, and historians must
decide how much weight to give to the often highly prejudiced accounts of these
"prehistoric" cultures in Greek and Roman literature.
Time periods
In dividing up human prehistory, historians typically use the three-age system, whereas
scholars of pre-human time periods typically use the well-defined geologic record and its
internationally defined stratum base within the geologic time scale. The three-age
system is theperiodization of human prehistory into three consecutive time periods,
named for their respective predominant tool-making technologies:

 Stone Age
 Bronze Age
 Iron Age.[4]
History of the term[edit]
The notion of "prehistory" began to surface during the Enlightenment in the work of
antiquarians who used the word 'primitive' to describe societies that existed before
written records.[5] The first use of the word prehistory in English, however, occurred in
the Foreign Quarterly Review in 1836.[6]
The use of the geologic time scale for pre-human time periods, and of the three-age
system for human prehistory, is a system that emerged during the late nineteenth
century in the work of British, German and
Scandinavian archeologists, antiquarians and anthropologists.[4]

Means of research[edit]
The main source for prehistory is archaeology, but some scholars are beginning to
make more use of evidence from the natural and social sciences.[7][8][9] This view has
been articulated by advocates of deep history.
The primary researchers into human prehistory are archaeologists and
physical anthropologists who use excavation, geologic and geographic surveys, and
other scientific analysis to reveal and interpret the nature and behavior of pre-literate
and non-literate peoples.[2] Human population geneticists and historical linguists are also
providing valuable insight for these questions.[3] Cultural anthropologists help provide
context for societal interactions, by which objects of human origin pass among people,
allowing an analysis of any article that arises in a human prehistoric context. [3] Therefore,
data about prehistory is provided by a wide variety of natural and social sciences, such
aspaleontology, biology, archaeology, palynology, geology, archaeoastronomy, compar
ative linguistics, anthropology, molecular genetics and many others.
Human prehistory differs from history not only in terms of its chronology but in the way it
deals with the activities of archaeological cultures rather than
named nations orindividuals. Restricted to material processes, remains and artifacts
rather than written records, prehistory is anonymous. Because of this, reference terms
that prehistorians use, such as Neanderthal or Iron Age are modern labels with
definitions sometimes subject to debate.

Stone Age[edit]
Palaeolithic[edit]
Main article: Paleolithic
Map of early human migrations, according to mitochondrialpopulation genetics. Numbers
are millennia before the present (accuracy disputed).

"Palaeolithic" means "Old Stone Age," and begins with the first use of stone tools. The
Paleolithic is the earliest period of the Stone Age.
The early part of the Palaeolithic is called the Lower Palaeolithic, which predates Homo
sapiens, beginning with Homo habilis (and related species) and with the earliest stone
tools, dated to around 2.5 million years ago. [10] Evidence of control of fire by early
humans during the Lower Palaeolithic Era is uncertain and has at best limited scholarly
support. The most widely accepted claim is that H. erectus or H. ergaster made fires
between 790,000 and 690,000 BP in a site at Bnot Ya'akov Bridge, Israel. The use of
fire enabled early humans to cook food, provide warmth, and have a light source at
night.
Early Homo sapiens originated some 200,000 years ago, ushering in the Middle
Palaeolithic. Anatomic changes indicating modern language capacity also arise during
the Middle Palaeolithic.[11] During the Middle Palaeolithic Era, there is the first definitive
evidence of human use of fire. Sites in Zambia have charred bone and wood that have
been dated to 61,000 B.P. The systematic burial of the dead, music, early art, and the
use of increasingly sophisticated multi-part tools are highlights of the Middle Paleolithic.
Throughout the Palaeolithic, humans generally lived as nomadic hunter-
gatherers. Hunter-gatherer societiestended to be very small and egalitarian,[12] though
hunter-gatherer societies with abundant resources or advanced food-storage techniques
sometimes developed sedentary lifestyles with complex social structures such as
chiefdoms, and social stratification. Long-distance contacts may have been established,
as in the case of Indigenous Australian "highways" known as songlines.

