Prehistory, also called pre-literary history, [1] is the period of human history between the first known use of stone tools by hominins c. 3.3 million years ago and the beginning of recorded history with the invention of writing systems.
For roughly 2.5 million years, humans lived on Earth without leaving a written record of their lives—but they left behind other kinds of remains and artifacts.
World History Encyclopedia content on Prehistoric.
Prehistoric, as one would imagine, simply means a time in history that was not recorded by man. Not only does this mean that prehistoric times included humans, but in fact, make up the majority of our time here on Earth.