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| Protohistoric period | |
|---|---|
| Name | Protohistoric period |
| Start | variable by region |
| End | variable by region |
| Places | various |
Protohistoric period The protohistoric period denotes a transitional phase in which societies recorded in the archaeological record appear alongside contemporaneous references in texts produced by neighboring literate polities such as Assyria, Babylon, Egypt, Greece, and Rome. It encompasses diverse regional sequences where material culture documented by archaeologists intersects with mentions in the inscriptions of actors like Herodotus, Strabo, Tacitus, Homer, and Sargon of Akkad; the term is used in studies of Iron Age Europe, Bronze Age Anatolia, South Asian Iron Age, and other contexts.
Scholars define the protohistoric period variably for regions such as Central Asia, South Asia, Southeast Asia, East Asia, Africa, Europe, and the Americas by correlating archaeological phases like the Hallstatt culture, La Tène culture, Harappan civilization, Zhou dynasty, and Jōmon period with textual references from actors including Neo-Assyrian Empire, Achaemenid Empire, Maurya Empire, Ptolemaic Kingdom, and Han dynasty. Definitions hinge on interdisciplinary tools pioneered by figures like V. Gordon Childe, Mortimer Wheeler, Grahame Clark, and Lewis Binford and on comparative frameworks used in works such as The Cambridge Ancient History and publications of the British Museum, Institut Français d'Archéologie Orientale, and Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History.
In Western Europe protohistoric sequences include the Hallstatt culture and La Tène culture revealed in contexts studied by archaeologists associated with sites like Vix (site), Hohenasperg, Biskövitz, and referenced by Roman authors such as Julius Caesar, Tacitus, and Pliny the Elder. In South Asia Iron Age cultures including the Ganges–Yamuna doab and the Northern Black Polished Ware phase appear alongside mentions in texts like the Mahābhārata and inscriptions of the Maurya Empire and Janapada polities. In East Asia the later Shang dynasty and early Zhou dynasty phases are protohistoric where archaeological finds at Anyang and oracle bones intersect with later histories by Sima Qian and annals like the Bamboo Annals. In West Asia and Anatolia the collapse of the Hittite Empire and subsequent neo-Hittite states are protohistoric in relation to Tiglath-Pileser III, Sargon II, and Esarhaddon. In Sub-Saharan Africa protohistoric categories are invoked for states such as Aksum, Carthage (North Africa interactions), and the Kingdom of Kush when cross-referenced with sources from Ptolemaic Egypt, Roman Empire, and Arab chroniclers. In Mesoamerica and Andean regions the term is used for late formative phases like the Zapotec civilization, Mesoamerican Classic, and Moche culture where glyphic inscriptions and external contacts appear in later ethnohistoric sources such as Codex Mendoza and chronicles by Bernal Díaz del Castillo.
Dating protohistoric phases relies on radiometric techniques such as radiocarbon dating, dendrochronology associated with sequences like the Bristlecone Pine chronology, thermoluminescence of ceramics excavated at sites like Chalcolithic Catalhöyük, archaeomagnetic dating from kiln assemblages, and stratigraphic correlation using typologies developed from contexts at Knossos, Troy, Uruk, and Lalibela. Synchronisation often invokes historical anchors such as the Sothic cycle in Egyptian chronology, ^14C wiggle matching for Hallstatt plateau problems, and cross-dating against artifacts bearing inscriptions linked to rulers like Ramses II, Nebuchadnezzar II, Cyrus the Great, and Ashoka.
Material culture associated with protohistoric phases includes metallurgy (bronze and iron artifacts from contexts like Northeast Iberia and Ganges plains), ceramic assemblages exemplified by Rimmed ware, Black-figure pottery, and Red-figure pottery recovered at sites such as Agora of Athens and Paestum, monumental architecture including fortifications at Hillforts like Danebury and palatial remains at Palace of Knossos, funerary practices seen in kurgans of the Scythians and tumuli of the Etruscans, and portable art such as the Belt buckle of Sutton Hoo, Pazyryk carpet fragments, and inscriptions on stelae like the Behistun Inscription and the Rosetta Stone which provide cross-cultural reference points. Botanical and zooarchaeological evidence from sites like Çatalhöyük and Banpo informs subsistence transitions alongside artifact assemblages curated by institutions such as the Louvre, British Museum, and Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Protohistoric communities are often documented indirectly through diplomatic correspondence, tribute lists, and chronicles produced by powers such as Neo-Assyrian kings, Achaemenid satraps, Alexander the Great’s campaigns, Roman provincial governors, and Chinese imperial court records compiled by Records of the Grand Historian. Trade networks evidenced by amphorae, lapis lazuli, and tin link sites like Marseille, Tarsus, Susa, Samarqand, and Mohenjo-daro to literate centers; mercantile linkages are recorded in sources including Periplus of the Erythraean Sea and lists preserved in archives like Ugarit and Byblos. Ethnographic portrayals by Herodotus, Thucydides, and Pliny have shaped modern reconstructions but must be weighed against archaeological data from excavations led by teams from École Française d'Athènes, Deutsches Archäologisches Institut, and Archaeological Survey of India.
Transitions occur when indigenous literacy, administrative bureaucracy, or sustained appearance in external textual traditions becomes evident: examples include the adoption of writing in Phoenicia and its diffusion to Greece producing alphabets catalogued by Isidore of Seville, the inscriptional record of the Etruscan civilization preceding Roman annals such as Livy, the emergence of epigraphic records in South India with Tamil-Brahmi inscriptions linked to dynasties like the Chera dynasty, and the consolidation of state archives in Imperial China under Qin Shi Huang and Han Wudi. These processes are traced in numismatic sequences (coins of Lydia, Achaemenid coinage, Roman denarius), legal codices such as the Code of Hammurabi and bureaucratic edicts compiled in royal annals.
Interpretations of the protohistoric period have been shaped by paradigms including diffusionism advanced by scholars associated with the 19th century, processual archaeology from proponents like Lewis Binford, post-processual critiques by figures such as Ian Hodder, and world-systems analyses influenced by Immanuel Wallerstein. Debates pivot on models of state formation articulated in works by Robert Carneiro, comparative studies in The Cambridge World Prehistory, and ethnoarchaeological analogies from fieldwork by teams affiliated with Smithsonian Institution and universities like University of Oxford, University of Cambridge, Harvard University, and University of Chicago. Current research integrates ancient DNA studies from projects at Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, isotope analyses hosted by Oxford Archaeology, and digital humanities initiatives such as the Pelagios network to refine narratives of contact, identity, and the emergence of historical records.
Category:Archaeological periods