Mesolithic[edit]
Main article: Mesolithic
Dugout canoe

The "Mesolithic," or "Middle Stone Age" (from the Greek "mesos," "middle," and "lithos,"
"stone") was a period in the development of human technology between the Palaeolithic
and Neolithic periods of the Stone Age.
The Mesolithic period began at the end of the Pleistocene epoch, some 10,000 BP, and
ended with the introduction of agriculture, the date of which varied by geographic region.
In some areas, such as the Near East, agriculture was already underway by the end of
the Pleistocene, and there the Mesolithic is short and poorly defined. In areas with
limited glacial impact, the term "Epipalaeolithic" is sometimes preferred.
Regions that experienced greater environmental effects as the last ice age ended have
a much more evident Mesolithic era, lasting millennia. In Northern Europe, societies
were able to live well on rich food supplies from the marshlands fostered by the warmer
climate. Such conditions produced distinctive human behaviours that are preserved in
the material record, such as theMaglemosian and Azilian cultures. These conditions
also delayed the coming of the Neolithic until as late as 4000 BC (6,000 BP) in
northern Europe.
Remains from this period are few and far between, often limited to middens.
In forested areas, the first signs of deforestation have been found, although this would
only begin in earnest during the Neolithic, when more space was needed for agriculture.
The Mesolithic is characterized in most areas by small composite flint tools
— microliths and microburins. Fishing tackle, stone adzes and wooden objects,
e.g. canoes andbows, have been found at some sites. These technologies first occur
in Africa, associated with the Azilian cultures, before spreading to Europe through
the Ibero-Maurusianculture of Northern Africa and the Kebaran culture of the Levant.
Independent discovery is not always ruled out.

Neolithic[edit]
Main article: Neolithic
Entrance to the Ġgantija phase temple complex of Hagar Qim, Malta, 3900 BC.[13]

An array of Neolithic artifacts, including bracelets, axe heads, chisels, and polishing tools.
Neolithic stone artifacts are by definition polished and, except for specialty items, not chipped.

"Neolithic" means "New Stone Age." Although there were several species of human
beings during the Paleolithic, by the Neolithic onlyHomo sapiens sapiens remained.
[14]
 (Homo floresiensis may have survived right up to the very dawn of the Neolithic,
about 12,200 years ago.)[15] This was a period of
primitive technological and social development. It began about 10,200 BC in some parts
of the Middle East, and later in other parts of the world[16] and ended between 4,500 and
2,000 BC. The Neolithic is a progression of behavioral and cultural characteristics and
changes, including the use of wild and domestic crops and of domesticated animals.
Early Neolithic farming was limited to a narrow range of plants, both wild and
domesticated, which included einkorn wheat, millet andspelt, and the keeping
of dogs, sheep and goats. By about 6,900–6,400 BC, it included
domesticated cattle and pigs, the establishment of permanently or seasonally inhabited
settlements, and the use of pottery. The Neolithic period saw the development of
early villages,agriculture, animal domestication, tools and the onset of the earliest
recorded incidents of warfare.[17] The Neolithic era commenced with the beginning
of farming, which produced the "Neolithic Revolution". It ended when metal tools
became widespread (in the Copper Ageor Bronze Age; or, in some geographical
regions, in the Iron Age).The term Neolithic is commonly used in the Old World, as its
application to cultures in the Americas and Oceania that did not fully develop metal-
working technology raises problems.

The monumental building at Luni sul Mignone in Blera, Italy, 3500 BC.

