Prehistory Facts for Kids

Massive stone pillars at Göbekli Tepe, in southeast Turkey, built by early Neolithic people 11,000 years ago.

A prehistoric man and boy.

A person in the wilderness during prehistoric times.

A Dugout canoe.

Neolithic tools like axe heads and chisels. These stone tools were polished, not just chipped.

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

Prehistory is the long time before people started to write things down. The word comes from two Ancient Greek words: "pro" (meaning "before") and "historia" (meaning "history").

A French scientist named Paul Tournal first used the French word Préhistorique around 1830. He found old objects made by humans in caves in France that were more than ten thousand years old. Later, Daniel Wilson used the word in English in 1851.

This term usually refers to the period from about 12,000 BC to 3000 BC, which is mostly the Neolithic Age. Sometimes, "prehistoric" can also describe much older times, but scientists have more specific names for those periods.

It's harder to learn about prehistoric people because they didn't leave written records. We learn about prehistory through archaeology. This means studying things like old tools, bones, buildings, and cave drawings. Prehistory ends at different times in different places, depending on when people in that area began to write.

Life in Prehistoric Times
How We Study Prehistory
Key Moments in Earth's History
Important Times for People
Images for kids
See also

Life in Prehistoric Times

In the older Stone Age, people lived in tribes. They often lived in caves or in tents made from animal skins. They used simple tools made from wood and bones. They also made cutting tools from stones like flint, which they used for hunting and making other things.

People learned to make fire. They used fire for cooking and to stay warm. They made clothing from animal skins and later by weaving fibers together. Society started to become more complex when people began doing different jobs. This is called the division of labour. When people specialized in jobs, they started to depend on each other, which led to more organized civilizations.

How We Study Prehistory

Many sciences help us learn about prehistory. Paleontology studies ancient life forms, while geology looks at Earth's physical structure. Anthropology studies human societies and cultures, and archaeology examines the things people left behind.

Archaeologists dig up and study objects from prehistory to understand what life was like. Anthropologists look at how people behaved to figure out why they did certain things.

After people started to record events, first with simple drawings called pictographs and then with writing, it became much easier to know what happened. This is when history officially began. These early records tell us about leaders like Kings and Queens, important events like floods and wars, and what people did every day.

The time when prehistory ended and history began was different around the world. It depended on when people in a region started writing and if their records survived. For example, in places like Mesopotamia, China, and Ancient Egypt, records go back to very early times (around 3200 BCE in Ancient Egypt). But in New Guinea, prehistory lasted much longer, ending around 1900.

Key Moments in Earth's History

4.5 billion years ago: Our planet, Earth, formed from smaller rocks orbiting the sun.
3.5 billion years ago: The first very simple and tiny forms of life appeared in the oceans.
600 million years ago: The first animals developed, also in the seas.
500 million years ago: The first plants and animals started living on land.
230 million years ago: The first dinosaurs appeared.
65 million years ago: Dinosaurs disappeared, and mammals became the main animals.
30 million years ago: The first apes appeared.
2.5 million years ago: The first early humans appeared.

Important Times for People

2.5 million years ago: The Lower Paleolithic Age began. Early humans like Australopithecus lived. They made tools from bones and stones and built simple shelters from branches.
1 million years ago: Homo erectus lived. These early humans made hand axes and wooden spears.
250,000 years ago: The first Homo sapiens (modern people) appeared. People learned to make fire and used bolas for hunting large animals like elephants.
100,000 years ago: The Middle Palaeolithic Age. Neanderthal people lived. They lived in caves, made cave drawings, and began to bury their dead.
40,000 years ago: The Upper Palaeolithic Age. Cro-Magnon people lived. They made spears from antlers, built houses from animal skins, and created cave paintings and clay figures. They also made needles from antlers and wore jewellery.
10,000 years ago: The last Ice age ended.
10,000 BC – 4000 BC: The Mesolithic Age. In North-west Europe, people started using bows and arrows. They also used dogs to help with hunting and carrying things.
9,000 BC: The Neolithic Age began. In the Near East, people started farming, growing crops, and raising farm animals instead of just hunting and gathering.
7,000 BC: People in South-west Europe began using copper to make tools.
6,000 BC: The British Isles separated from mainland Europe.
3,300 BC – 1,200 BC: The Bronze Age (in Britain). People learned to make tools from bronze.
2,580 BC: The Egyptians built the Great Pyramids in Giza. In the Middle East, people started using iron and making plows.
2,400 BC: People built Stonehenge in England.
1,200 BC – 400 AD: The Iron Age (in Britain). People made tools from iron. This period also saw the rise and fall of the Roman Empire.