Harneet Singh, the author of His-story or Vibrant History has written following defintion of Pre-History and Proto-History.I am reproducing them here for the my definition section.
Pre history
The word Prehistory has been formed of two words - Pre (Latin) which means 'before' and Greek word 'historia' which means History. the term is often used to describe the period before written history. Paul Tournal originally coined the term Pré-historique in describing the findings he had made in the caves of southern France. It came into use in French in the 1830s to describe the time before writing, and was introduced into English by Daniel Wilson in 1851.Prehistory can be said to date back to the beginning of the universe itself, although the term is most often used to describe periods when there was life on Earth; dinosaurs can be described as prehistoric animals and cavemen are described as prehistoric people.
Proto history
Protohistory refers to a period between prehistory and history, during which a culture or civilization has not yet developed writing, but other cultures have already noted its istence in their own writings. For example, in Europe, the Celts and the Germanic tribes may be considered to have been protohistoric when they began appearing in Greek and Roman texts. Protohistoric may also refer to the transition period between the advent of literacy in a society and the writings of the first historians. The preservation of oral traditions may complicate matters as these can provide a secondary historical source for even earlier events. Colonial sites involving a literate group and a non-literate group, are also studied as protohistoric situations.
Harneet Singh Kochar has taken the above definition from Wikipedia. For better understand, one must read Spinning Clio Essay suggested on this very blog. Similarly the essay of Lyall is must for understanding the Philosophy of History
what about the SIndhu culture? pro/prehostory
ReplyDeleteMy dear I believe that you have not read the post. You must develop perception of historicism. Being nationalist does not mean Zingoism. What was the contribution of Harvardhan? How much do you know about Satvahanas, Rashtrakutas, Cholas, Cheras? Why did India succumbed to wave of Turkish arrival? Why did Buddhist disappear? Why was Clive successful against Bengal? Who was Jaipal? Sindhu Culture can be defined. However, History is set of questions in present. History is an interpretation. India has miserably failed on those issue on scientific explanation. Secondly about terms are core terms. It is part of part of terminology in the craft of history. Only good thing is that you have asked a question. However, I wonder who far is you aware about historic evaluation.
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