Prehistory (from Latin præ- 'before' and historia 'history, research, news'; the latter a loan from the Greek ιστορία) is, according to the traditional definition, the period of time that has elapsed since the appearance of the first hominins, ancestors of Homo sapiens, until we have evidence of the existence of written documents.[1] Something that occurred first in the Near East around 3300 BC. C., and later in the rest of the planet.[2] However, in its classical meaning, it is linked to a prehistory linked to natural history. According to other authors, prehistory would end earlier in some regions of the world, with the appearance of complex societies that gave rise to the first states and civilizations.
According to new interpretations of historical science, prehistory is a term devoid of real meaning in the sense that it was understood for generations. If History is considered, taking Marc Bloch's definition, as "human events in time", everything is History with the human being existing, and prehistory could, perforce, only be understood as the study of life before the appearance of the first hominid on earth. From a chronological point of view, its limits are far from clear, since neither the arrival of human beings nor the invention of writing take place at the same time in all areas of the planet.
On the other hand, there are those who defend a definition of this phase or, at least, its separation from Ancient History, by virtue of economic and social criteria instead of chronological ones, since these are more particularizing (that is, more ideographic) and those, more generalizing and therefore, more likely to provide a scientific vision.
In that sense, the end of prehistory and the beginning of history would be marked by a growing structuring of society that would cause a substantial modification of the habitat, its agglomeration in cities, advanced socialization, its hierarchization, the appearance of administrative structures, currency and the increase in long-distance commercial exchanges. Thus, it would not be very correct to study within the scope of prehistory societies of a totally urban nature such as the Incas and Mexica in America, the Empire of Ghana and the Great Zimbabwe in Africa or the Khmer in Southeast Asia, which are only identified with this period due to the absence of written texts that we have about them. complete writing.[4].
It is considered an academic field or specialty closely linked to Archaeology, Paleontology and historical geology.
Review of protohistoric sites
Introduction
Prehistory (from Latin præ- 'before' and historia 'history, research, news'; the latter a loan from the Greek ιστορία) is, according to the traditional definition, the period of time that has elapsed since the appearance of the first hominins, ancestors of Homo sapiens, until we have evidence of the existence of written documents.[1] Something that occurred first in the Near East around 3300 BC. C., and later in the rest of the planet.[2] However, in its classical meaning, it is linked to a prehistory linked to natural history. According to other authors, prehistory would end earlier in some regions of the world, with the appearance of complex societies that gave rise to the first states and civilizations.
According to new interpretations of historical science, prehistory is a term devoid of real meaning in the sense that it was understood for generations. If History is considered, taking Marc Bloch's definition, as "human events in time", everything is History with the human being existing, and prehistory could, perforce, only be understood as the study of life before the appearance of the first hominid on earth. From a chronological point of view, its limits are far from clear, since neither the arrival of human beings nor the invention of writing take place at the same time in all areas of the planet.
On the other hand, there are those who defend a definition of this phase or, at least, its separation from Ancient History, by virtue of economic and social criteria instead of chronological ones, since these are more particularizing (that is, more ideographic) and those, more generalizing and therefore, more likely to provide a scientific vision.
In that sense, the end of prehistory and the beginning of history would be marked by a growing structuring of society that would cause a substantial modification of the habitat, its agglomeration in cities, advanced socialization, its hierarchization, the appearance of administrative structures, currency and the increase in long-distance commercial exchanges. Thus, it would not be very correct to study within the scope of prehistory societies of a totally urban nature such as the Incas and Mexica in America, the Empire of Ghana and the Great Zimbabwe in Africa or the Khmer in Southeast Asia, which are only identified with this period due to the absence of written texts that we have about them. complete writing.[4].
Periodization
Prehistory is divided into multiple eras, which depending on the systems can be grouped into different main stages. Traditionally in Spanish-speaking countries (although also applied by some other experts), it has been broadly divided into two stages applicable to most regions of the world: the Stone Age and the Age of Metals (which encompasses the Copper, Bronze and Iron ages);
The Metal Age concept, however, is not in common academic use in many other countries and languages. In articles published in English, the set of the three ages is usually referred to simply as the metal ages ('the ages of the metals', without a name that uses this term).[8][9][10] The division into two groups of the prehistoric period focuses, depending on the case (due to geological division, human evolution, etc.) on the limits between the Pleistocene and the Holocene (where the Neolithic shares a group with the ages of metals), the Pleistocene and the Pliocene (especially in the geological context) and between prehistory and protohistory (in many ways similar to the division into the Stone Age and the Metal Age).[8] Other historians do not consider the division into two main groups applicable to prehistoric periods (claiming too much complexity).[11] A division into three groups is more common in these cases, with differences between the geological and the cultural.[12] Some of the systems that apply the term Age of Metals consider a division of prehistory into three main stages, normally the other two being the Paleolithic and the Neolithic.[13] Other periodizations divide prehistory into 4-5 main stages.[14].
One of the most used periodization systems since the 19th century, currently less used in academia except for certain disciplines such as ethnology,[11] in addition to persisting in public consciousness in countries such as Germany and part of the Anglo-Saxon world, is that of the Three Ages, which divides prehistory into three groups: Stone Age, Bronze Age, and Iron Age.[15] However, this system has been criticized for its focus on European, North African, and South American history. Middle and Near East, ignoring studies carried out in other parts of the world and in other disciplines, and therefore described by many experts as simplistic.[8][16] On the other hand, it continues to be used in publications to refer to the three ages that are considered paradigmatic of prehistory.[17].
Prehistory, History and Archeology
From the most traditional point of view, prehistoric archeology is considered to be a scientific specialty that studies, through excavation, the data of this period of History that preceded the invention of writing. Archaeological remains are the main source of information and to study them, numerous auxiliary disciplines are used, such as nuclear physics (to carry out absolute dating), mass spectrometer analysis (of lithic, ceramic or metallic components), geomorphology, soil science, taphonomy, traceology (for traces of use), paleontology, paleobotany, non-parametric statistics, ethnography, paleoanthropology, topography and technical drawing, among many other sciences and techniques. So there are a large number of people who consider prehistory as a specialty within History, but much more technical and multidisciplinary.
The basic methodology for obtaining data in prehistory is Archaeology, which is why until very recently Prehistory and Archeology were constantly confused. In the academic fields of continental Europe, prehistory is a specialty of History, and it is common for there to be Prehistory departments within the History faculties and it is also normal for research funding to be provided by humanistically oriented institutions or the state administration itself. On the other hand, in America and the British Isles, Prehistory is being subordinated to Archeology (Procedural Archaeology), which, in turn, is usually seen as a specialty of Anthropology, whose scope, in any case, is not limited to the preliterary phases of History, but to any past period, even if it is very recent. Furthermore, the organization of Anglo-Saxon Archeology departments is usually different as they are often associated with the Natural Sciences, including their own laboratories and financing systems linked to organizations focused on such sciences (in the United States, for example, the National Science Foundation and in Great Britain the Natural Environment Research Council) or foundations more related to the private sector.[18].
The last stages of prehistory, protohistory, would encompass, according to some interpretations, the periods without writing of certain contemporary cultures of historical peoples, whose texts give us additional information about these wordless groups, and according to others, those societies in the process of forming a state, but that do not have writing. These definitions are quite limited, with the first being hardly useful outside the European sphere. Thus, due to the complexity of the concept, it is little used and protohistoric cultures are usually included both in the study of prehistory and in the first moments of ancient history.
African prehistory
Contenido
África es la cuna de la humanidad y es en la actualidad el continente en el que más poblaciones siguen utilizando tecnologías prehistóricas. Resulta fácil concluir que la prehistoria de África es la más larga y compleja de todo el globo.[19] Pero esto no siempre fue visto así, ya que durante el siglo y hasta mediados del XX se adjudicaba a Asia nuestro origen. Esta teoría era la consecuencia de que los fósiles de homininos más antiguos con los que se contaba entonces procedían de allí: el Hombre de Java y el de Pekín. Tal visión cambió radicalmente con los trabajos realizados en el África austral y oriental, y publicados a partir de los años cincuenta del siglo , que remontaron la antigüedad de los fósiles africanos (de Australopithecus y Homo "Homo (género)")) a cuatro millones de años atrás.[20].
Sub-Saharan Africa
A good part of our hominin ancestor species were born and evolved in sub-Saharan Africa. From there came Homo ergaster to colonize Asia and Europe, Homo antecessor towards the Iberian Peninsula and, finally, Homo sapiens to dominate the entire world.[21][22] Subsequently, the heart of the continent saw important cultures flourish that declined, some due to their own internal dynamics and others due to the continuous bleeding caused by colonial and/or slave exploitation that began in the time of the Carthaginians, and was perpetuated. by the Romans, the Arabs and the Europeans (the latter from the Modern Age).
In Sub-Saharan Africa for the Paleolithic the Anglo-Saxon periodization is usually used, although this ignores the entire development phase corresponding to the genus Australopithecus:.
• - ESA (Early Stone Age) refers to the period from the appearance of the first member of the genus Homo "Homo (genus)"), more than two and a half million years ago, until about 200,000 years ago. It is divided into two technological stages: Oldowan or technical mode 1 and Acheulian or technical mode 2.
• - MSA (Middle Stone Age), is the period from 200,000 years ago to 30,000 years ago. Industries very similar to each other were developed, for which numerous regional variants have been established based, above all, on the influence of local raw materials, which seem to condition technology and lithic typology.
• - LSA (Late Stone Age) is the last period of the Paleolithic of sub-Saharan Africa. Typical East African industries are discoid cores, bifacial foliaceous pieces and geometric microliths. In central Africa we have the Lupembiense, whose most characteristic artifacts are thick, finely retouched foliaceous spikes. In southern Africa we find the apparently most sophisticated culture, the Wiltonian, with microlithic and laminar characteristics that spread towards the north and lasted until historical times, incorporating numerous innovations (even becoming partially neolithic). Finally, in the Sahel there are industries related to the previous period and with protoneolithic features, as is the case with the Gumbiense of Ethiopia (a people of nomadic shepherds who knew ceramics). In many of these places, such technologies remained with little evolution until the Bantu expansion or until European colonization (for example, the Gwisho culture).
Metallurgy in the sub-Saharan region did not go through the classic phases of the Old World (copper, bronze and iron), only evidence of iron smelting appearing and at very early dates compared to Europe. Until the mid-seventies of the century, the linguistic expansion of the Bantu group throughout central and southern Africa (starting in the 5th century BC and at the expense of, above all, the Joisan languages) was related to that of metal. But subsequent archaeological data have refuted this model of colonialist tradition. Thus, the oldest dating related to iron artifacts is around 1800 BC. C. in what is currently the Niger Desert. About 1300 BC. C. for some points in East Africa, 900 BC. C. in the Congo area "The Congo (region)") and 500 BC. C. in Zambia and Zimbabwe.[24].
The Bantu linguistic process is still far from being well understood and scholars hold various theories about its genesis and development.[24] The Nok of Nigeria, who lived in the valleys of the Niger and Benué rivers, and were able to smelt and forge iron 2,500 years ago, may be related to the origin of the Bantu, although there is no evidence.
Although most of the great kingdoms of west-central Africa maintained strong ties of commercial dependence with the already historic Islamic areas of the north, their narrative sources continued to be based on oral traditions. We have news of them thanks to Muslim travelers and missionaries who reached the center of the continent and left records in their writings. That was the case of a geographer who described the Ghana Empire in the century. The oral records were put into writing in Arabic thanks to historians from Timbuktu, who during the century collected traditions dating back to the 13th-14th centuries, related to the Mali Empire. On the other hand, of the Monomotapa Empire, which flourished between the 11th and 15th centuries thanks to commercial contacts with the Muslims settled on the Indian coast, there are no written documents until the arrival of the Portuguese.[25].
Northwest Africa
Mediterranean Africa had, during the Stone Age, a periodization equivalent to the European, Paleolithic and Neolithic. Later, the influence of Egyptian civilization and the arrival of Phoenician colonizers accelerated the evolutionary pace with respect to Europe.
• - The lower and middle Paleolithic are well represented from very remote dates.[26] Thus, there is numerous evidence from the Oldowan and Acheulean (more in the Maghreb than in the Nile area), and various types of human remains can be added to the lithic industries (the jaw from Ternifine, in Algeria, which could be attributed to Homo heidelbergensis or the skull from Jebel Irhoud, in Morocco, of Neanderthaloid). During this period there is similarity between North African groups and those of Western Europe.
• - The Aterian culture seems to break this trend and separates the technical-cultural evolution (especially in the Sahara area) from that of its neighbors. Although it is similar to the Mousterian (technical mode 3) in some of its lithic techniques, it has its own particularities that differentiate it from the former, such as the custom of making stalked utensils or a chronology that could not be located in the phases of European prehistory (48,000 BC-30,000 BC, although there is evidence of its survival for at least ten thousand more years).
• - Typical pedunculated tip of the Aterian.
• - Neanderthaloid skull from Jebel Irhoud (Morocco).
• - The Iberomaurisian culture is also exclusive to North Africa, especially the Maghreb coasts. Its long chronology overlaps with the Aterian and seems to cover the equivalent of the entire European Upper Paleolithic, showing a clear evolution. It is a cultural complex with a well-developed bone industry and a leaf-based stone industry. Over time it tended towards microlithization, first laminar and then geometric, witnessing an early use of the microburin blow technique. As for the human remains, those from Mechta el-Arbi (Algeria) stand out, of the chromañoid type.
• - The Capsian culture is another cultural group of clearly Maghreb origin.[27] Its beginnings date back to around 8000 BC. C., within the local Epipaleolithic. It stands out for the abundance of materials, among which are lamellar and microlithic tools (there are beautifully made foliaceous ones), along with the characteristic bottles made from ostrich eggs and the abundant shells. Hunting, gathering and shellfishing must have been the main sources of sustenance. Towards the fifth millennium they became semi-sedentary, adopting livestock farming (complemented by very rudimentary agriculture) and using ceramics. For all these reasons, in this final phase we speak of a Neolithic of the Capsian tradition.
• - The Neolithic of the Nile area is particularly advanced, with two main focuses located respectively in the Delta (Merimdé), and in upper Egypt (the Badarian).[28] Although both have their own particularities and differences, they share certain features that allow us to maintain that there were relationships between them. They had large, completely sedentary settlements, whose economy was based on agriculture and livestock. Their cabins, made with mud, branches and reeds, contain fireplaces, grain silos and even grave burials with grave goods. The ceramics are varied, showing monochrome and other painted models, and the rest of the material culture is very rich: there are exquisitely carved flint knives (perhaps ceremonial), shale palettes for mixing pigments, products for making fabrics, arrowheads, ornaments in semi-precious stones (often imported), figurines of animals and people, and (in the final stage) copper pieces. These cultural groups are part of the so-called predynastic period of Egypt and are considered the stage prior to Egypt's entry into History.
Prehistory of the Middle East
En nuestro ámbito se suelen usar indistintamente las expresiones "Oriente Medio" y "Oriente Próximo" para designar a la región del Oriente más próxima a Europa, que es sinónimo de Asia sudoccidental. En cualquier caso, desde el punto de vista histórico, el Oriente Próximo es lo que se denomina una zona nuclear, la cual irradió continuas innovaciones y cambios que influyeron decisivamente en el desarrollo tecnológico y social de toda Eurasia.
