moshe

Prehistory supposedly deals with Human history - before it was documented as such. A history, that is. It's divided to Stone Age, Bronze Age and Iron age. But then we have the Paleolithic, which came before the stone age, and lasted for two and a half mil. years, and it sometimes considered as prehistory as well, because it, too, is part of human history, or at least of homo history, for most of of its time.

But what about everything that came before it? Yes, I know there are a gazillion and one different eras with names like Pliocene and Mesozoic and stuff, but is there a general name for all the time that came before prehistory began? Or do you just bundle it all together and call it prehistory still, for a lack of a better term?

Thanks,

Mo