Prehistoric

Daily life reference pages for selected prehistoric locations and periods, with entries focused on settlement, subsistence, tools, housing, and seasonal routines.

Published locations

Ice Age, Mesolithic, and Early Hunter-Gatherer Worlds

• Daily life among Chauvet cave communities (c. 32,000 BCE)
• Daily life in Upper Paleolithic Europe (c. 20,000 BCE)
• Daily life at Dolni Vestonice (c. 25,000 BCE)
• Daily life among Lascaux cave artists (c. 17,000 BCE)
• Daily life among Altamira cave communities (c. 15,000 BCE)
• Daily life in European Mesolithic river and coastal communities (c. 7,000 BCE)
• Daily life in Baltic Mesolithic communities (c. 7,000-5,000 BCE)
• Daily life at Star Carr (c. 9,000 BCE)
• Daily life at Lepenski Vir in the Danube Gorge (c. 7,000-6,000 BCE)
• Daily life in Early Holocene Australia (c. 8,000-4,000 BCE)

Near East, Africa, and Early Farming Frontiers

• Daily life in the Natufian Levant (c. 12,500 BCE)
• Daily life among Gobekli Tepe communities (c. 9,600-8,200 BCE)
• Daily life in Neolithic Anatolia (c. 7,500 BCE)
• Daily life in Catalhoyuk (c. 7,100-6,000 BCE)
• Daily life in Jericho during the Pre-Pottery Neolithic period
• Daily life in Ain Ghazal (c. 7,200-5,000 BCE)
• Daily life in the Green Sahara (c. 6,000 BCE)
• Daily life at Nabta Playa (c. 5,000-4,000 BCE)
• Daily life in the Early Neolithic Nile Valley and Fayum (c. 5,200-4,000 BCE)
• Daily life among Prehistoric Sahel pastoralists (c. 4,000-2,000 BCE)
• Daily life in Early Pastoral East Africa (c. 2,000 BCE)
• Daily life in early farming Mehrgarh (c. 6,500 BCE)
• Daily life in South Indian Neolithic ashmound communities (c. 3,000-1,200 BCE)

East Asia, Southeast Asia, and the Pacific

• Daily life in Dadiwan and early Neolithic northwest China (c. 6,000-5,000 BCE)
• Daily life in Neolithic Yellow River China (c. 4,000 BCE)
• Daily life in Neolithic Yangtze River China (c. 5,000-3,000 BCE)
• Daily life in Hongshan culture communities (c. 4,700-2,900 BCE)
• Daily life in Korea's Jeulmun period (c. 4,000 BCE)
• Daily life in Jomon Japan (c. 3,000 BCE)
• Daily life in Neolithic Taiwan (c. 3,000-2,000 BCE)
• Daily life in Neolithic Mainland Southeast Asia (c. 2,500-1,500 BCE)
• Daily life in Ban Chiang early village communities (c. 2,000-1,000 BCE)
• Daily life in the New Guinea Highlands early agricultural communities (c. 7,000-3,000 BCE)
• Daily life among Lapita Pacific voyagers (c. 1,500-1,000 BCE)

Europe and the Mediterranean Neolithic to Bronze Age

• Daily life in Linear Pottery Culture Europe (c. 5,500-4,900 BCE)
• Daily life in Vinca culture Balkan villages (c. 5,700-4,500 BCE)
• Daily life in Cucuteni-Trypillia settlements (c. 4,800-3,000 BCE)
• Daily life in Varna culture communities (c. 4,600-4,200 BCE)
• Daily life in Skara Brae and Neolithic Orkney (c. 3,000 BCE)
• Daily life among Stonehenge builders (c. 3,000-2,500 BCE)
• Daily life in Late Neolithic Britain (c. 2,500 BCE)
• Daily life in Megalithic Malta (c. 3,600-2,500 BCE)
• Daily life in Minoan pre-palatial Crete (c. 3,000-2,000 BCE)
• Daily life among Yamnaya steppe pastoralists (c. 3,300-2,600 BCE)
• Daily life among Corded Ware communities (c. 2,900-2,350 BCE)
• Daily life among Bell Beaker communities (c. 2,800-1,800 BCE)
• Daily life around the Amesbury Archer and Early Bronze Age Britain (c. 2,300 BCE)

The Americas

• Daily life at Monte Verde (c. 14,500 BCE)
• Daily life in Paleoindian North America (c. 10,500 BCE)
• Daily life among Clovis hunters (c. 11,000-10,500 BCE)
• Daily life among Folsom bison hunters (c. 9,000-8,000 BCE)
• Daily life in Eastern Woodlands Archaic North America (c. 6,000-2,000 BCE)
• Daily life in the Archaic Great Basin (c. 6,000-2,000 BCE)
• Daily life in the California Channel Islands Archaic (c. 7,000-3,000 BCE)
• Daily life on the Pacific Northwest Coast (c. 3,000-1,000 BCE)
• Daily life at Poverty Point (c. 1,700-1,100 BCE)
• Daily life in Archaic Arctic and Paleo-Eskimo communities (c. 2,500-1,000 BCE)
• Daily life among Caribbean Archaic peoples (c. 4,000-1,000 BCE)
• Daily life in Mesoamerican Archaic villages (c. 2,500-1,500 BCE)
• Daily life on the Andean Pre-Ceramic Coast (c. 3,000-1,800 BCE)
• Daily life in Norte Chico and Caral-Supe (c. 3,000-1,800 BCE)
• Daily life in Prehistoric Amazonia (c. 3,000-1,000 BCE)