Paleolithic in the Middle East
The Mugharet et-Tabun site (Israel) offers an almost complete sequence of this period: the oldest industries are from the final Acheulean (belonging to technical mode 2), followed by levels with typical Mousterian industries (mode 3) and, already in the upper ones, Aurignacian lamellar pieces (mode 4).
• - Lower Paleolithic: the presence of humans in the area is documented in Dmanisi (Georgia), with the appearance of remains called Homo georgicus, related to Homo erectus and Homo ergaster. Dated at 1.85-1.6 million years ago, they appeared accompanied by a very rough material culture, of Oldowan tradition (mode 1).
• - Dmanisi skull.
• - Um Qatafa biface.
• - El-Wad Point.
• - Dufour sheet.
• - Middle Paleolithic: it is very similar to that of the entire Mediterranean basin, occupied at that time by Homo neanderthalensis, although the human fossils known at the base of the temporal sequence have features almost identical to the first Homo sapiens that appear in the African MSA, with a proven age of about 100,000 years. They have been found in the sites of Skhul and Qafzeh. On the other hand, Neanderthals are, chronologically later, dated to around 60,000 years BP in the Amud and Kebara caves. Everything seems to indicate that modern humans arrived in the Middle East from Africa before Neanderthals arrived from Europe. Maybe they met there or maybe the first ones had already left. The fact is that both species of hominins shared some cultural traits: they used the same lithic technology, the Mousterian, they controlled fire and buried their dead.[30].
• - Upper Paleolithic: two parallel technological/stylistic complexes seem to be differentiated, both with microliths. On the one hand, there would be the Ahmariense, which is characterized by a lamellar technology formed by back pieces and knives, although the directing fossil is the retouched base point or El-Wad point. On the other hand, we would distinguish the Levantine Aurignacian, from Eastern Europe and which is characterized by large flakes and thick leaves that would serve as a support for scrapers, burins and leaves with scaly retouching; Dufour's little leaves and the bone industry would also stand out.
Mesolithic in the Middle East
It began at the end of the last ice age. Hunting and gathering remained basic for human survival (the bow and arrows were invented), but, in some regions, nomads became semi-sedentary, hunting specialized in a few species, intensifying, and gathering became organized foraging. This is how the most significant Mesolithic groups in the region emerged: the Natufians, who lived in small towns, associated with silos, and had various tools to harvest and make bread-making cereals.
Neolithic in the Middle East
Dated around 8000 BC. C. in the region called the Fertile Crescent, that is, Mesopotamia (present-day Iraq), adjacent regions of Turkey and Iran, as well as Canaan (present-day Syria, Jordan, Israel and Palestine). It is one of the nuclear areas of neolithization, considered the oldest. There, some of the basic animal species were domesticated to give rise to the beginnings of livestock farming and certain plants began to be cultivated without which we would not understand agriculture. Besides:.
• - Some tools were modified, such as polished axes.
• - Known elements were recombined to create new ones: ceramics and fabrics.
• - The first stable towns were founded (sedentarization).
• - For the first time, food and other products were produced in greater quantities than necessary, creating surpluses.
• - There was a strong demographic increase that caused some village to become a proto-city: Jericho (Cisjordania) "Jericho (Cisjordania)").
Metal Age in the Middle East
Although in the Near East the development of bronze metallurgy coincided with the appearance of written documents and the birth of the first civilizations (making it meaningless for us to treat the Age of Metals as a global prehistoric stage), the Chalcolithic phase is still prehistoric.
The Chalcolithic or Eneolithic is the Copper Age (in Greek copper is said Χαλκός = khalkós). Copper began to be used during the Neolithic in the form of objects hammered from nuggets of native metal. The first evidence corresponds to the Shanidar Cave (Zagros Mountains, Iraq), where pendants made with copper beads were found in levels corresponding to 9500 BC. C., that is, from the initial Neolithic.[31] It began to be melted in southern Anatolia and Kurdistan during the 6th millennium BC. C. to make punches, needles and ornaments, while the same lithic tools (or other materials) from the Neolithic continued to be used, since metal artifacts were less effective than those made of flint or obsidian.
In Mesopotamia, copper (and lead) metallurgy appears in the cultural complexes of Samarra (Iraq) and Tell-Halaf (Syria), around the middle of the 6th millennium BC. C. In both, irrigated agriculture had begun to be practiced and high-quality handmade ceramics were made. Halafian groups built shrines, made small sculptures and used seals. In the Mesopotamian south, the Eridu site stands out, where a small temple was built, and El Obeid, which has left us wheel-made ceramics, weapons and metal ornaments, as well as monumental temples that anticipated the later ziggurat.
Since 5000 BC. C. in Ugarit (Syria) and from 4500 BC. C. in Palestine and Byblos (Lebanon) small quantities of metallic objects began to be manufactured, which in the case of Byblos were not only made of copper but also gold and silver.
Although the leading fossils of this phase are cast copper objects, metallurgy is not the main innovation associated with this period. Complex processes such as the intensification of production, artisanal specialization or social stratification caused a series of phenomena that led to the appearance of the first complex or pre-state societies, which were transformed into states during the Early Bronze Age.
Asian prehistory
Asian Paleolithic
• - Lower Paleolithic: the first human documented in Asia (except the Near East, seen above) is Homo erectus, found in western China and Java "Java (island)") (Indonesia), with respective antiquities of 1.7 and 1.3 million years BP. Traditionally it has been believed that beyond present-day India there were only lithic artifacts belonging to technical mode 1, but bifaces (technical mode 2) have recently been discovered in Mongolia, Vietnam and a Chinese region bordering the latter country. Zhoukoudian, near Beijing, is one of the classic sites, where abundant remains of hominins, fauna, flora, lithic industry and the use of fire have been found.[32].
• - Middle Paleolithic: in India, China and Southeast Asia, lithic technologies of flakes obtained by the Levallois method (technical mode 3) were also developed, although they were not properly Mousterian and carved edges continued to be used abundantly.[33].
• - Upper Paleolithic: Homo sapiens displaced H. erectus throughout the continent. There are sheet stone industries, flakes and scrapers in the Altai massif (from 43,000 BP), China, India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka (from 33,000 BP), Thailand, Borneo (with cave paintings), Korea and Japan (populated from 25,000-20,000 BP).[34]
Asian Mesolithic
To the east of the Near East, epipaleolithic/mesolithic groups are little known, although microlithic industries have been found in India (Madras and Gujarat), in Thailand, Indonesia, China, Manchuria, Mongolia, Korea and Japan. They correspond to groups that practiced gathering, hunting, fishing and shellfish harvesting.[35].
Asian Neolithic
Both the Indian Subcontinent and East Asia and Southeast Asia are considered by most researchers to be nuclear areas in neolithization.
• - Indian subcontinent: at the beginning of the 7th millennium BC. C. stable agricultural villages began to form in the upper Indus, which subsequently spread to the south. During the 6th millennium BC. Something similar happened in the upper Ganges.
• - Eastern Asia: at the end of the 7th millennium BC. C. an autochthonous Neolithic nucleus developed in the Alto Amarillo, where millet was cultivated and pigs and dogs were domesticated, while rice began to be cultivated in southern China.
• - Southeast Asia: in the 6th millennium BC. C. in northern Thailand, peas and beans were domesticated.[36].
Asian Metal Age
Copper metallurgy is present in the urban culture of the Indus Valley (or Harappa), which developed independently of the Fertile Crescent civilizations between 2700-1700 BC. C. Harappa or Mohenjo-Daro were authentic cities with standardized adobe and brick houses, reticular urbanism forming neighborhoods, with walls and ceremonial centers. Copper was initially used to produce prestigious goods and later to make tools and weapons.[37].
In the valleys of the Chinese Yellow and Yangtze rivers, copper metallurgy has been documented since the middle of the 4th millennium BC. C., but it is not clear if it is indigenous or imported from other Asian regions. In the Chalcolithic groups of Longshan, the first proto-state forms can be seen, which gave rise to the Erlitou culture, closely related to the first known dynasty, the Xia, and to the generalization of the use of bronze. In Vietnam and Thailand, cast copper dates back to the 3rd millennium BC. C., but his knowledge is of clear Indian and Chinese influence. Bronze appears in Siam at the beginning of the 2nd millennium BC. C.; Later, the sophisticated Dong Son bronze drums were made in Vietnam.[38][39][40].
Prehistory of Europe
Durante toda su prehistoria, el continente europeo fue tributario de las tradiciones culturales de África y Oriente Próximo. Si exceptuamos la cultura musteriense y quizá la auriñaciense, así como el desarrollo del arte paleolítico, el megalitismo, el vaso campaniforme o la cerámica cordada, buena parte de la evolución registrada durante esta fase es el resultado de importaciones foráneas. Solo el desarrollo de la cultura clásica grecorromana (ya histórica) puso a Europa a la altura de las grandes civilizaciones de otros continentes.[41].
En la península ibérica se han datado restos humanos en los yacimientos de la sierra de Atapuerca con más de 1 000 000 de años de antigüedad; en concreto, con cerca de 1,3 Ma en el yacimiento de la Sima del Elefante del Pleistoceno Inferior. Según las investigaciones arqueopaleontológicas de la Sierra de Atapuerca, hasta la fecha hay restos óseos humanos en los contextos kársticos de cuatro especies distintas: Homo antecessor (Pleistoceno Inferior), Homo heidelbergensis (Pleistoceno Medio), Homo neanderthalensis (Pleistoceno Superior) y Homo sapiens (Holoceno),[42][43] lo cual se correlaciona con el poblamiento al aire libre del Paleolítico Inferior a la Edad del Bronce detectado en los análisis geoespaciales de distribución de asentamientos de la cuenca del río Arlanzón (Burgos).
European Stone Age
The European Stone Age continues to be divided into three stages, following the proposals of John Lubbock, who in 1865 separated the Paleolithic and the Neolithic. These were later joined by the Mesolithic/Epipaleolithic, thanks to the discovery of the Tarnoisian by Gabriel de Mortillet, made between 1885 and 1897.[44] The definition of the three Stone Ages was specified and enriched by the proposals of Henri Breuil in 1932. Since then, although the references and many misconceptions have been revised, this division has hardly suffered any relevant alterations.
• - The Paleolithic is the oldest and longest period in European history, beginning approximately one million years ago with the arrival of the first humans: Homo ergaster or Homo antecessor. Later, other characteristic types of the continent appeared: Homo heidelbergensis and Homo neanderthalensis. Homo sapiens sapiens arrived from Africa about 50,000 years ago. Parallel to human evolution were cultural changes: during the Lower Paleolithic the dominant culture in Europe was the Acheulean and in the Middle Paleolithic we find the Mousterian, typical of Neanderthal man, although perhaps the Châtelperronian is an epigone of this human type. With the arrival of modern man[45] the Aurignacian, Gravettian, Solutrean and Magdalenian followed one another (all of them belonging to technical mode 4). Other important elements to understand the Paleolithic are the continuous climatic oscillations called glaciations, the predominance of a hunting-gathering economy and the development of art after the arrival of Homo sapiens.
• - Bifaz, the most typical artifact of the Acheulean.
• - Bone projectiles from the end of the Paleolithic and Epipaleolithic.
• - The Tardenois point is a typical Mesolithic microlith.
• - Mesolithic tomb of Téviec
(Morbihan, France).
• - The Epipaleolithic/Mesolithic refers to the period from the end of the last glacial period (about 12,000 years ago) to the beginning of the Neolithic (about 5,000 years ago). Currently, discrimination is made between epipaleolithic groups (those that maintain the way of life typical of the Paleolithic, without substantial changes, as occurs with the Azilian, for example) and mesolithic groups (those that show their own tendency to evolve towards sedentarization and other features typical of what would later be the Neolithic, as could be the case of the Tardenoisian).
• - The Neolithic arrived in Europe in the sixth millennium BC. C., coming from the Near East and through the Balkan Peninsula and the Mediterranean basin, although there is evidence as early as the 7th millennium BC. C. of Protoneolithic chronocultures in the Balkans: these are ceramic peoples, with rudimentary and itinerant agriculture, with livestock and numerous Mesolithic survivals (hunting, fishing and gathering, habitats in caves, without polished axes, etc.). Although the first sedentary towns were very small, sites such as Sesklo or Nea Nikomedia were soon developed, both on elevated terrain, with walls and bastions and, inside, rectangular constructions with an access hall, in which painted ceramics and female figurines have been found.
• - Neolithic reciprocating mill.
• - Banded ceramics
(Danubian Neolithic).
• - Polished stone axes.
• - Lagozza-type stilt settlement.
Metal Age in Europe
Until the 1970s, diffusionist models established that metallurgy reached Europe through the Caucasus and Anatolia in the fourth millennium BC. C. But carbon-14 dating demonstrated that the Balkan was almost a millennium older than its supposed inspirations and, thus, subsequent research established that, around 4000 BC. C., a copper mining-metallurgical industry associated with rich goldsmithing had emerged indigenously in the Balkan Peninsula, in a social environment that some authors have come to call the first European civilization. Located between the Danube and Thessaly, the main centers were Vinça, Gumelnitsa, Salcuta, Cucuteni and Tiszapolgar, contemporaries of the Greek Neolithic complexes. The Balkan groups spread throughout modern-day Serbia, Bulgaria, Romania, Bessarabia, Moldova, Ukraine and the rest of the Carpathian Basin.[47].
• - Cycladic marble figurine.
• - Cucuteni ceramics.
• - Bowl with incised decoration of eyepieces from Los Millares.
• - Copper dagger from the Hispanic Chalcolithic.
A second indigenous metallurgical focus is located in the south of the Iberian Peninsula, in Los Millares (Almería, Spain) and Vila Nova (Portugal), developing from the end of the fourth millennium BC. C. and throughout the entire third. Both groups maintained the megalithic funerary traditions, although their social structure was, without a doubt, much more complex than during the final Neolithic: the Almeria dolmens became corridor tombs with a false dome chamber, that is, authentic tholoi, and impressive defensive structures appeared in both areas. Also here, diffusionist theses related the increase in peninsular social and technological complexity with the arrival of mythical eastern colonizers. And, as in the Balkans, Carbon 14 dating established that Western materials are much older than those. Furthermore, eyed idols, fluted or painted ceramics and peninsular copper castings have their own characteristics, different from the supposed oriental models. The diffusionist model has had to be abandoned and its place has been taken by another, evolutionary and local one.[48][49].
Also at the end of the fourth millennium BC. C. an increase in social complexity began to occur in the area of the Aegean Sea. Although the changes that occurred have a clear internal character,[50] the important role played by the exchange networks that connected the Aegean with Anatolia and Egypt is no less undeniable.[51] These socioeconomic transformations constitute the basis of later classical cultures:.
• - In mainland Greece (early Helladic) the first megaron-type buildings appeared inside concentric walled enclosures.
• - In the Cyclades islands (early Cycladic) trade intensified and powerful walls were built.
• - In Crete (early Minoan) Knossos and Phaistos were configured as main centers, but without defensive structures.
