{i} period before written records, time before the advent of historical documentation
the time during the development of human culture before the appearance of the written word
That part of the past beginning with the emergence of human beings and continuing until the introduction of written records Prehistory begins and ends at different times in different parts of the world For example, in Australia prehistory begins with the first human arrivals during the Upper or late Pleistocene, and continues until the time of European colonization