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Protohistory is the period between prehistory and written history, during which a culture or civilization has not yet developed writing, but other cultures that have developed writing have noted the existence of those pre-literate groups in their own writings.

Protohistoric may also refer to the transition period between the advent of literacy in a society and the writings of the first 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The term can also refer to a period in which fragmentary or external historical documents, not necessarily including a developed writing system, have been found.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 Proto–Three Kingdoms of Korea, the Yayoi,^[1] recorded by the Chinese, and the Mississippian 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:

Copper Age, or Chalcolithic
The Bronze Age
The Iron Age

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:

References

^ Bahn, Paul (ed.) The Penguin Archaeology Guide Penguin Books Ltd (29 Nov 2001) ISBN 978-0-14-029308-1 p. 368
^ Cunliffe, Barry (2001). The Oxford Illustrated History of Prehistoric Europe. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-285441-4.
^ Taylor, Timothy (1994). "Thracians, Scythians and Dacians". In Cunliffe, Barry (ed.). The Oxford Illustrated Prehistory of Europe. Oxford: Oxford University Press. pp. 373–410. ISBN 978-0-19-814385-7.
^ Timothy Taylor (2001). "Believing the Ancients: Quantitative and Qualitative Dimensions of Slavery and the Slave Trade in Later Prehistoric Eurasia". World Archaeology. 33 (1). World Archaeology, Vol. 33, No. 1, The Archaeology of Slavery (Jun., 2001), pp. 27–43: 27–43. doi:10.1080/00438240120047618. JSTOR 827887. S2CID 162250553.
^ Fagan, Brian (2005). Ancient North America: The Archaeology of a Continent (4th ed.). London: Thames & Hudson. ISBN 978-0-500-28532-9.
^ Nayeem, Muhammed Abdul, ed. (1990). Prehistory and Protohistory of the Arabian Peninsula (5 volumes). Hyderabad: Hyderabad Pub.
^ "Alani". Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved March 12, 2016.
^ Herodotus. "The Histories". Sacred Texts.
^ Sultzman, Lee. "Erie". Dick Shovel.
^ "Gaul - World History Encyclopedia". World History Encyclopedia.
^ Van Rhyn, G. A. F. (1879). "Germanic Races and Languages" . The American Cyclopædia. Vol. VII.
^ Maenchen-Helfen, Otto J. (1973). Max Knight (ed.). The World of the Huns: Studies in Their History and Culture. University of California Press. ISBN 0-520-01596-7.
^ Kōzō, Yamamura; John Whitney Hall (1997). The Cambridge history of Japan. Cambridge University Press.
^ "Mid-America : an historical review". Internet Archive. p. 228. Retrieved 2015-07-16.
^ "Where are the Susquehannock". The Susquehannock Fire Ring. Archived from the original on 9 January 2010. Retrieved 13 March 2016.

[1] Bahn, Paul (ed.) The Penguin Archaeology Guide Penguin Books Ltd (29 Nov 2001) ISBN 978-0-14-029308-1 p. 368

[2] Cunliffe, Barry (2001). The Oxford Illustrated History of Prehistoric Europe. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-285441-4.

[3] Taylor, Timothy (1994). "Thracians, Scythians and Dacians". In Cunliffe, Barry (ed.). The Oxford Illustrated Prehistory of Europe. Oxford: Oxford University Press. pp. 373–410. ISBN 978-0-19-814385-7.

[4] Timothy Taylor (2001). "Believing the Ancients: Quantitative and Qualitative Dimensions of Slavery and the Slave Trade in Later Prehistoric Eurasia". World Archaeology. 33 (1). World Archaeology, Vol. 33, No. 1, The Archaeology of Slavery (Jun., 2001), pp. 27–43: 27–43. doi:10.1080/00438240120047618. JSTOR 827887. S2CID 162250553.

[5] Fagan, Brian (2005). Ancient North America: The Archaeology of a Continent (4th ed.). London: Thames & Hudson. ISBN 978-0-500-28532-9.