Prehistory of America
La teoría más aceptada es que el poblamiento humano de América se produjo desde Siberia a través del estrecho de Bering. La fecha está sujeta a controversia: unos creen que solo hay pruebas para afirmar que los seres humanos llegaron hace unos 16 000 años; otros apuntan a un poblamiento más temprano, entre 70 000 y 45 000 años antes del presente (AP); finalmente, hay un grupo que apunta a fechas todavía más antiguas que el 75 000 AP.[68] En cualquier caso, el aislamiento de América respecto a otros continentes fue casi absoluto (aunque se sabe que hubo varias migraciones a lo largo de la prehistoria), lo que justifica que no se emplee la periodización tradicional, sino otra específica adecuada a la realidad arqueológica de este continente. En 1958, los arqueólogos Gordon Willey y Philip Phillips propusieron las siguientes etapas:.
Lithic or Paleoindian Period
It could be compared to the European Upper Paleolithic, it includes from the arrival of the first Americans (with a variable date, depending on the theoretical paradigm defended) until the beginning of the Holocene. Within this period there are two phases:
• - Phase of undifferentiated hunter-gatherers: characterized by an archaic lithic industry (carved stones, musteroid flakes, bifaces...); The remains are very scarce, but examples dated over 30,000 years old can be found throughout the continent, from Topper "Topper (site)") (in the United States) to Pedra Furada (in Brazil), passing through Tlapacoya (in Mexico) or Monte Verde II (in Chile).
• - Phase of the Projectile Points: We would be facing a culture of very advanced lithic technology and an economy based on the hunting of medium and large-sized pieces. It appears about 13,000 years ago and is characterized by various types of finely crafted foliaceous spearheads, the most famous of which are those of the Clovis culture (New Mexico), although, of course, there are many more. Of note, due to its geographical location, is the Fell Cave (in Tierra del Fuego "Province of Tierra del Fuego (Chile)"), Chile), whose tips, called fish tail», date back to 7000 BC. c.
Archaic Period
Towards the 8th millennium BC. C., at the end of the last ice age, the ancient Americans began to experiment with the cultivation of plants and animal husbandry, beginning a long process towards the first sedentary populations. This transition was more in the center-northwest of Peru and in the south of Mexico (the two fundamental nuclear zones of America). The first stable settlements and numerous cultures that live off the intensive exploitation of oceanic resources also appear, whose most typical remains are shells, large piles of mollusk shell waste. Progressively, communities are depending more and more on the products of agriculture, livestock and fishing. Around this period, waves of people completed their rule throughout the Americas, reaching from remote parts of Canada to Patagonia.
Sedentarization follows a process of hierarchization of communities, appearing around the 4th millennium BC. C. the first extra-familial chiefdoms that are slowly consolidated into permanent political authorities of towns that form large routes of economic exchange through knowledge of astronomy and agricultural cycles.
Specifically in the Andes, the culture of Caral (Peru) stands out, with an initial date greater than 2600 BC. c.
Training Period
It would be the equivalent of European Protohistory, but more extensive; Immediately after this phase, the first forms of writing and the great classical civilizations such as the Mayans or the Moche appear. Obviously, it stands out for innovations such as agriculture, livestock, ceramics... Between 4000 BC. C. and the beginning of our era. There is also the appearance of the first hierarchical societies with relatively complex forms of government; In fact, there are great civilizations such as the Olmecs in Mesoamerica and the Chavín Culture in South America, which come to dominate extensive territories and build important urban centers around sanctuaries dedicated to the Jaguar God. Other notable cultures are those of the Anasazi and their likes (Arizona), as well as the Mound Builders of North America.
Threshold of American history
In America, the use of native copper dates back to around 900 BC. C.; Shortly after, authentic metallurgy began, based on copper and, above all, gold and silver. Bronze does not appear until shortly before the year 900. Iron was not known until the arrival of the Europeans. Above it is explained that during the final phases of the Olmecs, at the beginning of our era, writing was born in Mesoamerica: we would then be entering History. This is corroborated by the recent discovery of certain objects extracted from areas where Olmec settlements took place (Tabasco and Veracruz, Mexico) whose carbon 14 dating places their origin around the year 900 BC. C. These elements present glyphs that, due to their characteristics, have allowed us to assume that the system of symbols used was the basis of Mayan writing, which reached its greatest perfection between 200 and 900 AD. c.
• - Portal:Prehistory. Content related to Prehistory.
• - Archaeology.
• - Prehistoric life.
• - Protohistory.
• - Table of prehistoric cultures of the Old World.
• - Cave painting.
• - Paleolithic art.
• - Prehistoric architecture.
• - Megalithism.
• - Glossary of prehistoric architecture.
• - Wiktionary has definitions and other information about prehistory.
• - Behavior and language in Prehistory.
• - Prehistory of North Africa.
• - Prehistory in Valderredible (Cantabria).
• - Valencian prehistory at the Museum of Prehistory of Valencia.
[3] ↑ Fullola Pericot y Nadal Lorenzo, 1 de diciembre de 2012, «Epílogo», p. 210.
[4] ↑ Renfrew, Andrew Colin; Bahn, Paul (1993). «¿Qué pensaban? Arqueología Cognitiva, arte y religión». Arqueología: Teorías, métodos y prácticas. Madrid: Ediciones Akal. pp. 372-373. ISBN 9788446002345.: https://books.google.es/books?id=crqRZPgkys8C&pg=PA355
[7] ↑ Revista "Anales de Arqueología y Etnología", No. 38-40 (Primera parte) 1983, Juan Schobinger: "Algunas observaciones terminológicas sobre la prehistoria americana", Páginas 10-19.: https://bdigital.uncu.edu.ar/app/navegador/?idobjeto=7399
[8] ↑ a b c NASON, LEONARD HERBERT (2022). HISTORY OF THE PREHISTORIC AGES : written by the ancient historic band of spirits (classic reprint).. FORGOTTEN BOOKS. ISBN 0-282-61641-1. OCLC 1355914283. Consultado el 1 de abril de 2023.: https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/1355914283
[11] ↑ a b Chazan, Michael (2021). World prehistory and archaeology : pathways through time (Fifth edition edición). ISBN 978-1-000-34909-2. OCLC 1198989984. Consultado el 1 de abril de 2023.: https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/1198989984
[15] ↑ Morris, Neil; Baldanzi, Paola; Göhrmann, Sabine (2004). Die Urgeschichte. ISBN 978-3-7886-1345-7. OCLC 76602030. Consultado el 1 de abril de 2023.: https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/76602030
[16] ↑ Pohanka, Reinhard (2016). Die Urgeschichte Europas (2. Auflage edición). ISBN 9783865399960. OCLC 1301963996. Consultado el 1 de abril de 2023.: https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/1301963996
[19] ↑ Gómez-Tabanera, José Manuel (1988). «Las culturas africanas, tomo 14». Historias del Viejo Mundo. Historia 16, Madrid. ISBN 84-7679-101-1.
[20] ↑ Iniesta, Ferran (1998). «Kuma. Historia del África negra». Barcelona (primera edición) (Edicions Bellaterra 2000). pp. 36-37. ISBN 84-7290-101-7.
[21] ↑ Fullola Pericot y Nadal Lorenzo, 1 de diciembre de 2012, «Los homínidos salen de África», p. 74.
[22] ↑ Fullola Pericot y Nadal Lorenzo, 1 de diciembre de 2012, «Los homínidos salen de África», p. 75.
[23] ↑ Carbonell, Eudald; Corbella Domènech, Josep; Sala Ramos, Robert; Moyà Solà, Salvador (1 de diciembre de 2009). «Segunda parte: Los humanos». Sapiens. El largo camino de los homínidos hacia la inteligencia. Barcelona: Grupo Planeta. p. 68. ISBN 84-8307-288-2.: https://books.google.es/books/about/Sapiens.html?id=D-z6bFgZ1gUC
[29] ↑ Tarradell, Miquel (1979). «África del norte entra en la Historia». Temporama de la historia: La prehistoria : nacimiento y primeras fases de la civilización. Las ediciones del Tiempo: Difusora internacional. pp. 228-239. ISBN 84-7368-022-7.: https://books.google.es/books/about/Temporama_de_la_historia.html?id=vSfKoAEACAAJ
[46] ↑ González Marcén, Paloma; Lull, Vicente; Risch, Robert (1992). «Arqueología de Europa, 2250-1200 a. C. Una introducción a la "Edad del Bronce"». Madrid (primera edición) (Editorial Síntesis). p. 57. ISBN 84-7738-128-3. La referencia utiliza el parámetro obsoleto |coautor= (ayuda).
[47] ↑ Delibes, Germán; Fernández-Miranda, Manuel (1993). «Los orígenes de la civilización. El Calcolítico en el Viejo Mundo». Madrid (primera edición) (Editorial Síntesis). pp. 49-52. ISBN 84-7738-181-X.
[48] ↑ Delibes, Germán; Fernández-Miranda, Manuel. Los orígenes de la civilización. El Calcolítico en el Viejo Mundo. pp. 169-171. La referencia utiliza el parámetro obsoleto |coautor= (ayuda).
[50] ↑ Delibes, Germán; Fernández-Miranda, Manuel. Los orígenes de la civilización. El Calcolítico en el Viejo Mundo. pp. 65-73. La referencia utiliza el parámetro obsoleto |coautor= (ayuda).
[51] ↑ González Marcén, Paloma; Lull, Vicente; Risch, Robert. Arqueología de Europa, 2250-1200 a. C. Una introducción a la "Edad del Bronce". p. 51. La referencia utiliza el parámetro obsoleto |coautor= (ayuda).
[52] ↑ J. Muller y S. van Willigen, New radiocarbon evidence for European Bell Beakers and the consequences for the diffusion of the Bell Beaker Phenomenon, en Franco Nicolis (ed.), Bell Beakers today: Pottery, people, culture, symbols in prehistoric Europe (2001), pp. 59-75.
[53] ↑ p144, Richard Bradley The prehistory of Britain and Ireland, Cambridge University Press, 2007, ISBN 0-521-84811-3.
[54] ↑ Delibes, Germán; Fernández-Miranda, Manuel. Los orígenes de la civilización. El Calcolítico en el Viejo Mundo. pp. 150,189. La referencia utiliza el parámetro obsoleto |coautor= (ayuda).
[55] ↑ Lull, Vicente (1983). La «Cultura de El Argar» (un modelo para el estudio de las formaciones económico-sociales prehistóricas). Akal editor. Madrid. ISBN 84-7339-660-X.
[59] ↑ Blasco, 1 de septiembre de 1993, pp. 28-29.
[60] ↑ Blasco, 1 de septiembre de 1993, pp. 67-69.
[61] ↑ Fullola Pericot y Nadal Lorenzo, 1 de diciembre de 2012, «El bronce final y la edad del hierro. El fin de la prehistoria en Europa», p. 200.
[62] ↑ Fullola Pericot y Nadal Lorenzo, 1 de diciembre de 2012, «El bronce final y la edad del hierro. El fin de la prehistoria en Europa», p. 201.
[63] ↑ Fernández Manzano, Julio (1985). «La Etapa de Apogeo (1200-1700 a. de C.)». Historia de Castilla y León. La Prehistoria del valle del Duero 1. Valladolid: Ámbito Ediciones. ISBN 84-86047-45-5.
[64] ↑ Hatt, Jean-Jacques (1976). Los Celtas y los Galo-Romanos. Barcelona: Editorial Juventud, Sociedad Anónima. ISBN 84-261-5817-X.
[66] ↑ Romero Carnicero, Fernando (1985). «La Primera Edad del Hierro: el afianzamiento de la sedentarización y la explotación intensiva del medio». Historia de Castilla y León. La Prehistoria del valle del Duero 1. Valladolid: Ámbito Ediciones. ISBN 84-86047-45-5.
[67] ↑ Martín Valls, Ricardo (1985). «La Segunda Edad del Hierro. Las culturas Prerromanas». Historia de Castilla y León. La Prehistoria del valle del Duero 1. Valladolid: Ámbito Ediciones. ISBN 84-86047-45-5.
[68] ↑ Eiroa García, 2010, p. 120-121.
It is considered an academic field or specialty closely linked to Archaeology, Paleontology and historical geology.
Periodization
Prehistory is divided into multiple eras, which depending on the systems can be grouped into different main stages. Traditionally in Spanish-speaking countries (although also applied by some other experts), it has been broadly divided into two stages applicable to most regions of the world: the Stone Age and the Age of Metals (which encompasses the Copper, Bronze and Iron ages);
The Metal Age concept, however, is not in common academic use in many other countries and languages. In articles published in English, the set of the three ages is usually referred to simply as the metal ages ('the ages of the metals', without a name that uses this term).[8][9][10] The division into two groups of the prehistoric period focuses, depending on the case (due to geological division, human evolution, etc.) on the limits between the Pleistocene and the Holocene (where the Neolithic shares a group with the ages of metals), the Pleistocene and the Pliocene (especially in the geological context) and between prehistory and protohistory (in many ways similar to the division into the Stone Age and the Metal Age).[8] Other historians do not consider the division into two main groups applicable to prehistoric periods (claiming too much complexity).[11] A division into three groups is more common in these cases, with differences between the geological and the cultural.[12] Some of the systems that apply the term Age of Metals consider a division of prehistory into three main stages, normally the other two being the Paleolithic and the Neolithic.[13] Other periodizations divide prehistory into 4-5 main stages.[14].
One of the most used periodization systems since the 19th century, currently less used in academia except for certain disciplines such as ethnology,[11] in addition to persisting in public consciousness in countries such as Germany and part of the Anglo-Saxon world, is that of the Three Ages, which divides prehistory into three groups: Stone Age, Bronze Age, and Iron Age.[15] However, this system has been criticized for its focus on European, North African, and South American history. Middle and Near East, ignoring studies carried out in other parts of the world and in other disciplines, and therefore described by many experts as simplistic.[8][16] On the other hand, it continues to be used in publications to refer to the three ages that are considered paradigmatic of prehistory.[17].
Prehistory, History and Archeology
From the most traditional point of view, prehistoric archeology is considered to be a scientific specialty that studies, through excavation, the data of this period of History that preceded the invention of writing. Archaeological remains are the main source of information and to study them, numerous auxiliary disciplines are used, such as nuclear physics (to carry out absolute dating), mass spectrometer analysis (of lithic, ceramic or metallic components), geomorphology, soil science, taphonomy, traceology (for traces of use), paleontology, paleobotany, non-parametric statistics, ethnography, paleoanthropology, topography and technical drawing, among many other sciences and techniques. So there are a large number of people who consider prehistory as a specialty within History, but much more technical and multidisciplinary.
The basic methodology for obtaining data in prehistory is Archaeology, which is why until very recently Prehistory and Archeology were constantly confused. In the academic fields of continental Europe, prehistory is a specialty of History, and it is common for there to be Prehistory departments within the History faculties and it is also normal for research funding to be provided by humanistically oriented institutions or the state administration itself. On the other hand, in America and the British Isles, Prehistory is being subordinated to Archeology (Procedural Archaeology), which, in turn, is usually seen as a specialty of Anthropology, whose scope, in any case, is not limited to the preliterary phases of History, but to any past period, even if it is very recent. Furthermore, the organization of Anglo-Saxon Archeology departments is usually different as they are often associated with the Natural Sciences, including their own laboratories and financing systems linked to organizations focused on such sciences (in the United States, for example, the National Science Foundation and in Great Britain the Natural Environment Research Council) or foundations more related to the private sector.[18].
