WHO KNEW?

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Q: I’m wondering what the difference is between something that is ‘historic’ and something that is ‘pre-historic’. What’s the dividing line between the two?
                                         - Old and getting older

Dear Older:

The answer to your question comes from the experts in the field of ‘old’, the Department of Archaeology. In North America, the term prehistoric typically implies before European contact while historic means after European contact, according to department head Margaret Kennedy. Because there are phases of contact, she said a third term is also used – protohistoric describes, for example, an archaeological site where European trade goods or disease vectors are evident prior to the actual presence of Europeans.

She added that archaeologists are “very sensitive to the fact that pre-historic is a very biased term that implies Aboriginal people have no history so we tend not to use it if we can help it.”

In Europe and other parts of the world, the terms have different meanings because of the age of the cultures, she said.

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