[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] Van Rhyn, G. A. F. (1879). "Germanic Races and Languages" . The American Cyclopædia. Vol. VII.

[12] Maenchen-Helfen, Otto J. (1973). Max Knight (ed.). The World of the Huns: Studies in Their History and Culture. University of California Press. ISBN 0-520-01596-7.

[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.

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@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
-{{short description|Period between prehistory and history}}
+{{Short description|Period between prehistory and written history}}
 {{Human history and prehistory}}
+'''Protohistory''' is the period between [[prehistory]] and [[written history]], during which a [[culture]] or [[civilization]] has not yet developed [[writing]], but other cultures that have developed writing have noted the existence of those pre-literate groups in their own writings.
-'''Protohistory''' is a period between [[prehistory]] and [[history]] during which a [[culture]] or [[civilization]] has not yet developed [[writing]], but other cultures have already noted the existence of those pre-literate groups in their own writings. For example, in [[Europe]], the [[Celts]] and the [[Germanic tribes]] are considered to have been protohistoric when they began appearing in [[Ancient Greece|Greek]] and [[Ancient Rome|Roman]] sources.
 Protohistoric may also refer to the transition period between the advent of [[literacy]] in a society and the writings of the first [[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 [[Proto–Three Kingdoms of Korea]], the [[Yayoi]]<ref>Bahn, Paul (ed.) ''The Penguin Archaeology Guide'' Penguin Books Ltd (29 Nov 2001) {{ISBN|978-0-14-029308-1}} p. 368</ref> and the [[Mississippian culture|Mississippian]] groups, recorded by early European explorers, are protohistoric.
+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 [[Proto–Three Kingdoms of Korea]], the [[Yayoi]],<ref>Bahn, Paul (ed.) ''The Penguin Archaeology Guide'' Penguin Books Ltd (29 Nov 2001) {{ISBN|978-0-14-029308-1}} p. 368</ref> recorded by the [[Three Kingdoms|Chinese]], and the [[Mississippian culture|Mississippian]] groups, recorded by early European explorers, are protohistoric.
 ==Use of term==
-In ''The Oxford Illustrated History of Prehistoric Europe'',<ref>{{cite book |last=Cunliffe |first=Barry |title=The Oxford Illustrated History of Prehistoric Europe |year=2001 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=Oxford |isbn=978-0-19-285441-4 }}</ref> an article<ref>{{cite book|last=Taylor|first=Timothy|title=The Oxford Illustrated Prehistory of Europe|url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780198143857|url-access=registration|year=1994|publisher=Oxford University Press|location=Oxford|pages=[https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780198143857/page/373 373–410]|author-link=Timothy Taylor (archaeologist)|editor=Cunliffe, Barry|contribution=Thracians, Scythians and Dacians}}</ref> by [[Timothy Taylor (archaeologist)|Timothy Taylor]] stated:
+In ''The Oxford Illustrated History of Prehistoric Europe'',<ref>{{cite book |last=Cunliffe |first=Barry |title=The Oxford Illustrated History of Prehistoric Europe |year=2001 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=Oxford |isbn=978-0-19-285441-4 }}</ref> an article<ref>{{cite book|last=Taylor|first=Timothy|title=The Oxford Illustrated Prehistory of Europe|url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780198143857|url-access=registration|year=1994|publisher=Oxford University Press|location=Oxford|pages=[https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780198143857/page/373 373–410]|isbn=978-0-19-814385-7 |author-link=Timothy Taylor (archaeologist)|editor=Cunliffe, Barry|contribution=Thracians, Scythians and Dacians}}</ref> by [[Timothy Taylor (archaeologist)|Timothy Taylor]] stated:
 {{quote|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",<ref>{{Cite journal |author=Timothy Taylor |title=Believing the Ancients: Quantitative and Qualitative Dimensions of Slavery and the Slave Trade in Later Prehistoric Eurasia |journal=World Archaeology |volume=33 |issue=1 |pages=27–43 |publisher=World Archaeology, Vol. 33, No. 1, The Archaeology of Slavery (Jun., 2001), pp. 27-43 |date=2001 |jstor=827887 |doi=10.1080/00438240120047618 }}</ref> Taylor, primarily an archaeologist, stated,
+In the abstract of a later paper on "slavery in the first millennium Aegean, Carpatho-Balkan and [[Pontus (region)|Pontic]] regions",<ref>{{Cite journal |author=Timothy Taylor |title=Believing the Ancients: Quantitative and Qualitative Dimensions of Slavery and the Slave Trade in Later Prehistoric Eurasia |journal=World Archaeology |volume=33 |issue=1 |pages=27–43 |publisher=World Archaeology, Vol. 33, No. 1, The Archaeology of Slavery (Jun., 2001), pp. 27–43 |date=2001 |jstor=827887 |doi=10.1080/00438240120047618 |s2cid=162250553 }}</ref> Taylor, primarily an archaeologist, stated,
 {{quote|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<ref>{{cite book |last=Fagan |first=Brian |title=Ancient North America: The Archaeology of a Continent |year=2005 |edition=4th |publisher=Thames & Hudson |location=London |isbn=978-0-500-28532-9 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/ancientnorthamer0004faga }}</ref> and the work of Muhammed Abdul Nayeem on that of the Arabian Peninsula<ref>{{cite book |editor-last=Nayeem  |editor-first=Muhammed Abdul |title=Prehistory and Protohistory of the Arabian Peninsula (5 volumes) |year=1990 |publisher=Hyderabad Pub. |location=Hyderabad}}</ref>
+For other examples, see also the writings of [[Brian M. Fagan]] on the protohistory of [[North America]]<ref>{{cite book |last=Fagan |first=Brian |title=Ancient North America: The Archaeology of a Continent |year=2005 |edition=4th |publisher=Thames & Hudson |location=London |isbn=978-0-500-28532-9 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/ancientnorthamer0004faga }}</ref> and the work of Muhammed Abdul Nayeem on that of the Arabian Peninsula.<ref>{{cite book |editor-last=Nayeem  |editor-first=Muhammed Abdul |title=Prehistory and Protohistory of the Arabian Peninsula (5 volumes) |year=1990 |publisher=Hyderabad Pub. |location=Hyderabad}}</ref>
 ==Chronology==
-As with prehistory, determining when a culture may be considered prehistoric or protohistoric is sometimes difficult for [[anthropologist]]s. Data vary considerably from culture to culture, region to region, and even from one system of reckoning dates to another.
+As with prehistory, determining when a culture may be considered prehistoric or protohistoric is sometimes difficult for [[anthropologist]]s. 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]]:
@@ Line 29: / Line 28: @@
 ==Civilizations and peoples==
-The best known protohistoric civilizations and [[ethnic group]]s are those for whom the term was originally coined, the [[barbarian]] tribes mentioned by European and Asian writers. Many of those peoples of course also experienced periods of prehistory and history:
+The best-known protohistoric civilizations and [[ethnic group]]s 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:
-{{div col|colwidth=22em}}
+{{div col|colwidth=18em}}
 *[[Alans]]<ref>{{cite web|title=Alani|url=http://global.britannica.com/topic/Alani|website=Encyclopædia Britannica|access-date=March 12, 2016}}</ref>
 *[[Balts]]
 *[[Bulgars]]
 *[[Celt]]s
-**[[Gaul]]s<ref>{{cite web|title=Gaul - World History Encyclopedia|url=https://www.worldhistory.org/gaul/|website=[[World History Encyclopedia]]}}</ref>
