Back ما قبل التاريخ بإيطاليا Arabic Prehistòria a Itàlia Catalan Urgeschichte Italiens German Prehistoria en Italia Spanish Préhistoire de l'Italie French איטליה הקדם-רומית HE Նախնադարյան Իտալիա Armenian Italia preistorica e protostorica Italian 이탈리아의 선사 시대 Korean Рана историја на Италија Macedonian
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The prehistory of Italy spans from the earliest evidence of human presence around 850,000 BCE to the emergence of written records and Roman state formation by approximately 400 BCE. This extended timeframe encompasses multiple cultural and technological transformations across the Italian Peninsula and surrounding islands, from mobile hunter-gatherer bands to complex agricultural societies capable of metallurgy, monument-building, and long-distance exchange.
Italian prehistory is traditionally divided into cultural phases: the Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic, Copper Age, Bronze Age, and Iron Age. Each period reflects major shifts in environment, economy, and social organization, shaped by glacial cycles, sea-level changes, and population movements. The study of these developments relies on interdisciplinary evidence from archaeology, paleogenetics, geoarchaeology, and environmental science, given the absence of written sources until the Iron Age.
While Neolithic farming emerged earliest in the south and along coastal zones, central and northern regions maintained more traditional foraging and mixed economies well into the sixth millennium BCE. By the Copper and Bronze Ages (c. 3600–950 BCE), regional societies displayed increasing complexity through metallurgy, fortified settlements, elite burials, and participation in Mediterranean trade networks. Notable cultures include the Terramare culture in the Po Valley, the Nuragic civilization in Sardinia, and the early Villanovan culture in central Italy.
This remarkable cultural diversity and adaptive capacity would become a defining characteristic of the Italian peninsula. Regional variation is especially evident in the archaeological record: alpine transhumance patterns in the north, pile-dwelling villages in the plains, and monumental stone architecture and maritime trade in the islands. Some communities developed early forms of urbanization, or "proto-urban centers", marked by spatial planning and specialized production.
These prehistoric developments laid the groundwork for Italy’s first historical civilizations. The legacy of prehistoric Italy endures not only in material remains but in the cultural foundations of the Etruscans, Italic peoples, and Ancient Rome.