Settlements became more permanent with some having circular houses with single
rooms made ofmudbrick. Settlements might have a surrounding stone wall to keep
domesticated animals in and protect the inhabitants from other tribes. Later settlements
have rectangular mud-brick houses where the family lived together in single or multiple
rooms. Burial findings suggest an ancestor cult where peoplepreserved skulls of the
dead. The Vinča culture may have created the earliest system of writing.
[18]
 Themegalithic temple complexes of Ġgantija are notable for their gigantic structures.
Although some late Eurasian Neolithic societies formed complex stratified chiefdoms or
even states, states evolved in Eurasia only with the rise of metallurgy, and most
Neolithic societies on the whole were relatively simple and egalitarian. [19] Most clothing
appears to have been made of animal skins, as indicated by finds of large numbers of
bone and antler pins which are ideal for fastening leather. Wool cloth and linen might
have become available during the later Neolithic, [20][21] as suggested by finds of perforated
stones which (depending on size) may have served as spindle whorls or loom weights.[22]
[23][24]

Chalcolithic[edit]
Main article: Chalcolithic

Artist's impression of a Copper Age walled city, Los Millares, Iberia

In Old World archaeology, the "Chalcolithic", "Eneolithic" or "Copper Age" refers to a

transitional period where early copper metallurgy appeared alongside the widespread
use of stone tools. During this period, some weapons and tools were made of copper.
This period was still largely Neolithic in character. It is a phase of the Bronze Age before
it was discovered that adding tin to copper formed the harder bronze. The Copper Age
was originally defined as a transition between the Neolithic and the Bronze Age.
However, because it is characterized by the use of metals, the Copper Age is
considered a part of the Bronze Age rather than the Stone Age.

Chalcolithic copper mine inTimna Valley, Negev Desert, Israel

An archaeological site in Serbia contains the oldest securely dated evidence of copper

making at high temperature, from 7,500 years ago. The find in June 2010 extends the
known record of copper smelting by about 800 years, and suggests that copper smelting
may have been invented in separate parts of Asia and Europe at that time rather than
spreading from a single source.[25] The emergence of metallurgy may have occurred first
in the Fertile Crescent, where it gave rise to the Bronze Age in the 4th millennium
BC (the traditional view), though finds from the Vinča culture in Europe have now been
securely dated to slightly earlier than those of the Fertile Crescent. Timna
Valley contains evidence of copper mining 9,000 to 7,000 years ago. The process of
transition from Neolithic to Chalcolithic in the Middle East is characterized in
archaeological stone tool assemblages by a decline in high quality raw material
procurement and use. North Africa and the Nile Valley imported its iron technology from
the Near East and followed the Near Eastern course of Bronze Age and Iron
Age development. However the Iron Age and Bronze Age occurred simultaneously in
much of Africa.

Bronze Age[edit]
Main article: Bronze Age

Ox-drawn plow, Egypt, ca. 1200 BCE.

The Bronze Age is the earliest period in which some civilisations have reached the end
of prehistory, by introducing written records. The Bronze Age or parts thereof are thus
considered to be part of prehistory only for the regions and civilisations who adopted or
developed a system of keeping written records during later periods. The invention of
writing coincides in some areas with the early beginnings of the Bronze Age. Soon after
the appearance of writing, people started creating texts including written accounts of
events and records of administrative matters.
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. These naturally occurring ores typically included arsenic
as a common impurity. Copper/tin ores are rare, as reflected in the fact that there were
no tin bronzes in Western Asia before 3000 BC. The Bronze Age forms part of the three-
age system for prehistoric societies. In this system, it follows the Neolithic in some areas
of the world.
While copper is a common ore, deposits of tin are rare in the Old World, and often had
to be traded or carried considerable distances from the few mines, stimulating the
creation of extensive trading routes. In many areas as far apart as China and England,
the valuable new material was used for weapons but for a long time apparently not
available for agricultural tools. Much of it seems to have been hoarded by social elites,
and sometimes deposited in extravagant quantities, from Chinese ritual
bronzes andIndian copper hoards to European hoards of unused axe-heads.
By the end of the Bronze Age large states, which are often called empires, had arisen in
Egypt, China, Anatolia (the Hittites) and Mesopotamia, all of them literate.

