Prehistoric archaeologists study ancient human civilizations before written records, including nomadic and early agricultural societies. They interpret hieroglyphs and examine cave paintings to understand the transition to abstract communication. The focus is on the Neolithic period, where animal domestication and basic goods production began. Evidence is based on fossils and artifacts, leading to contentious discussions among researchers on theories. Two main arenas of thought are processualism and functionalism.
A prehistoric archaeologist is an archaeologist who studies ancient human civilizations that existed before the presence of written records. This form of archeology can vary in time scale, as the writing process reached different civilizations at different times. Generally, a prehistoric archaeologist can focus on nomadic civilizations, such as those believed to have existed in the Stone Age or Paleolithic Era before 10,000 BC. Early city-state agricultural societies are also studied by the prehistoric archaeologist, such as those that existed during the Neolithic period in the Mediterranean nation of Malta from 4,100 to 5,000 BC. Later civilizations can also be studied, such as those of ancient Sumeria and Egypt, which began to develop written records around 3100 BC.
Cultural studies involving early human civilizations are often referred to as the study of protohistory. This stage of human development is a formative and transformative period of human existence that can include some form of basic written records. Often, these records in various societies, from the Maya to the Chinese and Egyptians, take the form of pictograms composed of symbolic figures that later evolve into basic alphabets. Prehistoric archeology works, therefore, may involve the interpretation of hieroglyphs and the examination of cave paintings, which signified the transition of humanity to a stage where abstract communication became a dominant feature of society.
The timeline on which a prehistoric archaeologist focuses his efforts is usually on the transitions that occurred around the world during the Neolithic period, known as the last period of the Stone Age. It was in Neolithic times that animals were domesticated and the nomadic hunter-gatherer existence was abandoned for primitive agriculture. It was also during this period that the production of basic goods for trade, such as ceramics and textiles, began to take place.
The formation of human settlements in Neolithic times varies greatly from region to region, although the prehistoric archaeologist finds the greatest evidence of such societies in the distant past of Euro-Asia. The first human settlements at Tell Qaramel in Syria, for example, are between 10,700 and 9,400 BC, while Knossus society on Crete dates back to 7,000 BC. Other regions of the world exhibit very different dates for prehistoric societies, such as the formation of the Maya civilization in central Mexico, around 2600 BC, and research indicating that Australia’s Aboriginal societies first formed around 39,000 BC.
Evidence used to define the nature of prehistoric societies is usually based on rare fossils, artifacts, and little or no written record. This means that the prehistoric archaeologist is often left to formulate theories based on limited concrete information about his subject. The archaeological study of prehistory can be a field often open to contentious discussions among researchers about theories attributed to the purpose of artifacts and fossil sites.
The two main arenas of thought on the subject focus on processualism and functionalism. Processualism is the belief that artifacts and fossils can reveal an anthropological nature of ancient societies, or the human motivations of the inhabitants of these communities. Rather, functionalism began as an American viewpoint in archeology in the 1930s, which emphasized the role of the natural environment in determining the purpose of artifacts and fossils at excavation sites.
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