Definitions for prehistoric
ˌpri hɪˈstɔr ɪk, -ˈstɒr-, ˌpri ɪ-pre·his·toric

Princeton's WordNetRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. prehistoric, prehistoricaladjective

   belonging to or existing in times before recorded history

   "prehistoric settlements"; "prehistoric peoples"

2. prehistoricadjective

   of or relating to times before written history

   "prehistoric archeology"

3. prehistoricadjective

   no longer fashionable

   "my mother has these prehistoric ideas about proper clothes"

WiktionaryRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. prehistoricadjective

   Of relating to the epoch before written record.

2. prehistoricadjective

   Nonmodern.

3. Etymology: From préhistorique.

WikipediaRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. prehistoric

   Prehistory, also known as pre-literary history, is the period of human history between the use of the first stone tools by hominins c. 3.3 million years ago and the beginning of recorded history with the invention of writing systems. The use of symbols, marks, and images appears very early among humans, but the earliest known writing systems appeared c. 5000 years ago. It took thousands of years for writing systems to be widely adopted, with writing spreading to almost all cultures by the 19th century. The end of prehistory therefore came at very different times in different places, and the term is less often used in discussing societies where prehistory ended relatively recently. In the early Bronze Age, Sumer in Mesopotamia, the Indus Valley Civilisation, and ancient Egypt were the first civilizations to develop their own scripts and to keep historical records, with their neighbors following. Most other civilizations reached the end of prehistory during the following Iron Age. The three-age division of prehistory into Stone Age, Bronze Age, and Iron Age remains in use for much of Eurasia and North Africa, but is not generally used in those parts of the world where the working of hard metals arrived abruptly from contact with Eurasian cultures, such as Oceania, Australasia, much of Sub-Saharan Africa, and parts of the Americas. With some exceptions in pre-Columbian civilizations in the Americas, these areas did not develop complex writing systems before the arrival of Eurasians, so their prehistory reaches into relatively recent periods; for example, 1788 is usually taken as the end of the prehistory of Australia. The period when a culture is written about by others, but has not developed its own writing system is often known as the protohistory of the culture. By definition, there are no written records from human prehistory, which we can only know from material archaeological and anthropological evidence: prehistoric materials and human remains. These were at first understood by the collection of folklore and by analogy with pre-literate societies observed in modern times. The key step to understanding prehistoric evidence is dating, and reliable dating techniques have developed steadily since the nineteenth century. Further evidence has come from the reconstruction of ancient spoken languages. More recent techniques include forensic chemical analysis to reveal the use and provenance of materials, and genetic analysis of bones to determine kinship and physical characteristics of prehistoric peoples.

ChatGPTRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. prehistoric

   Prehistoric refers to the period of time before recorded history or the invention of writing systems, typically classified as the time before the development of ancient civilizations. This era is often marked by early human activities, the formation of early cultures and societies, and the use of primitive tools and technologies. The study of prehistoric times uses methods from archaeology, anthropology, and paleontology.

Webster DictionaryRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. Prehistoricadjective

   of or pertaining to a period before written history begins; as, the prehistoric ages; prehistoric man

Chambers 20th Century DictionaryRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. Prehistoric

   prē-his-tor′ik, adj. relating to a time before that treated of in history.—n. Prēhis′tory, history prior to record—the Ger. Urgeschichte.

Editors ContributionRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. prehistoricadjective

   Referring to a time period before the earliest beginnings of written history. While written accounts of past events in a modern sense fulfilling modern criteria (e.g. accuracy, no political or religious agenda, no bias, reliable eye witness testimony, marking of rumor, hearsay and conjecture as such et c.) are much younger, "historic" usually includes all written accounts that can reveal anything about early human civilizations. Scholars therefore will set a different time for the end of prehistory depending on what civilization they are dealing with. Since written accounts are out of the picture by definition, prehistory has to be studied and examined by other means. Academic disciplines capitalizing on such methods are e.g. archaeology and paleontology.

   A collection of prehistoric tools and weapons was unearthed near what appears to be an ancient cave dwelling.

   Etymology: Latin prae , before Latin Historia , report, tale, Greek ἱστορία, knowledge aquired by investigation

   
   

   Submitted by rhythmosaur on April 19, 2022  

Usage in printed sourcesFrom: 

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How to pronounce prehistoric?

1. Alex

   US English

   David

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   Mark

   US English

   Daniel

   British

   Libby

   British

   Mia

   British

   Karen

   Australian

   Hayley

   Australian

   Natasha

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   Veena

   Indian

   Priya

   Indian

   Neerja

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   Zira

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   Oliver

   British

   Wendy

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   Fred

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   Tessa

   South African

How to say prehistoric in sign language?

Numerology

1. Chaldean Numerology

   The numerical value of prehistoric in Chaldean Numerology is: 5

2. Pythagorean Numerology

   The numerical value of prehistoric in Pythagorean Numerology is: 5

Examples of prehistoric in a Sentence

1. Stephan Tual:

   Bitcoin is outdated technology - almost prehistoric by crypto standards, it's because of petty quarrels such as these that it hasn't been able to evolve in five years.

2. Rasmus Andreasen:

   In areas with farming, one should be very careful when using strontium isotopes to trace the origin and movement of prehistoric people.

3. Julie Dunne:

   These very small, evocative, vessels give us valuable information on how and what babies were fed thousands of years ago, providing a real connection to mothers and infants in the past, similar vessels, although rare, do appear in other prehistoric cultures( such as Rome and ancient Greece) across the world. Ideally, we'd like to carry out a larger geographic study and investigate whether they served the same purpose.

4. Ronit Lupu:

   On completion of the excavations at Shu?fat, it is quite evident that there was a thriving settlement in the Jerusalem area in ancient times. Thousands of years later, the buildings uncovered are of a standard that would not fall short of Jerusalem’s architecture, this discovery represents a highly significant addition to our research of the city and the vicinity. Apart from the pottery, the fascinating flint finds attest to the livelihood of the local population in prehistoric times: Small sickle blades for harvesting cereal crops, chisels and polished axes for building, borers and awls, and even a bead made of carnelian (a gemstone), indicating that jewelry was either made or imported.

5. Jeff Melvoin:

   First I thought it was numbness, shock. The inability to believe that a just God could allow someone to destroy a gold mine of prehistoric knowledge for a year's worth of Salisbury steak...Life is a mystery. One man's life- altering experience is another man's tenderloin.

Popularity rank by frequency of use

References

1. ^ Princeton's WordNet
   http://wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn?s=prehistoric
2. ^ Wiktionary
   https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Prehistoric
3. ^ Wikipedia
   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prehistoric
4. ^ ChatGPT
   https://chat.openai.com
5. ^ Webster Dictionary
   https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/prehistoric
6. ^ Chambers 20th Century Dictionary
   https://www.gutenberg.org/files/37683/37683-h/37683-h.htm#:~:text=prehistoric
7. ^ Usage in printed sources
   https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=prehistoric