Iron Age[edit]
Main articles: Iron Age and Classical antiquity
The Iron Age is not part of prehistory for all civilisations who had introduced written
records during the Bronze Age. Most remaining civilisations did so during the Iron Age,
often through conquest by the empires, which continued to expand during this period.
For example, in most of Europe conquest by the Roman Empire means that the term
Iron Age is replaced by "Roman", "Gallo-Roman" and similar terms after the conquest.
In archaeology, the Iron Age refers to the advent of ferrous metallurgy. The adoption
of iron coincided with other changes in some past cultures, often including more
sophisticated agricultural practices, religious beliefs and artistic styles, which makes the
archaeological Iron Age coincide with the "Axial Age" in the history of philosophy.
Although iron ore is common, the metalworking techniques necessary to use iron are
very different from those needed for the metal used earlier, and iron was slow-spreading
and for long mainly used for weapons, while bronze remained typical for tools, as well
as art.

Timeline[edit]
Human timeline
view • discuss • edit

-10 —

-9 —

-8 —

-7 —

-6 —

-5 —

-4 —

-3 —

-2 —

-1 —

0 —

Human-like
apes
 Nakalipithecus

Ouranopithecus

Sahelanthropus

Orrorin

Ardipithecus

Australopithecus

Homo habilis

Homo erectus

Neanderthal

Homo sapiens

←
Earlier apes

←
Earliest bipedal

←
Early bipedal

←
Earliest stone tools

←
Earliest exit
from Africa

←
Earliest fire use

←
Earliest cooking

←
Earliest clothes

←
Modern humans

P
l
e
i
s
t
o
c
 e
n
e

P
l
i
o
c
e
n
e

M
i
o
c
e
n
e

Axis scale: millions of years.

also see {{Life timeline}} and {{Nature timeline}}

Further information: Timeline of human evolution, Timeline of the Stone Age,

and Timeline of human prehistory

All dates are approximate and conjectural, obtained through research in the fields
of anthropology, archaeology, genetics,geology, or linguistics. They are all subject to
revision due to new discoveries or improved calculations. BP stands for "Before
Present (1950)." BCE stands for Before Common Era".
Lower Paleolithic

 c. 2.8 million BP – Genus Homo appears

 c. 2.5 million BP – Evidence of early human tools
 c. 600,000 BP – Hunting-gathering
 c. 400,000 BP – Control of fire by early humans
Middle Paleolithic
 c. 300,000–30,000 BP – Mousterian (Neanderthal) culture in Europe.[26]
 c. 200,000 BP – Anatomically modern humans (Homo sapiens sapiens) appear in
Africa, one of whose characteristics is a lack of significant body hair compared to
other primates. See e.g. Omo remains.
 c. 170,000?–83,000 BP – Invention of clothing[27]
 c. 75,000 BP – Toba Volcano supereruption.[28]
 c. 80,000–50,000 BP – Homo sapiens exit Africa as a single population.[29][30] In the
next millennia, descendants from this population migrate to southern India, the
Malay islands, Australia, Japan, China, Siberia, Alaska, and the northwestern coast
of North America.[30]
 c. 80,000-50,000? BP – Behavioral modernity, by this point including language and
sophisticated cognition
Upper Paleolithic

 c. 45,000 BP / 43,000 BCE – Beginnings of Châtelperronian culture in France.

 c. 40,000 BP / 38,000 BCE – First human (Aboriginal Australian) settlement
in Sydney,[31][32] Perth[33] and Melbourne.[34]
 c. 32,000 BP / 30,000 BCE – Beginnings of Aurignacian culture, exemplified by
the cave paintings ("parietal art") ofChauvet Cave in France.
 c. 30,500 BP / 28,500 BCE – New Guinea is populated by colonists
from Asia or Australia.[35]
 c. 30,000 BP / 28,000 BCE – A herd of reindeer is slaughtered and butchered by
humans in the Vezere Valley in what is today France.[36]
 c. 28,000–20,000 BP – Gravettian period in Europe. Harpoons, needles, and saws
invented.
 c. 26,500 BP – Last Glacial Maximum (LGM). Subsequently the ice melts and the
glaciers retreat again (Late Glacial Maximum). During this latter period human
beings return to Western Europe (see Magdalenian culture,) and enter North
America from Eastern Siberia for the first time (see Paleo-Indians, pre-Clovis culture
and Settlement of the Americas.)
 c. 26,000 BP / 24,000 BCE – People around the world use fibers to make baby-
carriers, clothes, bags, baskets, and nets.[citation needed]
 c. 25,000 BP / 23,000 BCE – A settlement consisting of huts built of rocks
and mammoth bones is founded near what is now Dolní Věstonice in Moravia in
the Czech Republic. This is the oldest human permanent settlement that has yet
been found by archaeologists.[37]
 c. 23,000 BP / 21,000 BCE – Small-scale trial cultivation of plants in Ohalo II, a
hunter-gatherers' sedentary camp on the shore of the Sea of Galilee, Israel. [38]
 c. 16,000 BP / 14,000 BCE – Wisent sculpted in clay deep inside the cave now
known as Le Tuc d'Audoubert in the French Pyrenees near what is now the border
ofSpain.[39]
 c. 14,800 BP / 12,800 BCE – The Humid Period begins in North Africa. The region
that would later become the Sahara is wet and fertile, and the Aquifers are full.[40]
Mesolithic/Epipaleolithic

