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Since Herodotus, Has History Been a Valid Concept?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

T. Cuyler Young Jr.
T. Cuyler Young Jr.*
Affiliation:
Royal Ontario Museum, 100 Queens Park, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M5S 2C6
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Abstract

This paper argues: (1) that there is no meaningful philosophical and practical distinction between history and prehistory until sometime in the Lower Paleolithic; and (2) because history as we practice it is a human invention (usually attributed to Herodotus), perhaps prehistory should be reserved as a term to describe how humans dealt with the past prior to the fifth century B.C. Philosophical underpinnings for the argument are taken from Collingwood; practical examples are drawn from personal experiences in the archaeology and history of Greater Mesopotamia.

Information

Type
Research Article
Information
American Antiquity , Volume 53 , Issue 1 , January 1988, pp. 7 - 12
Copyright
Copyright © Society for American Archaeology 1988

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References

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