The last stages of prehistory, protohistory, would encompass, according to some interpretations, the periods without writing of certain contemporary cultures of historical peoples, whose texts give us additional information about these wordless groups, and according to others, those societies in the process of forming a state, but that do not have writing. These definitions are quite limited, with the first being hardly useful outside the European sphere. Thus, due to the complexity of the concept, it is little used and protohistoric cultures are usually included both in the study of prehistory and in the first moments of ancient history.
African prehistory
Contenido
África es la cuna de la humanidad y es en la actualidad el continente en el que más poblaciones siguen utilizando tecnologías prehistóricas. Resulta fácil concluir que la prehistoria de África es la más larga y compleja de todo el globo.[19] Pero esto no siempre fue visto así, ya que durante el siglo y hasta mediados del XX se adjudicaba a Asia nuestro origen. Esta teoría era la consecuencia de que los fósiles de homininos más antiguos con los que se contaba entonces procedían de allí: el Hombre de Java y el de Pekín. Tal visión cambió radicalmente con los trabajos realizados en el África austral y oriental, y publicados a partir de los años cincuenta del siglo , que remontaron la antigüedad de los fósiles africanos (de Australopithecus y Homo "Homo (género)")) a cuatro millones de años atrás.[20].
Sub-Saharan Africa
A good part of our hominin ancestor species were born and evolved in sub-Saharan Africa. From there came Homo ergaster to colonize Asia and Europe, Homo antecessor towards the Iberian Peninsula and, finally, Homo sapiens to dominate the entire world.[21][22] Subsequently, the heart of the continent saw important cultures flourish that declined, some due to their own internal dynamics and others due to the continuous bleeding caused by colonial and/or slave exploitation that began in the time of the Carthaginians, and was perpetuated. by the Romans, the Arabs and the Europeans (the latter from the Modern Age).
In Sub-Saharan Africa for the Paleolithic the Anglo-Saxon periodization is usually used, although this ignores the entire development phase corresponding to the genus Australopithecus:.
• - ESA (Early Stone Age) refers to the period from the appearance of the first member of the genus Homo "Homo (genus)"), more than two and a half million years ago, until about 200,000 years ago. It is divided into two technological stages: Oldowan or technical mode 1 and Acheulian or technical mode 2.
• - MSA (Middle Stone Age), is the period from 200,000 years ago to 30,000 years ago. Industries very similar to each other were developed, for which numerous regional variants have been established based, above all, on the influence of local raw materials, which seem to condition technology and lithic typology.
• - LSA (Late Stone Age) is the last period of the Paleolithic of sub-Saharan Africa. Typical East African industries are discoid cores, bifacial foliaceous pieces and geometric microliths. In central Africa we have the Lupembiense, whose most characteristic artifacts are thick, finely retouched foliaceous spikes. In southern Africa we find the apparently most sophisticated culture, the Wiltonian, with microlithic and laminar characteristics that spread towards the north and lasted until historical times, incorporating numerous innovations (even becoming partially neolithic). Finally, in the Sahel there are industries related to the previous period and with protoneolithic features, as is the case with the Gumbiense of Ethiopia (a people of nomadic shepherds who knew ceramics). In many of these places, such technologies remained with little evolution until the Bantu expansion or until European colonization (for example, the Gwisho culture).
Metallurgy in the sub-Saharan region did not go through the classic phases of the Old World (copper, bronze and iron), only evidence of iron smelting appearing and at very early dates compared to Europe. Until the mid-seventies of the century, the linguistic expansion of the Bantu group throughout central and southern Africa (starting in the 5th century BC and at the expense of, above all, the Joisan languages) was related to that of metal. But subsequent archaeological data have refuted this model of colonialist tradition. Thus, the oldest dating related to iron artifacts is around 1800 BC. C. in what is currently the Niger Desert. About 1300 BC. C. for some points in East Africa, 900 BC. C. in the Congo area "The Congo (region)") and 500 BC. C. in Zambia and Zimbabwe.[24].
The Bantu linguistic process is still far from being well understood and scholars hold various theories about its genesis and development.[24] The Nok of Nigeria, who lived in the valleys of the Niger and Benué rivers, and were able to smelt and forge iron 2,500 years ago, may be related to the origin of the Bantu, although there is no evidence.
Although most of the great kingdoms of west-central Africa maintained strong ties of commercial dependence with the already historic Islamic areas of the north, their narrative sources continued to be based on oral traditions. We have news of them thanks to Muslim travelers and missionaries who reached the center of the continent and left records in their writings. That was the case of a geographer who described the Ghana Empire in the century. The oral records were put into writing in Arabic thanks to historians from Timbuktu, who during the century collected traditions dating back to the 13th-14th centuries, related to the Mali Empire. On the other hand, of the Monomotapa Empire, which flourished between the 11th and 15th centuries thanks to commercial contacts with the Muslims settled on the Indian coast, there are no written documents until the arrival of the Portuguese.[25].
Northwest Africa
Mediterranean Africa had, during the Stone Age, a periodization equivalent to the European, Paleolithic and Neolithic. Later, the influence of Egyptian civilization and the arrival of Phoenician colonizers accelerated the evolutionary pace with respect to Europe.
• - The lower and middle Paleolithic are well represented from very remote dates.[26] Thus, there is numerous evidence from the Oldowan and Acheulean (more in the Maghreb than in the Nile area), and various types of human remains can be added to the lithic industries (the jaw from Ternifine, in Algeria, which could be attributed to Homo heidelbergensis or the skull from Jebel Irhoud, in Morocco, of Neanderthaloid). During this period there is similarity between North African groups and those of Western Europe.
• - The Aterian culture seems to break this trend and separates the technical-cultural evolution (especially in the Sahara area) from that of its neighbors. Although it is similar to the Mousterian (technical mode 3) in some of its lithic techniques, it has its own particularities that differentiate it from the former, such as the custom of making stalked utensils or a chronology that could not be located in the phases of European prehistory (48,000 BC-30,000 BC, although there is evidence of its survival for at least ten thousand more years).
• - Typical pedunculated tip of the Aterian.
• - Neanderthaloid skull from Jebel Irhoud (Morocco).
• - The Iberomaurisian culture is also exclusive to North Africa, especially the Maghreb coasts. Its long chronology overlaps with the Aterian and seems to cover the equivalent of the entire European Upper Paleolithic, showing a clear evolution. It is a cultural complex with a well-developed bone industry and a leaf-based stone industry. Over time it tended towards microlithization, first laminar and then geometric, witnessing an early use of the microburin blow technique. As for the human remains, those from Mechta el-Arbi (Algeria) stand out, of the chromañoid type.
• - The Capsian culture is another cultural group of clearly Maghreb origin.[27] Its beginnings date back to around 8000 BC. C., within the local Epipaleolithic. It stands out for the abundance of materials, among which are lamellar and microlithic tools (there are beautifully made foliaceous ones), along with the characteristic bottles made from ostrich eggs and the abundant shells. Hunting, gathering and shellfishing must have been the main sources of sustenance. Towards the fifth millennium they became semi-sedentary, adopting livestock farming (complemented by very rudimentary agriculture) and using ceramics. For all these reasons, in this final phase we speak of a Neolithic of the Capsian tradition.
• - The Neolithic of the Nile area is particularly advanced, with two main focuses located respectively in the Delta (Merimdé), and in upper Egypt (the Badarian).[28] Although both have their own particularities and differences, they share certain features that allow us to maintain that there were relationships between them. They had large, completely sedentary settlements, whose economy was based on agriculture and livestock. Their cabins, made with mud, branches and reeds, contain fireplaces, grain silos and even grave burials with grave goods. The ceramics are varied, showing monochrome and other painted models, and the rest of the material culture is very rich: there are exquisitely carved flint knives (perhaps ceremonial), shale palettes for mixing pigments, products for making fabrics, arrowheads, ornaments in semi-precious stones (often imported), figurines of animals and people, and (in the final stage) copper pieces. These cultural groups are part of the so-called predynastic period of Egypt and are considered the stage prior to Egypt's entry into History.
Prehistory of the Middle East
En nuestro ámbito se suelen usar indistintamente las expresiones "Oriente Medio" y "Oriente Próximo" para designar a la región del Oriente más próxima a Europa, que es sinónimo de Asia sudoccidental. En cualquier caso, desde el punto de vista histórico, el Oriente Próximo es lo que se denomina una zona nuclear, la cual irradió continuas innovaciones y cambios que influyeron decisivamente en el desarrollo tecnológico y social de toda Eurasia.
Paleolithic in the Middle East
The Mugharet et-Tabun site (Israel) offers an almost complete sequence of this period: the oldest industries are from the final Acheulean (belonging to technical mode 2), followed by levels with typical Mousterian industries (mode 3) and, already in the upper ones, Aurignacian lamellar pieces (mode 4).
• - Lower Paleolithic: the presence of humans in the area is documented in Dmanisi (Georgia), with the appearance of remains called Homo georgicus, related to Homo erectus and Homo ergaster. Dated at 1.85-1.6 million years ago, they appeared accompanied by a very rough material culture, of Oldowan tradition (mode 1).
• - Dmanisi skull.
• - Um Qatafa biface.
• - El-Wad Point.
• - Dufour sheet.
• - Middle Paleolithic: it is very similar to that of the entire Mediterranean basin, occupied at that time by Homo neanderthalensis, although the human fossils known at the base of the temporal sequence have features almost identical to the first Homo sapiens that appear in the African MSA, with a proven age of about 100,000 years. They have been found in the sites of Skhul and Qafzeh. On the other hand, Neanderthals are, chronologically later, dated to around 60,000 years BP in the Amud and Kebara caves. Everything seems to indicate that modern humans arrived in the Middle East from Africa before Neanderthals arrived from Europe. Maybe they met there or maybe the first ones had already left. The fact is that both species of hominins shared some cultural traits: they used the same lithic technology, the Mousterian, they controlled fire and buried their dead.[30].
• - Upper Paleolithic: two parallel technological/stylistic complexes seem to be differentiated, both with microliths. On the one hand, there would be the Ahmariense, which is characterized by a lamellar technology formed by back pieces and knives, although the directing fossil is the retouched base point or El-Wad point. On the other hand, we would distinguish the Levantine Aurignacian, from Eastern Europe and which is characterized by large flakes and thick leaves that would serve as a support for scrapers, burins and leaves with scaly retouching; Dufour's little leaves and the bone industry would also stand out.
Mesolithic in the Middle East
It began at the end of the last ice age. Hunting and gathering remained basic for human survival (the bow and arrows were invented), but, in some regions, nomads became semi-sedentary, hunting specialized in a few species, intensifying, and gathering became organized foraging. This is how the most significant Mesolithic groups in the region emerged: the Natufians, who lived in small towns, associated with silos, and had various tools to harvest and make bread-making cereals.
Neolithic in the Middle East
Dated around 8000 BC. C. in the region called the Fertile Crescent, that is, Mesopotamia (present-day Iraq), adjacent regions of Turkey and Iran, as well as Canaan (present-day Syria, Jordan, Israel and Palestine). It is one of the nuclear areas of neolithization, considered the oldest. There, some of the basic animal species were domesticated to give rise to the beginnings of livestock farming and certain plants began to be cultivated without which we would not understand agriculture. Besides:.
• - Some tools were modified, such as polished axes.
• - Known elements were recombined to create new ones: ceramics and fabrics.
• - The first stable towns were founded (sedentarization).
• - For the first time, food and other products were produced in greater quantities than necessary, creating surpluses.
• - There was a strong demographic increase that caused some village to become a proto-city: Jericho (Cisjordania) "Jericho (Cisjordania)").
Metal Age in the Middle East
Although in the Near East the development of bronze metallurgy coincided with the appearance of written documents and the birth of the first civilizations (making it meaningless for us to treat the Age of Metals as a global prehistoric stage), the Chalcolithic phase is still prehistoric.
The Chalcolithic or Eneolithic is the Copper Age (in Greek copper is said Χαλκός = khalkós). Copper began to be used during the Neolithic in the form of objects hammered from nuggets of native metal. The first evidence corresponds to the Shanidar Cave (Zagros Mountains, Iraq), where pendants made with copper beads were found in levels corresponding to 9500 BC. C., that is, from the initial Neolithic.[31] It began to be melted in southern Anatolia and Kurdistan during the 6th millennium BC. C. to make punches, needles and ornaments, while the same lithic tools (or other materials) from the Neolithic continued to be used, since metal artifacts were less effective than those made of flint or obsidian.
In Mesopotamia, copper (and lead) metallurgy appears in the cultural complexes of Samarra (Iraq) and Tell-Halaf (Syria), around the middle of the 6th millennium BC. C. In both, irrigated agriculture had begun to be practiced and high-quality handmade ceramics were made. Halafian groups built shrines, made small sculptures and used seals. In the Mesopotamian south, the Eridu site stands out, where a small temple was built, and El Obeid, which has left us wheel-made ceramics, weapons and metal ornaments, as well as monumental temples that anticipated the later ziggurat.
Since 5000 BC. C. in Ugarit (Syria) and from 4500 BC. C. in Palestine and Byblos (Lebanon) small quantities of metallic objects began to be manufactured, which in the case of Byblos were not only made of copper but also gold and silver.
Although the leading fossils of this phase are cast copper objects, metallurgy is not the main innovation associated with this period. Complex processes such as the intensification of production, artisanal specialization or social stratification caused a series of phenomena that led to the appearance of the first complex or pre-state societies, which were transformed into states during the Early Bronze Age.
Asian prehistory
Asian Paleolithic
• - Lower Paleolithic: the first human documented in Asia (except the Near East, seen above) is Homo erectus, found in western China and Java "Java (island)") (Indonesia), with respective antiquities of 1.7 and 1.3 million years BP. Traditionally it has been believed that beyond present-day India there were only lithic artifacts belonging to technical mode 1, but bifaces (technical mode 2) have recently been discovered in Mongolia, Vietnam and a Chinese region bordering the latter country. Zhoukoudian, near Beijing, is one of the classic sites, where abundant remains of hominins, fauna, flora, lithic industry and the use of fire have been found.[32].
• - Middle Paleolithic: in India, China and Southeast Asia, lithic technologies of flakes obtained by the Levallois method (technical mode 3) were also developed, although they were not properly Mousterian and carved edges continued to be used abundantly.[33].
• - Upper Paleolithic: Homo sapiens displaced H. erectus throughout the continent. There are sheet stone industries, flakes and scrapers in the Altai massif (from 43,000 BP), China, India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka (from 33,000 BP), Thailand, Borneo (with cave paintings), Korea and Japan (populated from 25,000-20,000 BP).[34]
Asian Mesolithic
To the east of the Near East, epipaleolithic/mesolithic groups are little known, although microlithic industries have been found in India (Madras and Gujarat), in Thailand, Indonesia, China, Manchuria, Mongolia, Korea and Japan. They correspond to groups that practiced gathering, hunting, fishing and shellfish harvesting.[35].
Asian Neolithic
Both the Indian Subcontinent and East Asia and Southeast Asia are considered by most researchers to be nuclear areas in neolithization.
