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1500–1750 CE

Period · North America — Great Plains

Protohistoric

1500–1750 CE

Protohistoric denotes the interval when European trade goods reach a region before sustained written records, roughly 1500 to 1750 in the interior of North America. Sites yield glass beads, brass and iron alongside native pottery and stone tools. The term is used across the Plains, Southeast and Great Lakes.

Dates1500–1750 CE
RegionNorth America — Great Plains
PeriodO definition1540–1640 CE — Digital Index of North American Archaeology (DINAA) (2012)· PeriodO — Periods, Organized

Cultures

Elsewhere

Cite this article

Stratum Study. "Protohistoric" (Period). Stratum Study pack 2026.09, as of 2026-09-21. https://stratum.black/study/periods/protohistoric. Accessed 2026-09-21.

BibTeX · CSL-JSON

@misc{stratum-protohistoric,
  title        = {Protohistoric},
  author       = {{Stratum Study}},
  howpublished = {\url{https://stratum.black/study/periods/protohistoric}},
  year         = {2026},
  note         = {Period article, Stratum Study pack 2026.09, as of 2026-09-21; sources: stratum, periodo. Accessed 2026-09-21.}
}

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Sources for this article: Stratum editorial (Stratum editorial);PeriodO — Periods, Organized (CC0). As of 2026-09-21; Study pack 2026.09. Data reproduced under the licences shown; text in Stratum's own words unless a section names its source.

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