Prehistory
Peopling of the Americas: How the First People Reached America
Humans spread from Beringia throughout the Americas before the end of the last Ice Age, reaching southern Chile by about 14,500 years ago.
Era · Before c. 3000 BC
Prehistory
From the formation of Earth and the age of dinosaurs to the first cave art and monuments, before writing was invented.
Prehistory
Ohalo II: Ice Age Fisher-Hunter-Gatherer Camp on Sea of Galilee
The submerged camp gave unusually complete evidence of Ice Age huts, bedding and plant use, including early harvesting of wild cereals.
Prehistory
Ishango Bone: Notched Tally Stick from Ice Age Congo
The bone became one of the most famous early tally objects, often cited in debates about the origins of counting.
Prehistory
Lascaux Cave Paintings: Ice Age Art in the Dordogne, France
Rediscovered in 1940, the cave became the best-known example of Palaeolithic art; it was closed to the public in 1963 to protect the paintings.
Prehistory
Font-de-Gaume Cave: Polychrome Bison Still Open to Visitors
Font-de-Gaume became a key site for the study of Ice Age art and is one of the last caves with polychrome paintings still open to the public.
Prehistory
Jōmon Culture: Japan's Ancient Hunter-Gatherers and First Pottery
A long-lived culture of settled hunter-gatherers that produced some of the world's earliest pottery and gave way to the rice-farming Yayoi culture.
Prehistory
Tuc d'Audoubert Clay Bison: Unique Ice Age Sculptures in Ariège
The two clay bison became the most famous unfired clay sculptures of the Ice Age; the cave remains closed and privately protected.
Prehistory
La Marche Engraved Stones: Ice Age Human Faces from France
The engraved slabs, once doubted, became accepted as the largest group of realistic human portraits in Ice Age art.
Prehistory
Mezhyrich: The Mammoth-Bone Dwellings of Ice Age Ukraine
Mezhyrich became the best-known example of mammoth-bone architecture, showing how Ice Age people lived on the cold steppes of eastern Europe.
Prehistory
Cave of the Trois-Frères and the 'Sorcerer' Ice Age Figure
The cave's engraved Sanctuary and its 'Sorcerer' figure became central to debates about religion and shamanism in Ice Age art.
Prehistory
Monte Verde: The Chilean Site That Rewrote American Prehistory
Acceptance of Monte Verde in 1997 ended the Clovis-first model and showed that people had reached South America by about 14,500 years ago.
Prehistory
Green Sahara: The African Humid Period and Why It Ended
The Sahara turned from savanna and lakes back into desert, pushing people towards the Nile, the Sahel and oases.