• - Indian subcontinent: at the beginning of the 7th millennium BC. C. stable agricultural villages began to form in the upper Indus, which subsequently spread to the south. During the 6th millennium BC. Something similar happened in the upper Ganges.
• - Eastern Asia: at the end of the 7th millennium BC. C. an autochthonous Neolithic nucleus developed in the Alto Amarillo, where millet was cultivated and pigs and dogs were domesticated, while rice began to be cultivated in southern China.
• - Southeast Asia: in the 6th millennium BC. C. in northern Thailand, peas and beans were domesticated.[36].
Asian Metal Age
Copper metallurgy is present in the urban culture of the Indus Valley (or Harappa), which developed independently of the Fertile Crescent civilizations between 2700-1700 BC. C. Harappa or Mohenjo-Daro were authentic cities with standardized adobe and brick houses, reticular urbanism forming neighborhoods, with walls and ceremonial centers. Copper was initially used to produce prestigious goods and later to make tools and weapons.[37].
In the valleys of the Chinese Yellow and Yangtze rivers, copper metallurgy has been documented since the middle of the 4th millennium BC. C., but it is not clear if it is indigenous or imported from other Asian regions. In the Chalcolithic groups of Longshan, the first proto-state forms can be seen, which gave rise to the Erlitou culture, closely related to the first known dynasty, the Xia, and to the generalization of the use of bronze. In Vietnam and Thailand, cast copper dates back to the 3rd millennium BC. C., but his knowledge is of clear Indian and Chinese influence. Bronze appears in Siam at the beginning of the 2nd millennium BC. C.; Later, the sophisticated Dong Son bronze drums were made in Vietnam.[38][39][40].
Prehistory of Europe
Durante toda su prehistoria, el continente europeo fue tributario de las tradiciones culturales de África y Oriente Próximo. Si exceptuamos la cultura musteriense y quizá la auriñaciense, así como el desarrollo del arte paleolítico, el megalitismo, el vaso campaniforme o la cerámica cordada, buena parte de la evolución registrada durante esta fase es el resultado de importaciones foráneas. Solo el desarrollo de la cultura clásica grecorromana (ya histórica) puso a Europa a la altura de las grandes civilizaciones de otros continentes.[41].
En la península ibérica se han datado restos humanos en los yacimientos de la sierra de Atapuerca con más de 1 000 000 de años de antigüedad; en concreto, con cerca de 1,3 Ma en el yacimiento de la Sima del Elefante del Pleistoceno Inferior. Según las investigaciones arqueopaleontológicas de la Sierra de Atapuerca, hasta la fecha hay restos óseos humanos en los contextos kársticos de cuatro especies distintas: Homo antecessor (Pleistoceno Inferior), Homo heidelbergensis (Pleistoceno Medio), Homo neanderthalensis (Pleistoceno Superior) y Homo sapiens (Holoceno),[42][43] lo cual se correlaciona con el poblamiento al aire libre del Paleolítico Inferior a la Edad del Bronce detectado en los análisis geoespaciales de distribución de asentamientos de la cuenca del río Arlanzón (Burgos).
European Stone Age
The European Stone Age continues to be divided into three stages, following the proposals of John Lubbock, who in 1865 separated the Paleolithic and the Neolithic. These were later joined by the Mesolithic/Epipaleolithic, thanks to the discovery of the Tarnoisian by Gabriel de Mortillet, made between 1885 and 1897.[44] The definition of the three Stone Ages was specified and enriched by the proposals of Henri Breuil in 1932. Since then, although the references and many misconceptions have been revised, this division has hardly suffered any relevant alterations.
• - The Paleolithic is the oldest and longest period in European history, beginning approximately one million years ago with the arrival of the first humans: Homo ergaster or Homo antecessor. Later, other characteristic types of the continent appeared: Homo heidelbergensis and Homo neanderthalensis. Homo sapiens sapiens arrived from Africa about 50,000 years ago. Parallel to human evolution were cultural changes: during the Lower Paleolithic the dominant culture in Europe was the Acheulean and in the Middle Paleolithic we find the Mousterian, typical of Neanderthal man, although perhaps the Châtelperronian is an epigone of this human type. With the arrival of modern man[45] the Aurignacian, Gravettian, Solutrean and Magdalenian followed one another (all of them belonging to technical mode 4). Other important elements to understand the Paleolithic are the continuous climatic oscillations called glaciations, the predominance of a hunting-gathering economy and the development of art after the arrival of Homo sapiens.
• - Bifaz, the most typical artifact of the Acheulean.
• - Bone projectiles from the end of the Paleolithic and Epipaleolithic.
• - The Tardenois point is a typical Mesolithic microlith.
• - Mesolithic tomb of Téviec
(Morbihan, France).
• - The Epipaleolithic/Mesolithic refers to the period from the end of the last glacial period (about 12,000 years ago) to the beginning of the Neolithic (about 5,000 years ago). Currently, discrimination is made between epipaleolithic groups (those that maintain the way of life typical of the Paleolithic, without substantial changes, as occurs with the Azilian, for example) and mesolithic groups (those that show their own tendency to evolve towards sedentarization and other features typical of what would later be the Neolithic, as could be the case of the Tardenoisian).
• - The Neolithic arrived in Europe in the sixth millennium BC. C., coming from the Near East and through the Balkan Peninsula and the Mediterranean basin, although there is evidence as early as the 7th millennium BC. C. of Protoneolithic chronocultures in the Balkans: these are ceramic peoples, with rudimentary and itinerant agriculture, with livestock and numerous Mesolithic survivals (hunting, fishing and gathering, habitats in caves, without polished axes, etc.). Although the first sedentary towns were very small, sites such as Sesklo or Nea Nikomedia were soon developed, both on elevated terrain, with walls and bastions and, inside, rectangular constructions with an access hall, in which painted ceramics and female figurines have been found.
• - Neolithic reciprocating mill.
• - Banded ceramics
(Danubian Neolithic).
• - Polished stone axes.
• - Lagozza-type stilt settlement.
Metal Age in Europe
Until the 1970s, diffusionist models established that metallurgy reached Europe through the Caucasus and Anatolia in the fourth millennium BC. C. But carbon-14 dating demonstrated that the Balkan was almost a millennium older than its supposed inspirations and, thus, subsequent research established that, around 4000 BC. C., a copper mining-metallurgical industry associated with rich goldsmithing had emerged indigenously in the Balkan Peninsula, in a social environment that some authors have come to call the first European civilization. Located between the Danube and Thessaly, the main centers were Vinça, Gumelnitsa, Salcuta, Cucuteni and Tiszapolgar, contemporaries of the Greek Neolithic complexes. The Balkan groups spread throughout modern-day Serbia, Bulgaria, Romania, Bessarabia, Moldova, Ukraine and the rest of the Carpathian Basin.[47].
• - Cycladic marble figurine.
• - Cucuteni ceramics.
• - Bowl with incised decoration of eyepieces from Los Millares.
• - Copper dagger from the Hispanic Chalcolithic.
A second indigenous metallurgical focus is located in the south of the Iberian Peninsula, in Los Millares (Almería, Spain) and Vila Nova (Portugal), developing from the end of the fourth millennium BC. C. and throughout the entire third. Both groups maintained the megalithic funerary traditions, although their social structure was, without a doubt, much more complex than during the final Neolithic: the Almeria dolmens became corridor tombs with a false dome chamber, that is, authentic tholoi, and impressive defensive structures appeared in both areas. Also here, diffusionist theses related the increase in peninsular social and technological complexity with the arrival of mythical eastern colonizers. And, as in the Balkans, Carbon 14 dating established that Western materials are much older than those. Furthermore, eyed idols, fluted or painted ceramics and peninsular copper castings have their own characteristics, different from the supposed oriental models. The diffusionist model has had to be abandoned and its place has been taken by another, evolutionary and local one.[48][49].
Also at the end of the fourth millennium BC. C. an increase in social complexity began to occur in the area of the Aegean Sea. Although the changes that occurred have a clear internal character,[50] the important role played by the exchange networks that connected the Aegean with Anatolia and Egypt is no less undeniable.[51] These socioeconomic transformations constitute the basis of later classical cultures:.
• - In mainland Greece (early Helladic) the first megaron-type buildings appeared inside concentric walled enclosures.
• - In the Cyclades islands (early Cycladic) trade intensified and powerful walls were built.
• - In Crete (early Minoan) Knossos and Phaistos were configured as main centers, but without defensive structures.
Prehistory of America
La teoría más aceptada es que el poblamiento humano de América se produjo desde Siberia a través del estrecho de Bering. La fecha está sujeta a controversia: unos creen que solo hay pruebas para afirmar que los seres humanos llegaron hace unos 16 000 años; otros apuntan a un poblamiento más temprano, entre 70 000 y 45 000 años antes del presente (AP); finalmente, hay un grupo que apunta a fechas todavía más antiguas que el 75 000 AP.[68] En cualquier caso, el aislamiento de América respecto a otros continentes fue casi absoluto (aunque se sabe que hubo varias migraciones a lo largo de la prehistoria), lo que justifica que no se emplee la periodización tradicional, sino otra específica adecuada a la realidad arqueológica de este continente. En 1958, los arqueólogos Gordon Willey y Philip Phillips propusieron las siguientes etapas:.
Lithic or Paleoindian Period
It could be compared to the European Upper Paleolithic, it includes from the arrival of the first Americans (with a variable date, depending on the theoretical paradigm defended) until the beginning of the Holocene. Within this period there are two phases:
• - Phase of undifferentiated hunter-gatherers: characterized by an archaic lithic industry (carved stones, musteroid flakes, bifaces...); The remains are very scarce, but examples dated over 30,000 years old can be found throughout the continent, from Topper "Topper (site)") (in the United States) to Pedra Furada (in Brazil), passing through Tlapacoya (in Mexico) or Monte Verde II (in Chile).
• - Phase of the Projectile Points: We would be facing a culture of very advanced lithic technology and an economy based on the hunting of medium and large-sized pieces. It appears about 13,000 years ago and is characterized by various types of finely crafted foliaceous spearheads, the most famous of which are those of the Clovis culture (New Mexico), although, of course, there are many more. Of note, due to its geographical location, is the Fell Cave (in Tierra del Fuego "Province of Tierra del Fuego (Chile)"), Chile), whose tips, called fish tail», date back to 7000 BC. c.
Archaic Period
Towards the 8th millennium BC. C., at the end of the last ice age, the ancient Americans began to experiment with the cultivation of plants and animal husbandry, beginning a long process towards the first sedentary populations. This transition was more in the center-northwest of Peru and in the south of Mexico (the two fundamental nuclear zones of America). The first stable settlements and numerous cultures that live off the intensive exploitation of oceanic resources also appear, whose most typical remains are shells, large piles of mollusk shell waste. Progressively, communities are depending more and more on the products of agriculture, livestock and fishing. Around this period, waves of people completed their rule throughout the Americas, reaching from remote parts of Canada to Patagonia.
Sedentarization follows a process of hierarchization of communities, appearing around the 4th millennium BC. C. the first extra-familial chiefdoms that are slowly consolidated into permanent political authorities of towns that form large routes of economic exchange through knowledge of astronomy and agricultural cycles.
Specifically in the Andes, the culture of Caral (Peru) stands out, with an initial date greater than 2600 BC. c.
Training Period
It would be the equivalent of European Protohistory, but more extensive; Immediately after this phase, the first forms of writing and the great classical civilizations such as the Mayans or the Moche appear. Obviously, it stands out for innovations such as agriculture, livestock, ceramics... Between 4000 BC. C. and the beginning of our era. There is also the appearance of the first hierarchical societies with relatively complex forms of government; In fact, there are great civilizations such as the Olmecs in Mesoamerica and the Chavín Culture in South America, which come to dominate extensive territories and build important urban centers around sanctuaries dedicated to the Jaguar God. Other notable cultures are those of the Anasazi and their likes (Arizona), as well as the Mound Builders of North America.
Threshold of American history
In America, the use of native copper dates back to around 900 BC. C.; Shortly after, authentic metallurgy began, based on copper and, above all, gold and silver. Bronze does not appear until shortly before the year 900. Iron was not known until the arrival of the Europeans. Above it is explained that during the final phases of the Olmecs, at the beginning of our era, writing was born in Mesoamerica: we would then be entering History. This is corroborated by the recent discovery of certain objects extracted from areas where Olmec settlements took place (Tabasco and Veracruz, Mexico) whose carbon 14 dating places their origin around the year 900 BC. C. These elements present glyphs that, due to their characteristics, have allowed us to assume that the system of symbols used was the basis of Mayan writing, which reached its greatest perfection between 200 and 900 AD. c.
• - Portal:Prehistory. Content related to Prehistory.
• - Archaeology.
• - Prehistoric life.
• - Protohistory.
• - Table of prehistoric cultures of the Old World.
• - Cave painting.
• - Paleolithic art.
• - Prehistoric architecture.
• - Megalithism.
• - Glossary of prehistoric architecture.
• - Wiktionary has definitions and other information about prehistory.
• - Behavior and language in Prehistory.
• - Prehistory of North Africa.
• - Prehistory in Valderredible (Cantabria).
• - Valencian prehistory at the Museum of Prehistory of Valencia.
[3] ↑ Fullola Pericot y Nadal Lorenzo, 1 de diciembre de 2012, «Epílogo», p. 210.
[4] ↑ Renfrew, Andrew Colin; Bahn, Paul (1993). «¿Qué pensaban? Arqueología Cognitiva, arte y religión». Arqueología: Teorías, métodos y prácticas. Madrid: Ediciones Akal. pp. 372-373. ISBN 9788446002345.: https://books.google.es/books?id=crqRZPgkys8C&pg=PA355
[7] ↑ Revista "Anales de Arqueología y Etnología", No. 38-40 (Primera parte) 1983, Juan Schobinger: "Algunas observaciones terminológicas sobre la prehistoria americana", Páginas 10-19.: https://bdigital.uncu.edu.ar/app/navegador/?idobjeto=7399
[8] ↑ a b c NASON, LEONARD HERBERT (2022). HISTORY OF THE PREHISTORIC AGES : written by the ancient historic band of spirits (classic reprint).. FORGOTTEN BOOKS. ISBN 0-282-61641-1. OCLC 1355914283. Consultado el 1 de abril de 2023.: https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/1355914283
[11] ↑ a b Chazan, Michael (2021). World prehistory and archaeology : pathways through time (Fifth edition edición). ISBN 978-1-000-34909-2. OCLC 1198989984. Consultado el 1 de abril de 2023.: https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/1198989984
[15] ↑ Morris, Neil; Baldanzi, Paola; Göhrmann, Sabine (2004). Die Urgeschichte. ISBN 978-3-7886-1345-7. OCLC 76602030. Consultado el 1 de abril de 2023.: https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/76602030
[16] ↑ Pohanka, Reinhard (2016). Die Urgeschichte Europas (2. Auflage edición). ISBN 9783865399960. OCLC 1301963996. Consultado el 1 de abril de 2023.: https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/1301963996
[19] ↑ Gómez-Tabanera, José Manuel (1988). «Las culturas africanas, tomo 14». Historias del Viejo Mundo. Historia 16, Madrid. ISBN 84-7679-101-1.
