Prehistory
Prehistory is the term for the period of time from the beginning of the Earth until the appearance of the first written records. Prehistory is not a definite time, rather the period in any society before the use of writing.
According to evolutionary historians prehistory comprises the Stone age which is divided into two parts, Paleolithic and Neolithic. The Paleolithic age came first, when man harvested wild plants and animals for food. The Neolithic age followed the Paleolithic age. Farming became dominant during the Neolithic age. The dates of these ages are debated, but current evolutionary anthropological research puts the beginning of the Paleolithic at 2.5 mya, and the Neolithic at 10 kya. The Neolithic ended 5 kya.
According to evolutionists, prehistory covers about 4.5 billion years, from the formation of the Earth to the start of civilisations with writing. Young-Earth creationists deny that there is any such thing as prehistory (in a global sense), on the basis of history starting with creation. And they also say that there was no such thing as a Stone Age; rather there were stone cultures that existed for various lengths of time following the dispersal from the tower of Babel.