Prehistoric archaeologists use cultural artifacts like cave paintings in Lascaux, France, to reconstruct prehistoric human behavior.
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. In general, a prehistoric archaeologist may focus on nomadic civilizations, such as those believed to have existed in the Stone Age or Paleolithic before 10,000 BC. The first agricultural societies of the city-states are also studied by the prehistoric archaeologist, such as those that existed during the Neolithic, in the Mediterranean nation of Malta from 4100 BC to 5000 BC Later civilizations can also be studied, such as those of the ancient Sumer and Egypt, which began to develop written records around 3100 BC.
Archaeologists who have studied Stonehenge, a megalithic site in Britain, have discovered a number of artifacts that shed light on the late Neolithic.
Cultural studies involving early human civilizations are often called protohistory studies. This stage of human development is both a formative and transformational period in human existence, which may include some forms of basic written records. Often these records in various societies, from the Mayans to the Chinese to the Egyptians, take the form of pictographic writing made up of symbolic figures that later become basic alphabets. Prehistoric archeology works, therefore, may involve the interpretation of hieroglyphics and the examination of cave paintings, which signified humanity’s transition to a stage in which abstract communication became a dominant feature of society.
Archaeologists study prehistoric cemeteries, such as the megalithic dolmens that can be found throughout Ireland, for clues about how people lived.
The timeline that a prehistoric archaeologist focuses their efforts on is usually the transitions that took place around the world during the Neolithic period, known as the Late Stone Age period. It was during the Neolithic that animals were domesticated and the nomadic existence of hunter-gatherers 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.
Stone tools discovered by archaeologists can be used to date human settlements.
The formation of human settlements in the Neolithic period varies greatly from one region to another, 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, Syria, for example, date from 10,700 to 9,400 BC. C., while the society of Knossus in Crete dates back to 7,000 a. Other regions of the world have exhibited very different dates for prehistoric societies, such as the formation of the early Mayan civilization in central Mexico around 2600 BC. C., and research indicating that Aboriginal societies in Australia first formed around 39,000 B.C.
The evidence used to define the nature of prehistoric societies is often based on rare fossils, artifacts, and little or no written records. This means that the prehistoric archaeologist is often forced to formulate theories based on limited solid information on his subject. The archaeological study of prehistory can be a field often open to controversial debates among researchers about the theories attributed to the purpose of artifacts and fossil beds.
The two main arenas of thought on the subject focus on Processualism and Functionalism. Proceduralism is the belief that artifacts and fossils can reveal the anthropological nature of ancient societies, or the human motivations of the inhabitants of those communities. Functionalism instead began as an American view of archeology in the 1930s that emphasized the role of the natural environment in determining the purpose of artifacts and fossils at dig sites.