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When we refer to “prehistory”, do we have to qualify which civilization it's from? In other words, prehistory in Europe/Near East is quite a bit different in the timeline than prehistory in the Americas. I am asking this because I saw the following text on a link to a story about a canoe that was found in Florida:ANCIENT FIND? Florida boy, 7, may have found prehistoric canoeThe actual headline of the story is: "Florida boy, 7, finds ancient canoe while scuba diving"So by "prehistoric" I was imagining a canoe that went back thousands of years to the time of what I refer to as the prehistoric era (e.g. before about 3200 B.C.). However, in the story it says this:
Byrd took samples to carbon date the canoe, which some believe could be several hundred years old, and to find out what kind of wood was used to build it.
but then this as well:
"It's really hard to tell if they are prehistoric or historic. We use to think that the more refined canoes came later, but that is not always the case. People have been living in this area for thousands of years, so that is why we are doing carbon dating."
At the end of the day, I'm left wondering if a canoe that's only hundreds of years old, but before the arrival of writing in the Americas, could legitimately be called "prehistoric".
When we (historians) talk about the history of America, where do we start? It's usually around the 15th century because we have no written record before that. Most Native Americans didn't keep any (probably because most of them were so nomadic, but that's another topic). Perhaps Central and South America are a bit before that because the Mayans and Incans have a written and/or detailed archeaological record.So yes, if that canoe is before the 15th century, then it is prehistoric.
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