Protohistoria

Protohistory is the transitional period between prehistory and history for a given culture, defined by the presence of some written evidence but without a fully developed, locally produced historiography. In protohistoric contexts, writing may appear in neighboring literate civilizations who describe or document the culture, or there may be limited local inscriptions or artifacts that provide a textual dimension to study. The term is regionally defined and temporally variable, since different societies encountered writing at different times.

In practice, protohistory relies on multiple sources: inscriptions and coins, external accounts by Greeks, Romans, Chinese, or other nearby literate observers, as well as archaeological material that can be correlated with textual references. It is the phase in which archaeology and early documentary sources intersect, enabling reconstruction of state formation, social structure, religion, and contact networks.

Examples: in parts of Europe, protohistory covers the late Bronze Age to early Iron Age when some cultures are described by external authors but lack a continuous indigenous record; in the Near East and the Caucasus, it covers intervals where domestic writing emerges but not yet a comprehensive local historiography; in the Americas, the term is used less consistently due to later and uneven access to native writing; in many regions, protohistory ends with the emergence of sustained historical writing or the advent of colonial chronicles.

Critique: the label is debated, and regional usage varies. It remains a practical category to connect archaeology with written sources during transitions from prehistory to history.