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Prehistoric art  

Term applied to the art created before the existence of written records in any given area. The prehistoric period varies worldwide, both in its duration and in the date of its ending. It is taken to begin at the time when early hominids or modern humans peopled a particular region, and it ends when written records were produced, either by the peoples of the area or by others ‘discovering’ the area and writing about it. The term was first coined by a Frenchman, Gustave d’Eichthal, in 1843 and subsequently by Daniel Wilson in 1851, rapidly replacing earlier words such as antediluvian or antehistoric. Still one of the fundamental concepts of archaeology as a useful indicator of period and cultural level, it had nevertheless come under attack by the end of the 20th century. Some scholars, particularly those in the Third World whose prehistory ended quite recently, consider the term to be Eurocentric and patronizing and argue that it implies, erroneously, that written history is somehow more reliable and more important than the oral history that has always existed in all parts of the world. In some parts of the world the term protohistoric is also employed, denoting a period between prehistory and history: for example in France it means the period from the Bronze Age to the Roman conquest, when writing was in use in other areas but not yet in Europe. In other continents it can mean a period when non-literate aboriginal peoples had access to European goods but had not yet entered into direct contact with them, or—as in China—a period when historical documentation is available but fragmentary, or—as in Mesoamerica—the period immediately before the Spanish conquest, for which historical documents and eyewitness accounts exist....