[20] ↑ Iniesta, Ferran (1998). «Kuma. Historia del África negra». Barcelona (primera edición) (Edicions Bellaterra 2000). pp. 36-37. ISBN 84-7290-101-7.
[21] ↑ Fullola Pericot y Nadal Lorenzo, 1 de diciembre de 2012, «Los homínidos salen de África», p. 74.
[22] ↑ Fullola Pericot y Nadal Lorenzo, 1 de diciembre de 2012, «Los homínidos salen de África», p. 75.
[23] ↑ Carbonell, Eudald; Corbella Domènech, Josep; Sala Ramos, Robert; Moyà Solà, Salvador (1 de diciembre de 2009). «Segunda parte: Los humanos». Sapiens. El largo camino de los homínidos hacia la inteligencia. Barcelona: Grupo Planeta. p. 68. ISBN 84-8307-288-2.: https://books.google.es/books/about/Sapiens.html?id=D-z6bFgZ1gUC
[29] ↑ Tarradell, Miquel (1979). «África del norte entra en la Historia». Temporama de la historia: La prehistoria : nacimiento y primeras fases de la civilización. Las ediciones del Tiempo: Difusora internacional. pp. 228-239. ISBN 84-7368-022-7.: https://books.google.es/books/about/Temporama_de_la_historia.html?id=vSfKoAEACAAJ
[46] ↑ González Marcén, Paloma; Lull, Vicente; Risch, Robert (1992). «Arqueología de Europa, 2250-1200 a. C. Una introducción a la "Edad del Bronce"». Madrid (primera edición) (Editorial Síntesis). p. 57. ISBN 84-7738-128-3. La referencia utiliza el parámetro obsoleto |coautor= (ayuda).
[47] ↑ Delibes, Germán; Fernández-Miranda, Manuel (1993). «Los orígenes de la civilización. El Calcolítico en el Viejo Mundo». Madrid (primera edición) (Editorial Síntesis). pp. 49-52. ISBN 84-7738-181-X.
[48] ↑ Delibes, Germán; Fernández-Miranda, Manuel. Los orígenes de la civilización. El Calcolítico en el Viejo Mundo. pp. 169-171. La referencia utiliza el parámetro obsoleto |coautor= (ayuda).
[50] ↑ Delibes, Germán; Fernández-Miranda, Manuel. Los orígenes de la civilización. El Calcolítico en el Viejo Mundo. pp. 65-73. La referencia utiliza el parámetro obsoleto |coautor= (ayuda).
[51] ↑ González Marcén, Paloma; Lull, Vicente; Risch, Robert. Arqueología de Europa, 2250-1200 a. C. Una introducción a la "Edad del Bronce". p. 51. La referencia utiliza el parámetro obsoleto |coautor= (ayuda).
[52] ↑ J. Muller y S. van Willigen, New radiocarbon evidence for European Bell Beakers and the consequences for the diffusion of the Bell Beaker Phenomenon, en Franco Nicolis (ed.), Bell Beakers today: Pottery, people, culture, symbols in prehistoric Europe (2001), pp. 59-75.
[53] ↑ p144, Richard Bradley The prehistory of Britain and Ireland, Cambridge University Press, 2007, ISBN 0-521-84811-3.
[54] ↑ Delibes, Germán; Fernández-Miranda, Manuel. Los orígenes de la civilización. El Calcolítico en el Viejo Mundo. pp. 150,189. La referencia utiliza el parámetro obsoleto |coautor= (ayuda).
[55] ↑ Lull, Vicente (1983). La «Cultura de El Argar» (un modelo para el estudio de las formaciones económico-sociales prehistóricas). Akal editor. Madrid. ISBN 84-7339-660-X.
[59] ↑ Blasco, 1 de septiembre de 1993, pp. 28-29.
[60] ↑ Blasco, 1 de septiembre de 1993, pp. 67-69.
[61] ↑ Fullola Pericot y Nadal Lorenzo, 1 de diciembre de 2012, «El bronce final y la edad del hierro. El fin de la prehistoria en Europa», p. 200.
[62] ↑ Fullola Pericot y Nadal Lorenzo, 1 de diciembre de 2012, «El bronce final y la edad del hierro. El fin de la prehistoria en Europa», p. 201.
[63] ↑ Fernández Manzano, Julio (1985). «La Etapa de Apogeo (1200-1700 a. de C.)». Historia de Castilla y León. La Prehistoria del valle del Duero 1. Valladolid: Ámbito Ediciones. ISBN 84-86047-45-5.
[64] ↑ Hatt, Jean-Jacques (1976). Los Celtas y los Galo-Romanos. Barcelona: Editorial Juventud, Sociedad Anónima. ISBN 84-261-5817-X.
[66] ↑ Romero Carnicero, Fernando (1985). «La Primera Edad del Hierro: el afianzamiento de la sedentarización y la explotación intensiva del medio». Historia de Castilla y León. La Prehistoria del valle del Duero 1. Valladolid: Ámbito Ediciones. ISBN 84-86047-45-5.
[67] ↑ Martín Valls, Ricardo (1985). «La Segunda Edad del Hierro. Las culturas Prerromanas». Historia de Castilla y León. La Prehistoria del valle del Duero 1. Valladolid: Ámbito Ediciones. ISBN 84-86047-45-5.
[68] ↑ Eiroa García, 2010, p. 120-121.
• - The Nile: The emergence of Egyptian civilization began in the 4th millennium BC. C. with the emergence of numerous cities, the first hieroglyphs and the appearance of two great states (Upper and Lower Egypt) in the period called Protodynastic. These states were eventually unified by the first pharaoh, King Narmer, in approximately 3150 BC. C. In this way, the eastern part of Africa entered history very early and, in addition, became a focus of cultural irradiation that not only affected the Mediterranean, but also a large part of the African continent.
• - Commemorative palette of the first pharaoh, Narmer.
• - Quote about Libyan peoples on the Merenptah stele.
• - Punic stele of the goddess Tanit.
• - Tomb of the Numidian king Masinisa.
• - The Maghreb, on the other hand, is a very different case.[29] While during the second millennium before our era, a good part of the Mediterranean began to be explored by sailors in search of raw materials such as copper and gold, the Maghreb was left out of this flow of contacts and economic-cultural exchanges. The Berber ethnic group, whose origin is unknown (although scholars believe that their language is of Afro-Asian origins), was predominant in the region. The first news of this human group comes from Egyptian texts dated 2300 BC. C., where they are called «téhménow»; They were later cited in the year 1227 BC. C. when it seems that they attacked the Delta, but this time they were called libou, that is, Libyans. Since then, classical texts referred to the indigenous people of the Maghreb as Libyan peoples. Their funerary remains are made up of cists under a tumulus, dolmens (much later than those of Western Europe) and, in the final moments, small hypogeums called haouanets (for example, those of Debbabsa, in Tunisia).
The introduction of copper in the rest of Europe is associated with the spread of two great phenomena, clearly differentiated, but contemporary and, at times, overlapping each other: the bell-shaped glass and corded ceramics.
The Bell Beaker complex was a phenomenon that affected practically all of prehistoric Europe (except for the eastern areas and the Balkans), but in an uneven way and maintaining great diversity. It meant the expansion of copper metallurgy to marginal areas that did not yet know this metal. The most characteristic object of this horizon are the bell-shaped ceramic vessels, with incised or printed decoration whose motifs vary depending on regional peculiarities.
• - Ciempozuelos type bell-shaped bowl.
• - Copper tongue dagger.
• - Stone archer's bracer.
• - Palmela type arrowheads.
The chronology of the bell-shaped glass and its interpretation are controversial, and abundant literature has been generated in this regard (and still is). The latest data provided by the systematic review of carbon-14 dating in Bell Beakers from all over Europe have allowed us to establish that the oldest would be those found in the Lower Tagus area, in Portugal, with a chronology that would go from 2900 to 2500 BC. C.[52] According to other authors, its appearance would be around 2400 BC. C., disappearing around 1800 BC. C.[53].
The tombs associated with the Bell-shaped horizon consist of individual graves in which the corpse was deposited in a contracted position with a trousseau that usually consists of the typical Bell-shaped ceramics and other no less characteristic objects: reed daggers and double-pointed awls, archer's bracelets, Palmela-type arrowheads, gold ornaments of various entities (diadems, earrings) and bone buttons pierced in a V; always in male funerary contexts.[54].
• - Section of a Chalcolithic kurgan.
• - Interior of a Chalcolithic kurgan.
• - Typical corded ceramic.
• - Battle ax of the kurgans.
The cordate ceramic groups originated, according to some, from the Eurasian steppes and, according to others, from Central Europe. They are related to the Indo-European languages and spread throughout central, Nordic and eastern Europe during the third millennium BC. C. They are also known as Kurgans of the steppes, of the battle ax or of the individual tombs. Its main characteristics would be:
Bronze is an alloy of copper and tin that has the advantages of melting at a lower temperature and being much more resistant. It was achieved in the Near East at the end of the 4th millennium BC. C. and penetrated Europe through an extensive network of commercial routes that ran throughout the continent, connecting the Iberian Peninsula or the North Sea with the eastern civilizations, already fully historical.
Between the years 1800 BC. C. and 1500 BC. C., approximately coinciding with the plenitude of the Minoan world, Europe began to participate in the commercial networks created by the demand for raw materials by the civilizations of the Near East and the Aegean. The amber of the Baltic, the copper of the lower Danube and Huelva, the tin of Cornwall and Galicia, the gold of Ireland, the precious metals of Andalusia and the jet of Great Britain, were exchanged for bronze weapons and tools, gold and silver ornaments, or Egyptian blue faience pearls. Among the archaeological cultures of this period, those of Unetice, that of the Armorican tumuli and that of Wessex stand out. In the British Isles, during this time, the megalithic sanctuaries called henges, cultural centers like Stonehenge itself, continued to have great importance.
Most of the remains from this period are tumular-type funerary monuments belonging, judging by the high proportion of weapons and the great wealth of some, to the local warrior oligarchies, who must have known the battle chariot and lived in fortified towns. The trousseau was mainly composed of the characteristic triangular daggers with solid pommels, flat axes and bronze battle-axes; Metallic ornaments also appear such as bracelets, lunules or pectorals, embossed gold or silver jugs, amber and Egyptian faience pearls. Some tombs become so rich that they have been named "royal tombs": those of Leki Male (Poland) and Leubingen (Austria), from the Unetice groups; that of Kernonen (France), from the Armorican Mounds; or that of Bush Narrow (England), belonging to Wessex. In certain areas of northern Italy, the marshy terrain has preserved a multitude of leather objects, wooden canoes, large bows (Arco (weapon)), cart wheels and bone harness.
• - Central European Ancient Bronze funerary mound.
• - Triangular dagger with solid handle, Antique Bronze.
• - Combat Axe-Mace from the Unetice culture.
• - Golden lunula from the Armorican Mounds culture.
In the Iberian Peninsula and from 2300 BC. C., the so-called Argaric culture began to emerge in approximately the same area where that of Los Millares had developed, although, at that time, still with a small area of influence and numerous Chalcolithic survivals. It is an early stage, traditionally called «Phase A» in which the cist burials stand out with a trousseau that was intended to be related to influences from the eastern Mediterranean, but which has ended up being revealed as autochthonous.
The Bronze Age of the Northern Plateau of the Iberian Peninsula is divided according to radiocarbon dating into three periods with three ceramic styles or cultural horizons: Early Bronze Age (ca. 2100-1550 BC) (Parpantique horizon), Middle Bronze Age (ca. 1550-1350 BC) (Protocogotas or Cogeces) and Late Bronze Age (ca. 1350-850 BC) (Cogotas)[42][43]. In the Bronze Age of the Northern Plateau there are generally no large structures as in the areas of the southern peninsula or as those detected in other southern European areas, although there is a tendency to locate settlements in elevated areas.
The Middle Bronze Age lasted, more or less, between 1500 BC. C. and 1200 BC. C., which means that it coincides with the height of the Mycenaean civilization. The mound culture stands out in Central Europe, a complex that derived from Unetice, with not very large towns, with wooden houses, built on easily defended hills and protected by walls and moats. The burials were tumular (hence their name), with more monumental mounds than in the previous stage, they were often grouped in large necropolises and cremation became increasingly common. In the area of the Italian peninsula, the Terramara culture and the Apennine culture developed, both with strong Balkan influence, as well as the Sicula culture, closer to the Mycenaean world, which had already colonized the Aeolian Islands in that phase.
One of the most notable novelties with respect to ancient Bronze is the appearance of authentic swords with long blades and more effective hafting systems than rivets: tongue hilts whose handles are, sometimes, richly decorated with perishable materials (leather, bone and wood of various tones, which may be inlaid with gold and amber) which, fortunately, have been preserved in some specimens from the Nordic area. Tubular spearheads and heel axes also appear.
Regarding metal ornaments, their variety is innumerable: spiral bracelets, anklets, pendants, pins, rings, earrings, barrettes, brooches, etc. Special mention deserves the twisted Irish "Torque (necklace)" torcs, which from their original region spread throughout Europe, receiving the name "Tara Torques" in honor of this Gaelic sanctuary), the Hill of Tara. An exceptional work, which goes beyond the description of mere ornament, is the Trundholm solar chariot (thrown as an offering at the bottom of a swamp in Denmark).
In the Iberian Peninsula, the Argar culture reached its peak phase at that time, developing in the arid southeast (Almería and neighboring provinces).[55] The number of localized settlements reveals a strong demographic increase compared to the Millar period. They were strongly protected towns, built on easily defensible high sites, with thick walls and restricted acropolis-type areas. The burials were individual and inside homes; While in the previous phase they were made in cists, in this one they became large jars or pithoi, with very diverse trousseaus that reveal a complex social stratification. Such stratification is also reflected in the internal organization of the towns and in the urban hierarchy. Although El Argar never formed a true state, it must have generated some pre-state political form. Argaric ceramic forms are very different from those of the rest of Western Europe with carinated vessels and tall undecorated bowls. The rest of the trousseau is made up of bracelets, amber beads, swords (also different, as they maintain the solid handle system held with rivets), halberds, bracelets, amber ornaments, pins and some unmistakable silver diadems.
• - Burial in a jar from the second phase of El Argar.
• - Remains of a skull with the typical Argaric silver diadem.
• - Funerary trousseau from an Argaric tomb.
• - Argaric Cup of Caniles, Granada.
Although the Argaric world was limited to the provinces of Almería and Murcia, as well as part of Málaga and Granada, the entire southern half of the Iberian Peninsula was affected by its influence, very clear in the culture of Atalaia (southern Portugal) and in the culture of Motillas (La Mancha). As we move towards the north, the Argaric influence becomes more diffuse, although it has been confirmed that there were commercial relations with the northern regions. In the Galician-Portuguese area it seems that there were some groups closely related to the Atlantic world, as demonstrated by their artistic manifestations (the petroglyphs) or the hoards (such as the treasure of Caldas de Reyes, Pontevedra,[56] with more than 25 kg of metal objects made with alluvial gold from the peninsula, but with Breton and Irish parallels,[57] and which is considered the largest accumulation of gold in the European prehistory).[58] On the Meseta there are a series of sites (Los Tolmos de Caracena in Soria, Cogeces del Monte in Valladolid, Abia de la Obispalía in Cuenca, and others) that allow us to speak of a horizon called Protocogotas (or also Cogeces) that shows, indistinctly, the Argaric and Atlantic influence, on an epicampaniform substrate.