+*[[Dacians]]<ref>{{cite web|author=Herodotus|title=The Histories|url=http://www.sacred-texts.com/cla/hh/ |website= Sacred Texts}}</ref>
-*[[Dacians]]<ref>{{cite web|author=Herodotus|title=The Histories|url=http://www.sacred-texts.com/cla/hh/|website=Sacred Texts}}</ref>
+*[[Erie people|Erie]]<ref>{{cite web|last1= Sultzman|first1= Lee|title= Erie|url= http://www.dickshovel.com/erie.html |website=Dick Shovel}}</ref>
-*[[Erie people|Erie]]<ref>{{cite web|last1=Sultzman|first1=Lee|title=Erie|url=http://www.dickshovel.com/erie.html|website=Dick Shovel}}</ref>
+*[[Gaul]]s<ref>{{cite web|title= Gaul - World History Encyclopedia|url= https://www.worldhistory.org/gaul/|website= [[World History Encyclopedia]]}}</ref>
-*[[Germanic peoples|Suebians]]<ref>{{cite web|last1=Van Rhyn|first1=G.A.F.|title=The American Cyclopaedia (1879)/Germanic Races and Languages|url=https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_American_Cyclop%C3%A6dia_(1879)/Germanic_Races_and_Languages|website=Wikisource|access-date=13 March 2016}}</ref>
+*[[Germanic peoples]]<ref>{{Cite AmCyc |wstitle= Germanic Races and Languages |volume= VII |last= Van Rhyn  |first= G. A. F. |short=1 }}</ref>
-*[[Huns]]<ref>{{Cite book |last=Maenchen-Helfen |first=Otto J. |author-link=Otto J. Maenchen-Helfen |year=1973 |title=The World of the Huns: Studies in Their History and Culture |url=https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_CrUdgzSICxcC |editor= Max Knight |publisher=University of California Press |isbn=0-520-01596-7 }}</ref>
+*[[Huns]]<ref>{{Cite book |last=Maenchen-Helfen |first=Otto J. |author-link=Otto J. Maenchen-Helfen |year=1973 |title= The World of the Huns: Studies in Their History and Culture |url= https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_CrUdgzSICxcC |editor= Max Knight |publisher=University of California Press |isbn= 0-520-01596-7 }}</ref>
-*[[Kofun period|Kofun]]<ref>{{cite book
+*[[Kofun period |Kofun]]<ref>{{cite book
   | last = Kōzō
   | first = Yamamura
@@ Line 50: / Line 49: @@
   }}</ref>
 *[[Magyars]]
-*[[Mosopelea]]<ref>{{Cite web|title = Mid-America : an historical review.|url = https://archive.org/stream/midamericahistor21unse#page/228/mode/2up|website = archive.org|access-date = 2015-07-16|page = 228}}</ref>
+*[[Mosopelea]]<ref>{{Cite web|title = Mid-America : an historical review.|url = https://archive.org/stream/midamericahistor21unse#page/228/mode/2up|website = Internet Archive |access-date = 2015-07-16 |page = 228}}</ref>
 *[[Timucua]]
 *[[Numidian]]s
@@ Line 56: / Line 55: @@
 *[[Sarmatians]]
 *[[Scythian]]s
-*[[Slavic peoples|Slavs]]
+*[[Slavic peoples |Slavs]]
-*[[Susquehannock]]<ref>{{cite web|title=Where are the Susquehannock|url=http://susquehannock.brokenclaw.net/susquehannock|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100109141308/http://susquehannock.brokenclaw.net/susquehannock|url-status=dead|archive-date=9 January 2010|website=The Susquehannock Fire Ring|access-date=13 March 2016}}</ref>
+*[[Susquehannock]]<ref>{{cite web|title=Where are the Susquehannock|url= http://susquehannock.brokenclaw.net/susquehannock|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20100109141308/http://susquehannock.brokenclaw.net/susquehannock|url-status= dead |archive-date=9 January 2010|website=The Susquehannock Fire Ring|access-date=13 March 2016}}</ref>
 *[[Thracians]]
 *[[Proto–Three Kingdoms of Korea]]
@@ Line 65: / Line 64: @@
 ==See also==
-*[[Ancient history]]
+* [[Ancient history]]
+* {{annotated link|Meluhha}}, recorded in Sumerian records, possibly identical with the [[Indus civilisation]]
+* [[The Collection of Pre- and Protohistoric Artifacts at the University of Jena]]
 ==References==