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Q4. Describe the brief history of development of prehistoric anthropology
Researches
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Ans. When we speak about the history of archaeology, we ftequcntly mean the
development of new techniques of excavation and analysis, outstanding disc overies that
have attracted public interest, or the gradual improvement of our understanding of the
past. The present article is concerned with none of these, but instead will attempt to
examine the evolution of the basic theoretical concepts that underlie the discipline. It is
my opinion that these concepts constitute a sensitive measure of the progress and
achievements of prehistoric archaeology at any given period.
The two concepts that will be examined arc ‘culture’ and ‘society’. The former, although
it has been viewed differently at different periods, has been the key concept of rehistoric
archaeology as long as it has been an independent discipline; the latter has become of
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interest to archaeologists only recently and the importance accorded it here will require
cxplanition. Both of these concepts are ones that prehistoric archaeology shares with
social and cultural anthropology; hence an examination of their role in the former
discipline must involve, at least to some degree, a consideration of the relationship
between the major branches of anthrop ology.
Although the origin of prehistoric archaeology can be traced back to the Italian
Renaissance, the actual investigations of the remains started only in the eighteenth
century. The study of prehistory was revolutionary indeed as it not only challenged the
predominant notions of the day but questioned the very basic structure of the Christian
theology. West Asian religions provided a theory of creation which tried to explain the
human existence on the Earth. The story of creation in six days provided the theoretical
context for any consideration of ancient things (Renfrew and Bahn, 2007). The very laity
notions of prehistory could not be formed without challenging these religious tenets.
Prehistoric archaeology owes its existence to the thinkers of the Enlightenment period
and scientific revolutions of various areas of research. Prominent among these
contributors were astronomers such as Galileo and Copernicus who presented an
entirely new world view to the academia and laity of the day. The other equally
important discipline was geology.
Prehistoric archaeology had its seeds in the works of early antiquarians in northern
Europe. These antiquarians such as Richard Colt Hoare directed their investigations to
burial mounds to compensate the paucity of traces of early literate civilizations in that
region.
During the early days of the Renaissance, chipped stone tools were noticed all over
Europe. They were eventually collected but could not be explained by the intelligentsia
of the time. John Frere in 1797 realized that these chipped stone implements were
creations of human beings. He talked about a period of a very remote past when metals
were not in use (Renfrew and Bahn, 2007). Glyn Daniel (1962) called this observation
by Frere “one of the first facts in a prehistory based on archaeology”.

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