• - The Final Bronze (approximately 1250 BC-725 BC) is determined by the appearance and expansion of urn fields throughout almost the entire continent. The change in the funerary process did not occur suddenly nor was it uniform, with the first signs of transition being detected in Upper Bavaria (Germany) shortly before 1200 BC. C.[59][60] This change has been related to invading Indo-European peoples, to whom some archaeologists have even attributed the authorship of all the upheavals that occurred simultaneously in the eastern Mediterranean (fall of Mycenae, of the Hittites, attacks by the sea people on Egypt, destruction of Ugarit, etc.). Currently, few researchers maintain that the urn field groups were a homogeneous cultural entity; The general opinion is that it was simply a fashion that spread throughout Europe due to cultural borrowings or, in certain cases, limited movements of people. In fact, in some regions the change in funerary behavior was the only one that occurred, detecting a clear continuity with previous economic and social strategies.[61][62] The fact that the germ of this new fashion occupies the same geographical space as the culture of the mounds (from the Middle Bronze) and that of Unetice (from the Early Bronze), seems to confirm that cultural continuity really exists. On the other hand, the territory occupied by the polling stations is not unitary, as it is formed by a conglomerate of local cultures with specific regional characteristics. Some European areas (southern Iberian Peninsula, Atlantic coast and Scandinavia) were left out.
• - Various objects from the final Romanian Bronze.
• - The Marmesse breastplates, found in France.
• - «Spectacle fibula» from the final Iberian Bronze.
• - Spiral bracelet from the final Ukrainian bronze.
• - The Final Atlantic Bronze is little known: there is the paradox that hardly any settlements or necropolises have been excavated, and, on the other hand, there are many so-called caches (or caches of bronze objects intended for recasting) where pieces of almost perfect workmanship have been located. The most appreciated objects must have been the swords, at first pistiliform and at the end with a carp tongue blade. In the south of the British Isles, several towns have been discovered and, among them, Itford Hill (England) stands out, located on an elevated location, with several defensive palisades that protected a disorderly series of wooden and mud houses, with a circular plan. The necropolises show the adoption of cremation, with the ashes deposited in cinerary urns or directly on the floor of small pits under the tumulus.
• - The Avanton cone (France).
• - Embossed gold horns (Denmark).
• - Reconstruction of a home (Sweden).
• - Petroglyphs of Tanum (Sweden).
• - The cultural mosaic of the Iberian Peninsula was the result of the convergence of various traditions:.
• - Heel Ax and a ring.
Final bronze (Cogotas-I).
• - Ceramic with mouthpiece.
Final bronze (Cogotas-I).
• - Excise ceramics.
Final bronze (Cogotas-I).
• - Elbow fibula.
Final bronze (Cogotas-I).
In the Balearic Islands, and especially in Mallorca and Menorca, the first phase of the Talayotic culture developed (which reached its peak during the Iron Age), characterized by Cyclopean architecture in a series of buildings such as the talayots (or towers), the taulas "Taula (talayotic construction)") and the navetas. This phenomenon has been related to the nuraghic culture of Sardinia. There are known walled towns (such as Ses Paisses) that house talayots, neighborhoods of masonry homes and burials under the floor; There are also stepped cult constructions (perhaps temples) and even walled acropolises in places that are difficult to access.
• - Talayot
Mallorca.
• - Taula
Menorca.
• - Naveta
Menorca.
• - Ses Paisses (Mallorca)
Talayotic town.
The Iron Age is the period in which iron metallurgy was developed, a metal harder than the bronze alloy and one of the most abundant elements on our planet. The first cast iron artifacts date back to the 3rd millennium BC. C. and were found in Anatolia. They began to arrive in Europe from 1200 BC. C., during the Final Bronze Age.
Although iron ores are very abundant, its steelmaking requires a complex and different technology from that of other metals known at the time (refining, smelting, forging and tempering), which hindered its diffusion: for many centuries iron was more of an object of prestige than a raw material used in commonly used tools, so bronze was not quickly superseded. Iron did not become widespread in Europe until approximately 800 BC. C. and in most of the continent this phase would end with Romanization "Romanization (acculturation)"). Except in northern Germany and Scandinavia, where it persisted represented in the Jastorf and Viking cultures, respectively (the Vikings until around the year 1000 AD).
Until the century BC. C. only the eastern Mediterranean fell within the historical parameters. The year 776 BC. C. is recognized by the ancient Greeks as that of their first Olympiad, that is, the beginning of their history. Around the same time, in the Italian peninsula, the Villanova culture, a regional variant of the urn fields, led to the Etruscan civilization. In 753 BC C. the Romans locate the foundation of ancient Rome. This is how the classical civilizations were born, each of which had its own alphabet, all of them derived from the Phoenician (also the Iberian). In turn, the Phoenician alphabet is a simplification of cuneiform that came from an old syllabary "Syllabary (writing system)") from the port city of Ugarit (present-day Ras Shamra, north of Syria), from the second millennium. Possibly the Phoenicians were also promoters of the local processes that were giving rise to the formation of Tartessos in Andalusia, a culture about which little is known; Among other things, it may have had its own writing system, extensive social, cultural and, perhaps, state development. Judging by written sources, Phoenician explorations began at the end of the second millennium, but there is no archaeological record until the century BC. C. Around the same time, the first wave of Greek colonizers established themselves in the central Mediterranean, and in the following century, a second wave reached the Iberian Peninsula (Ampurias, Hemeroscopio, Mainake). The influence of the Phoenicians and Greeks must have been fundamental not only for the dissemination of iron metallurgy, but also for the development of societies that thus entered history.
In the rest of Europe this period is usually divided into two large phases:
The Hallstatt culture (800-450 BC) or First Iron Age in Central Europe, France and the Balkans, is considered the heir of the urn fields. This society was led by warrior aristocracies clearly reflected in the richness of their tombs: some, due to their content and structure, are clearly princely, with rich grave goods deposited in large wooden mortuary chambers. In these, the predominant funerary rite was that of burial under a mound, which was gradually imposed over cremation, although this continued to be common in peripheral areas (where we usually speak of late urn fields). At first the use of iron was a minority, but from the century BC onwards. C. became generalized. These groups maintained commercial contacts with the Mediterranean and with the steppes of eastern Europe, possibly acting as intermediaries in the amber and tin trade with the Mediterranean world.
• - Hallstatic swords with counterweight on the pommel.
• - Hallstattic Baltic amber necklace.
• - Cinerary urn with a human face (Italy).
• - Hallstattic burial necropolis with trousseau.
The La Tène culture (450 BC until the Roman conquest) or Second Iron Age in Central Europe, France, northern Spain and the British Isles. Iron had become widespread and the economy diversified, giving birth to what has been called Celtic culture.[64] The settlements were fortified and the complexity of some of them is typical of proto-urban centers (which the Romans called oppidum), with a well-differentiated social stratification, whose top was occupied by the warrior nobility. These aristocrats liked to be buried in large tombs with very ostentatious grave goods that included war chariots, ornaments, jewelry, weapons and large ceramic vessels imported from Greece and Etruria. The tomb of the princess of Vix is the best example.
• - Maximum expansion of the Celtic world.
• - Warrior head from Glauberg (Germany).
• - Crater from the Tomb of Vix (France).
• - Gundestrup silver cauldron (Denmark).
The relationship of the Tartessians (in the First Iron Age) and the Iberians (in the Second) with Phoenicians and Hellenes acted as a catalyst in the development of their respective societies, which could already be included within Protohistory.
• - The so-called castreña culture developed in the northwest of the peninsula. Durante mucho tiempo se pensó que estos grupos culturales eran célticos, pero ahora se cree que los aportes hallstátticos son menores que los atlánticos e, incluso, que los mediterráneos. Su característica distintiva es la presencia de poblados fortificados, situados en lugares altos, con varios cinturones de muralla concéntricos y, en el interior, numerosas casas de piedra circulares, sin organización urbanística (son los llamados castros "Castro (fortificación)")). They developed their own ceramics that share certain parallels with the potteries of the Meseteños); They promoted bronze metallurgy to the detriment of iron; y presentan diversas manifestaciones escultóricas, como los guerreros lusitanos y las casas ceremoniales ornadas con portadas laboriosamente esculpidas denominadas pedras formosas, en las citânias portuguesas (se esculpían en edificios cuadrangulares con función religiosa controvertida: quizás lugares de culto a los muertos, baños purificadores u hornos para la incineración de cadáveres).[65] La economía era agropecuaria, pero tenían un gathering of wild fruits, fishing and shellfish harvesting are of great importance. La cultura castreña galaico-portuguesa tuvo una larga pervivencia durante el proceso de romanización "Romanización (aculturación)") peninsular, siendo una de las zonas que más se resistieron y que mejor mantuvieron sus tradiciones.
• - Castro de Coaña in Coaña (Asturias).
• - Castro de Baroña in Puerto del Son (La Coruña).
• - Plan of the Ctividade de Terroso hillfort, Portugal.
• - «Pedra Formosa» from the Citânia de Sabroso, Portugal.
• - The interior of the Peninsula has traditionally been considered a territory of Celtic influence. However, today we know that the Central Plateau maintained, from the first moment, a strong local tradition and a horizon of urn fields never developed, although it is impossible to deny the Celtic influence. Three large cultural groups stand out prior to the Celtiberian world (protohistoric or pre-Roman):
• - Ceramics from the Soto de Medinilla facies, Medina del Campo (province of Valladolid).
• - Charred wheat from the site of «El Soto de Medinilla» (Valladolid).
• - Sword Miraveche type, site of «Las Ruedas», Padilla de Duero (Valladolid).
• - Puñal Monte Vernorio type, site of «Las Ruedas», Padilla de Duero (Valladolid).
• - Fortified and diverted entrance to the fort "Castro (fortification)") of Las Cogotas (province of Ávila).
• - Short swords with atrophied antennae, typical of the horizon Cogotas II.
• - Sword with silver and copper inlays (nielado), horizon Cogotas II.
• - Ceramic decorated "with a comb" characteristic of the
horizon Cogotas-II.
• - The Nile: The emergence of Egyptian civilization began in the 4th millennium BC. C. with the emergence of numerous cities, the first hieroglyphs and the appearance of two great states (Upper and Lower Egypt) in the period called Protodynastic. These states were eventually unified by the first pharaoh, King Narmer, in approximately 3150 BC. C. In this way, the eastern part of Africa entered history very early and, in addition, became a focus of cultural irradiation that not only affected the Mediterranean, but also a large part of the African continent.
• - Commemorative palette of the first pharaoh, Narmer.
• - Quote about Libyan peoples on the Merenptah stele.
• - Punic stele of the goddess Tanit.
• - Tomb of the Numidian king Masinisa.
• - The Maghreb, on the other hand, is a very different case.[29] While during the second millennium before our era, a good part of the Mediterranean began to be explored by sailors in search of raw materials such as copper and gold, the Maghreb was left out of this flow of contacts and economic-cultural exchanges. The Berber ethnic group, whose origin is unknown (although scholars believe that their language is of Afro-Asian origins), was predominant in the region. The first news of this human group comes from Egyptian texts dated 2300 BC. C., where they are called «téhménow»; They were later cited in the year 1227 BC. C. when it seems that they attacked the Delta, but this time they were called libou, that is, Libyans. Since then, classical texts referred to the indigenous people of the Maghreb as Libyan peoples. Their funerary remains are made up of cists under a tumulus, dolmens (much later than those of Western Europe) and, in the final moments, small hypogeums called haouanets (for example, those of Debbabsa, in Tunisia).
The introduction of copper in the rest of Europe is associated with the spread of two great phenomena, clearly differentiated, but contemporary and, at times, overlapping each other: the bell-shaped glass and corded ceramics.
The Bell Beaker complex was a phenomenon that affected practically all of prehistoric Europe (except for the eastern areas and the Balkans), but in an uneven way and maintaining great diversity. It meant the expansion of copper metallurgy to marginal areas that did not yet know this metal. The most characteristic object of this horizon are the bell-shaped ceramic vessels, with incised or printed decoration whose motifs vary depending on regional peculiarities.
• - Ciempozuelos type bell-shaped bowl.
• - Copper tongue dagger.
• - Stone archer's bracer.
• - Palmela type arrowheads.
The chronology of the bell-shaped glass and its interpretation are controversial, and abundant literature has been generated in this regard (and still is). The latest data provided by the systematic review of carbon-14 dating in Bell Beakers from all over Europe have allowed us to establish that the oldest would be those found in the Lower Tagus area, in Portugal, with a chronology that would go from 2900 to 2500 BC. C.[52] According to other authors, its appearance would be around 2400 BC. C., disappearing around 1800 BC. C.[53].
The tombs associated with the Bell-shaped horizon consist of individual graves in which the corpse was deposited in a contracted position with a trousseau that usually consists of the typical Bell-shaped ceramics and other no less characteristic objects: reed daggers and double-pointed awls, archer's bracelets, Palmela-type arrowheads, gold ornaments of various entities (diadems, earrings) and bone buttons pierced in a V; always in male funerary contexts.[54].
• - Section of a Chalcolithic kurgan.
• - Interior of a Chalcolithic kurgan.
• - Typical corded ceramic.
• - Battle ax of the kurgans.
The cordate ceramic groups originated, according to some, from the Eurasian steppes and, according to others, from Central Europe. They are related to the Indo-European languages and spread throughout central, Nordic and eastern Europe during the third millennium BC. C. They are also known as Kurgans of the steppes, of the battle ax or of the individual tombs. Its main characteristics would be:
Bronze is an alloy of copper and tin that has the advantages of melting at a lower temperature and being much more resistant. It was achieved in the Near East at the end of the 4th millennium BC. C. and penetrated Europe through an extensive network of commercial routes that ran throughout the continent, connecting the Iberian Peninsula or the North Sea with the eastern civilizations, already fully historical.
Between the years 1800 BC. C. and 1500 BC. C., approximately coinciding with the plenitude of the Minoan world, Europe began to participate in the commercial networks created by the demand for raw materials by the civilizations of the Near East and the Aegean. The amber of the Baltic, the copper of the lower Danube and Huelva, the tin of Cornwall and Galicia, the gold of Ireland, the precious metals of Andalusia and the jet of Great Britain, were exchanged for bronze weapons and tools, gold and silver ornaments, or Egyptian blue faience pearls. Among the archaeological cultures of this period, those of Unetice, that of the Armorican tumuli and that of Wessex stand out. In the British Isles, during this time, the megalithic sanctuaries called henges, cultural centers like Stonehenge itself, continued to have great importance.
