Deep history is a term for the distant past of the human

Human

Humans are the only living species in the Homo genus...

 species. Proponents of deep history argue for a definition of history that rests not upon the invention of writing

Writing

Writing is the representation of language in a textual medium through the use of a set of signs or symbols . It is distinguished from illustration, such as cave drawing and painting, and non-symbolic preservation of language via non-textual media, such as magnetic tape audio.Writing most likely...

, but upon the evolution of anatomically modern humans. The concept of prehistory

Prehistory

Prehistory is the span of time before recorded history. Prehistory can refer to the period of human existence before the availability of those written records with which recorded history begins. More broadly, it refers to all the time preceding human existence and the invention of writing...

 is thus recast as an arbitrary boundary that limits the longue durée

Longue durée

The longue durée , is an expression used by the French Annales School of historical writing to designate their approach to the study of history, which gives priority to long-term historical structures over events— what François Simiand called histoire événementielle, "eventual history"— the short...

 perspective of historians, and which rests upon outmoded assumptions that history follows a teleological path beginning with the origins of civilization

Civilization

Civilization is a sometimes controversial term that has been used in several related ways. Primarily, the term has been used to refer to the material and instrumental side of human cultures that are complex in terms of technology, science, and division of labor. Such civilizations are generally...

 in Ancient Mesopotamia.

Harvard history professor Daniel Lord Smail is perhaps the most prominent advocate of deep history.