 c. 12,500 to 9,500 BCE – Natufian culture: a culture of sedentary hunter-gatherers

who may have cultivated Rye in the Levant (Eastern Mediterranean)
Neolithic
 c. 9,400–9,200 BCE – Figs of a parthenocarpic (and therefore sterile) type are
cultivated in the early Neolithic village Gilgal I (in the Jordan Valley, 13 km north
of Jericho). The find predates the domestication of wheat, barley, and legumes, and
may thus be the first known instance of agriculture. [41]
 c. 9,000 BCE – Circles of T-shaped stone pillars erected at Göbekli Tepe in
the Southeastern Anatolia Region of Turkey during pre-pottery Neolithic A (PPNA)
period. As yet unexcavated structures at the site are thought to date back to the
epipaleolithic.
 c. 8,000 BC / 7000 BCE – In northern Mesopotamia, now northern Iraq, cultivation
of barley and wheat begins. At first they are used for beer, gruel, and soup,
eventually forbread.[42] In early agriculture at this time the planting stick is used, but it
is replaced by a primitive plow in subsequent centuries.[43] Around this time, a round
stone tower, now preserved at about 8.5 meters high and 8.5 meters in diameter is
built in Jericho.[44]
Chalcolithic

 c. 3,700 BCE – Cuneiform writing appears in Sumer, and records begin to be kept.

According to the majority of specialists, the first Mesopotamian writing was a tool
that had little connection to the spoken language. [45]
 c. 3,300 BCE – Approximate date of death of "Ötzi the Iceman", found preserved in
ice in the Ötztal Alps in 1991. A copper-bladed axe, which is a characteristic
technology of this era, was found with the corpse.
 c. 3,000 BCE – Stonehenge construction begins. In its first version, it consisted of a
circular ditch and bank, with 56 wooden posts.[46]

By region[edit]
Old World

 Prehistoric Africa
 Predynastic Egypt
 Prehistoric Central North Africa
 Prehistoric Asia
 East Asia:
 Prehistoric China
 Prehistoric Thailand
 Prehistoric Korea
 Japanese Paleolithic
 East Asian Bronze Age
 Chinese Bronze Age
 South Asia
 Prehistory of India
 South Asian Stone Age
 Prehistory of Sri Lanka
 Prehistory of Central Asia
 Prehistoric Siberia
 Southwest Asia (Near East)
 Prehistory of Iran
 Aurignacian
  Natufian culture
 Ubaid period
 Uruk period
 Ancient Near East
 Prehistoric Europe
 Prehistoric Caucasus
 Prehistoric Georgia
 Prehistoric Armenia
 Paleolithic Europe
 Neolithic Europe
 Bronze Age Europe
 Iron Age Europe
 Atlantic fringe
 Prehistoric Britain
 Prehistoric Ireland
 Prehistoric Iberia
 Prehistoric Balkans
New World

 Pre-Columbian Americas
 Prehistoric Southwestern cultural divisions
 2nd millennium BCE in North American history
 1st millennium BCE in North American history
 1st millennium in North American history
 Prehistoric Australia