Most of the remains from this period are tumular-type funerary monuments belonging, judging by the high proportion of weapons and the great wealth of some, to the local warrior oligarchies, who must have known the battle chariot and lived in fortified towns. The trousseau was mainly composed of the characteristic triangular daggers with solid pommels, flat axes and bronze battle-axes; Metallic ornaments also appear such as bracelets, lunules or pectorals, embossed gold or silver jugs, amber and Egyptian faience pearls. Some tombs become so rich that they have been named "royal tombs": those of Leki Male (Poland) and Leubingen (Austria), from the Unetice groups; that of Kernonen (France), from the Armorican Mounds; or that of Bush Narrow (England), belonging to Wessex. In certain areas of northern Italy, the marshy terrain has preserved a multitude of leather objects, wooden canoes, large bows (Arco (weapon)), cart wheels and bone harness.
• - Central European Ancient Bronze funerary mound.
• - Triangular dagger with solid handle, Antique Bronze.
• - Combat Axe-Mace from the Unetice culture.
• - Golden lunula from the Armorican Mounds culture.
In the Iberian Peninsula and from 2300 BC. C., the so-called Argaric culture began to emerge in approximately the same area where that of Los Millares had developed, although, at that time, still with a small area of influence and numerous Chalcolithic survivals. It is an early stage, traditionally called «Phase A» in which the cist burials stand out with a trousseau that was intended to be related to influences from the eastern Mediterranean, but which has ended up being revealed as autochthonous.
The Bronze Age of the Northern Plateau of the Iberian Peninsula is divided according to radiocarbon dating into three periods with three ceramic styles or cultural horizons: Early Bronze Age (ca. 2100-1550 BC) (Parpantique horizon), Middle Bronze Age (ca. 1550-1350 BC) (Protocogotas or Cogeces) and Late Bronze Age (ca. 1350-850 BC) (Cogotas)[42][43]. In the Bronze Age of the Northern Plateau there are generally no large structures as in the areas of the southern peninsula or as those detected in other southern European areas, although there is a tendency to locate settlements in elevated areas.
The Middle Bronze Age lasted, more or less, between 1500 BC. C. and 1200 BC. C., which means that it coincides with the height of the Mycenaean civilization. The mound culture stands out in Central Europe, a complex that derived from Unetice, with not very large towns, with wooden houses, built on easily defended hills and protected by walls and moats. The burials were tumular (hence their name), with more monumental mounds than in the previous stage, they were often grouped in large necropolises and cremation became increasingly common. In the area of the Italian peninsula, the Terramara culture and the Apennine culture developed, both with strong Balkan influence, as well as the Sicula culture, closer to the Mycenaean world, which had already colonized the Aeolian Islands in that phase.
One of the most notable novelties with respect to ancient Bronze is the appearance of authentic swords with long blades and more effective hafting systems than rivets: tongue hilts whose handles are, sometimes, richly decorated with perishable materials (leather, bone and wood of various tones, which may be inlaid with gold and amber) which, fortunately, have been preserved in some specimens from the Nordic area. Tubular spearheads and heel axes also appear.
Regarding metal ornaments, their variety is innumerable: spiral bracelets, anklets, pendants, pins, rings, earrings, barrettes, brooches, etc. Special mention deserves the twisted Irish "Torque (necklace)" torcs, which from their original region spread throughout Europe, receiving the name "Tara Torques" in honor of this Gaelic sanctuary), the Hill of Tara. An exceptional work, which goes beyond the description of mere ornament, is the Trundholm solar chariot (thrown as an offering at the bottom of a swamp in Denmark).
In the Iberian Peninsula, the Argar culture reached its peak phase at that time, developing in the arid southeast (Almería and neighboring provinces).[55] The number of localized settlements reveals a strong demographic increase compared to the Millar period. They were strongly protected towns, built on easily defensible high sites, with thick walls and restricted acropolis-type areas. The burials were individual and inside homes; While in the previous phase they were made in cists, in this one they became large jars or pithoi, with very diverse trousseaus that reveal a complex social stratification. Such stratification is also reflected in the internal organization of the towns and in the urban hierarchy. Although El Argar never formed a true state, it must have generated some pre-state political form. Argaric ceramic forms are very different from those of the rest of Western Europe with carinated vessels and tall undecorated bowls. The rest of the trousseau is made up of bracelets, amber beads, swords (also different, as they maintain the solid handle system held with rivets), halberds, bracelets, amber ornaments, pins and some unmistakable silver diadems.
• - Burial in a jar from the second phase of El Argar.
• - Remains of a skull with the typical Argaric silver diadem.
• - Funerary trousseau from an Argaric tomb.
• - Argaric Cup of Caniles, Granada.
Although the Argaric world was limited to the provinces of Almería and Murcia, as well as part of Málaga and Granada, the entire southern half of the Iberian Peninsula was affected by its influence, very clear in the culture of Atalaia (southern Portugal) and in the culture of Motillas (La Mancha). As we move towards the north, the Argaric influence becomes more diffuse, although it has been confirmed that there were commercial relations with the northern regions. In the Galician-Portuguese area it seems that there were some groups closely related to the Atlantic world, as demonstrated by their artistic manifestations (the petroglyphs) or the hoards (such as the treasure of Caldas de Reyes, Pontevedra,[56] with more than 25 kg of metal objects made with alluvial gold from the peninsula, but with Breton and Irish parallels,[57] and which is considered the largest accumulation of gold in the European prehistory).[58] On the Meseta there are a series of sites (Los Tolmos de Caracena in Soria, Cogeces del Monte in Valladolid, Abia de la Obispalía in Cuenca, and others) that allow us to speak of a horizon called Protocogotas (or also Cogeces) that shows, indistinctly, the Argaric and Atlantic influence, on an epicampaniform substrate.
• - The Final Bronze (approximately 1250 BC-725 BC) is determined by the appearance and expansion of urn fields throughout almost the entire continent. The change in the funerary process did not occur suddenly nor was it uniform, with the first signs of transition being detected in Upper Bavaria (Germany) shortly before 1200 BC. C.[59][60] This change has been related to invading Indo-European peoples, to whom some archaeologists have even attributed the authorship of all the upheavals that occurred simultaneously in the eastern Mediterranean (fall of Mycenae, of the Hittites, attacks by the sea people on Egypt, destruction of Ugarit, etc.). Currently, few researchers maintain that the urn field groups were a homogeneous cultural entity; The general opinion is that it was simply a fashion that spread throughout Europe due to cultural borrowings or, in certain cases, limited movements of people. In fact, in some regions the change in funerary behavior was the only one that occurred, detecting a clear continuity with previous economic and social strategies.[61][62] The fact that the germ of this new fashion occupies the same geographical space as the culture of the mounds (from the Middle Bronze) and that of Unetice (from the Early Bronze), seems to confirm that cultural continuity really exists. On the other hand, the territory occupied by the polling stations is not unitary, as it is formed by a conglomerate of local cultures with specific regional characteristics. Some European areas (southern Iberian Peninsula, Atlantic coast and Scandinavia) were left out.
• - Various objects from the final Romanian Bronze.
• - The Marmesse breastplates, found in France.
• - «Spectacle fibula» from the final Iberian Bronze.
• - Spiral bracelet from the final Ukrainian bronze.
• - The Final Atlantic Bronze is little known: there is the paradox that hardly any settlements or necropolises have been excavated, and, on the other hand, there are many so-called caches (or caches of bronze objects intended for recasting) where pieces of almost perfect workmanship have been located. The most appreciated objects must have been the swords, at first pistiliform and at the end with a carp tongue blade. In the south of the British Isles, several towns have been discovered and, among them, Itford Hill (England) stands out, located on an elevated location, with several defensive palisades that protected a disorderly series of wooden and mud houses, with a circular plan. The necropolises show the adoption of cremation, with the ashes deposited in cinerary urns or directly on the floor of small pits under the tumulus.
• - The Avanton cone (France).
• - Embossed gold horns (Denmark).
• - Reconstruction of a home (Sweden).
• - Petroglyphs of Tanum (Sweden).
• - The cultural mosaic of the Iberian Peninsula was the result of the convergence of various traditions:.
• - Heel Ax and a ring.
Final bronze (Cogotas-I).
• - Ceramic with mouthpiece.
Final bronze (Cogotas-I).
• - Excise ceramics.
Final bronze (Cogotas-I).
• - Elbow fibula.
Final bronze (Cogotas-I).
In the Balearic Islands, and especially in Mallorca and Menorca, the first phase of the Talayotic culture developed (which reached its peak during the Iron Age), characterized by Cyclopean architecture in a series of buildings such as the talayots (or towers), the taulas "Taula (talayotic construction)") and the navetas. This phenomenon has been related to the nuraghic culture of Sardinia. There are known walled towns (such as Ses Paisses) that house talayots, neighborhoods of masonry homes and burials under the floor; There are also stepped cult constructions (perhaps temples) and even walled acropolises in places that are difficult to access.
• - Talayot
Mallorca.
• - Taula
Menorca.
• - Naveta
Menorca.
• - Ses Paisses (Mallorca)
Talayotic town.
The Iron Age is the period in which iron metallurgy was developed, a metal harder than the bronze alloy and one of the most abundant elements on our planet. The first cast iron artifacts date back to the 3rd millennium BC. C. and were found in Anatolia. They began to arrive in Europe from 1200 BC. C., during the Final Bronze Age.
Although iron ores are very abundant, its steelmaking requires a complex and different technology from that of other metals known at the time (refining, smelting, forging and tempering), which hindered its diffusion: for many centuries iron was more of an object of prestige than a raw material used in commonly used tools, so bronze was not quickly superseded. Iron did not become widespread in Europe until approximately 800 BC. C. and in most of the continent this phase would end with Romanization "Romanization (acculturation)"). Except in northern Germany and Scandinavia, where it persisted represented in the Jastorf and Viking cultures, respectively (the Vikings until around the year 1000 AD).
Until the century BC. C. only the eastern Mediterranean fell within the historical parameters. The year 776 BC. C. is recognized by the ancient Greeks as that of their first Olympiad, that is, the beginning of their history. Around the same time, in the Italian peninsula, the Villanova culture, a regional variant of the urn fields, led to the Etruscan civilization. In 753 BC C. the Romans locate the foundation of ancient Rome. This is how the classical civilizations were born, each of which had its own alphabet, all of them derived from the Phoenician (also the Iberian). In turn, the Phoenician alphabet is a simplification of cuneiform that came from an old syllabary "Syllabary (writing system)") from the port city of Ugarit (present-day Ras Shamra, north of Syria), from the second millennium. Possibly the Phoenicians were also promoters of the local processes that were giving rise to the formation of Tartessos in Andalusia, a culture about which little is known; Among other things, it may have had its own writing system, extensive social, cultural and, perhaps, state development. Judging by written sources, Phoenician explorations began at the end of the second millennium, but there is no archaeological record until the century BC. C. Around the same time, the first wave of Greek colonizers established themselves in the central Mediterranean, and in the following century, a second wave reached the Iberian Peninsula (Ampurias, Hemeroscopio, Mainake). The influence of the Phoenicians and Greeks must have been fundamental not only for the dissemination of iron metallurgy, but also for the development of societies that thus entered history.
In the rest of Europe this period is usually divided into two large phases:
The Hallstatt culture (800-450 BC) or First Iron Age in Central Europe, France and the Balkans, is considered the heir of the urn fields. This society was led by warrior aristocracies clearly reflected in the richness of their tombs: some, due to their content and structure, are clearly princely, with rich grave goods deposited in large wooden mortuary chambers. In these, the predominant funerary rite was that of burial under a mound, which was gradually imposed over cremation, although this continued to be common in peripheral areas (where we usually speak of late urn fields). At first the use of iron was a minority, but from the century BC onwards. C. became generalized. These groups maintained commercial contacts with the Mediterranean and with the steppes of eastern Europe, possibly acting as intermediaries in the amber and tin trade with the Mediterranean world.
• - Hallstatic swords with counterweight on the pommel.
• - Hallstattic Baltic amber necklace.
• - Cinerary urn with a human face (Italy).
• - Hallstattic burial necropolis with trousseau.
The La Tène culture (450 BC until the Roman conquest) or Second Iron Age in Central Europe, France, northern Spain and the British Isles. Iron had become widespread and the economy diversified, giving birth to what has been called Celtic culture.[64] The settlements were fortified and the complexity of some of them is typical of proto-urban centers (which the Romans called oppidum), with a well-differentiated social stratification, whose top was occupied by the warrior nobility. These aristocrats liked to be buried in large tombs with very ostentatious grave goods that included war chariots, ornaments, jewelry, weapons and large ceramic vessels imported from Greece and Etruria. The tomb of the princess of Vix is the best example.
• - Maximum expansion of the Celtic world.
• - Warrior head from Glauberg (Germany).
• - Crater from the Tomb of Vix (France).
• - Gundestrup silver cauldron (Denmark).
The relationship of the Tartessians (in the First Iron Age) and the Iberians (in the Second) with Phoenicians and Hellenes acted as a catalyst in the development of their respective societies, which could already be included within Protohistory.
• - The so-called castreña culture developed in the northwest of the peninsula. Durante mucho tiempo se pensó que estos grupos culturales eran célticos, pero ahora se cree que los aportes hallstátticos son menores que los atlánticos e, incluso, que los mediterráneos. Su característica distintiva es la presencia de poblados fortificados, situados en lugares altos, con varios cinturones de muralla concéntricos y, en el interior, numerosas casas de piedra circulares, sin organización urbanística (son los llamados castros "Castro (fortificación)")). They developed their own ceramics that share certain parallels with the potteries of the Meseteños); They promoted bronze metallurgy to the detriment of iron; y presentan diversas manifestaciones escultóricas, como los guerreros lusitanos y las casas ceremoniales ornadas con portadas laboriosamente esculpidas denominadas pedras formosas, en las citânias portuguesas (se esculpían en edificios cuadrangulares con función religiosa controvertida: quizás lugares de culto a los muertos, baños purificadores u hornos para la incineración de cadáveres).[65] La economía era agropecuaria, pero tenían un gathering of wild fruits, fishing and shellfish harvesting are of great importance. La cultura castreña galaico-portuguesa tuvo una larga pervivencia durante el proceso de romanización "Romanización (aculturación)") peninsular, siendo una de las zonas que más se resistieron y que mejor mantuvieron sus tradiciones.
• - Castro de Coaña in Coaña (Asturias).
• - Castro de Baroña in Puerto del Son (La Coruña).
• - Plan of the Ctividade de Terroso hillfort, Portugal.
• - «Pedra Formosa» from the Citânia de Sabroso, Portugal.
• - The interior of the Peninsula has traditionally been considered a territory of Celtic influence. However, today we know that the Central Plateau maintained, from the first moment, a strong local tradition and a horizon of urn fields never developed, although it is impossible to deny the Celtic influence. Three large cultural groups stand out prior to the Celtiberian world (protohistoric or pre-Roman):
• - Ceramics from the Soto de Medinilla facies, Medina del Campo (province of Valladolid).
• - Charred wheat from the site of «El Soto de Medinilla» (Valladolid).
• - Sword Miraveche type, site of «Las Ruedas», Padilla de Duero (Valladolid).
• - Puñal Monte Vernorio type, site of «Las Ruedas», Padilla de Duero (Valladolid).
• - Fortified and diverted entrance to the fort "Castro (fortification)") of Las Cogotas (province of Ávila).
• - Short swords with atrophied antennae, typical of the horizon Cogotas II.
• - Sword with silver and copper inlays (nielado), horizon Cogotas II.
• - Ceramic decorated "with a comb" characteristic of the