Prehistoric Meteor

Prehistory

Prehistory, sometimes referred to as pre-literary history, is the period of human history between the first known use of stone tools by hominins c. 3.3 million years ago and the beginning of recorded history with the invention of writing systems. The use of symbols, marks, and images appears very early among humans, but the earliest known writing systems appeared c. 5,200 years ago. The adoption of writing across the globe was a gradual process, so that the end of prehistory occurred at different times in different places, and the term is less often used in discussing societies where prehistory ended relatively recently. The period when a culture is written about by others but has not developed its own writing system is often known as the protohistory of the culture.

Meteor

A meteor, known colloquially as a shooting star, is a glowing streak of a small body going through Earth's atmosphere, after being heated to incandescence by collisions with air molecules in the upper atmosphere, creating a streak of light via its rapid motion and sometimes also by shedding glowing material in its wake. Meteors typically occur in the mesosphere at altitudes from 76–100 kilometres. The root word meteor comes from the Greek μετεωρίτης (meteōrítēs), meaning "high in the air".

prehistoric

Adjective

1. Of or relating to the epoch before written record.
2. Ancient; very old, outdated, etc.

meteor

Noun

1. An atmospheric or meteorological phenomenon. These were sometimes classified as aerial or airy meteors (winds), aqueous or watery meteors (hydrometeors: clouds, rain, snow, hail, dew, frost), luminous meteors (rainbows and aurora), and igneous or fiery meteors (lightning and shooting stars). .mw-parser-output .defdate{font-size:smaller}
2. A fast-moving streak of light in the night sky caused by the entry of extraterrestrial matter into the earth's atmosphere; a shooting star or falling star.

Verb

1. To move at great speed.