Talk:List of archaeological periods (Levant)

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This really ought to be trimmed and generalised or renamed List of archaeological periods in the Levant as it doesn't address periods elsewhere where names and dates are different. adamsan 21:33, 31 August 2005 (UTC)

Maybe we should add some discussion on how this is a general list and period labels are really meant to correlate with developmental milestones that vary from culture to culture... but I don't think there's anything fundamentally wrong with the list itself, or the title for that matter. - Bantman 22:34, August 31, 2005 (UTC)

But it gives the impression that the Byzantine period was some kind of global culture and that the prehistoric period ended in precisely 568 BC. It ought to state that these dates and divisions are only valid in one tiny portion of the world and therefore the article should recieve a more specific name as above, or be rewritten to cover the whole globe. adamsan 09:12, 1 September 2005 (UTC)

I've added discussion that the particular dates are specific to the Levant, that age dates can vary culture to culture, the historical period names are based on Levantine politics, and that archaeologists studying other cultures sometimes find this system useful (and imply that sometimes they don't). Does this address your concerns? - Bantman 17:20, September 1, 2005 (UTC)

My concern I suppose is that we're saying the list represents the most common interpretation of broad archaeological periods. In fact, there are no international standards of periodisation in archaeology let alone a most common one because cultural development varied so much. Even the very simplest iteration of three age system was developed for northern European archaeology and is not applicable elsewhere. The Americas have the Lithic, Archaic, Formative, Classic and Post Classic periods for example (as per Willey and Phillips anyway) which ran between the European mesolithic and medieval periods. Such a vastly different scheme should be mentioned in an article with such a broad title. The same goes for Australasia.

I feel that like other list articles, this page should be a long list of links to the nascent set of regional articles we have such as Japanese Paleolithic, British Iron Age or Archaic period in southeastern North America. Alternatively a broad table comparing continents could be doable but could get difficult. adamsan 15:52, 3 September 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Modern period needs reworking

The list of archeological periods not quite correct in the modern period (previous periods seems fine to me) as it concentrates purely on Middle East region. Apparently that is due to the origins of the list, but still it would be preferable to include different periods in other areas (in Europe late antiquity, early/middle/late medieval, renessaince... that sort of stuff) in order make a complete list. Unfortunately I do not have sufficient knowledge of the periods, the time they cover, and especially other areas than Europe (China and other Asia definitely needs to be on the list). Hopefully somebody could improve the list... Prantasa 13:02, 8 September 2005 (UTC)

To add to this... I find it very odd that the end of the Iron Age is dated to 586 BCE, which, if you look it up, is the year of the destruction of the Temple of Jerusalem. I suppose this is consistent with the Middle Eastern-centric list of periods in the modern era, but I think it's inappropriate to date the end of an era of human technological advancement to such a specific historical event.--anon 13 Oct 05

This list is based pretty much verbatim from the reference listed. If you would like to change the list, please find an alternate reference as a starting point. Then we can talk about what the best approach might be to address two differing sources. - Bantman 07:28, 14 October 2005 (UTC)

this is very juisy chronology, go ahead and change it. Nasz 09:48, 23 January 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Revised structure proposal

I have mocked up a start for an overall "Periods" article in tabular and index form in Talk:List of archaeological periods/temp. Please have a look and see if this provides a better structure to fit in the variety that is Regional Archeaological periods. :: Kevinalewis : ^{(Talk Page)} 11:49, 14 March 2006 (UTC)

[edit] List of archaeological periods

I have renamed and restructured these articles - so we now have a formal Levantive article, North American article and a start of one for Mesoamerica. :: Kevinalewis : ^{(Talk Page)} 12:44, 20 March 2006 (UTC)