Protohistory

The term protohistory (from Greek πρωτο prōto 'first' and from Latin historĭa and this in turn from the Greek ἱστορία history) refers to a not very well defined phase that would be located between the end of prehistory and the beginning of old history. The promoter of the term has been the French archaeologist Jean Guilaine. Its temporal limits are somewhat diffuse and several interpretations are usually found:

• According to the classic, the protohistory would study those human groups of those who have written news thanks to contemporary indirect sources: from the iberos or La Tène, for example, we were told by the Greek and Roman writers. This definition limits protohistory to the Second Age of Iron.
• For French school, European protohistoric societies would be those that developed at the same time as those that already used writing in the Near East. It would be like this. recent prehistory which would range from Calcholytic to the Iron Age.
• Finally, according to a more modern and comprehensive interpretation, he would study those societies that were in the transition to written culture and, in turn, in the process of state formation. In Europe, it would also refer to the Age of Metals, but for the rest of the world it would have more dilated connotations.

Within this period, numerous semi-centralized political entities developed in Europe, which coincided with the beginning of writing and metallurgy. These societies initially produced short epigraphic documents and later long chronicles, from which point they are considered to have entered ancient history.

European protohistory

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The sources for its study are almost entirely archaeological, although there are also oral traditions and some texts by contemporary authors. Taking into account the millennia that go from the invention of writing (in different foci throughout the world, of which the Near East was the first) to its global diffusion, sources written by Greeks, Phoenicians, Hebrews or Egyptians can be used. for the study of that period (4th to 1st millennia BC) in the Old World, in those places that had not properly entered into history.