1. The period of time before human civilization and culture for which there is no documentary evidence: The term prehistory was coined by Daniel Wilson in 1851 to cover the story of man's development before the appearance of writing.

Prehistory is succeeded by "protohistory", the period where there are some records which must still rely largely on archaeological evidence to give people a coherent account.
2. The occurrences which have lead up to a certain event or phenomenon: Grace was interested in reading more about the prehistory of capitalism, which was important for her class at school.