Editing Periodization (section)

==Three-age system==
{{main|Three-age system}}
In [[archeology]], the usual method for periodization of the distant [[prehistoric]] past is to rely on changes in material culture and technology, such as the [[Stone Age]], [[Bronze Age]] and [[Iron Age]] and their sub-divisions also based on different styles of material remains. Despite the development over recent decades of the ability through [[radiocarbon dating]] and other scientific methods to give actual dates for many sites or artefacts, these long-established schemes seem likely to remain in use. In many cases neighbouring cultures with writing have left some history of cultures without it, which may be used. The system further underwent subdivisions, including the 1865 partitioning of the Stone Age into [[Palaeolithic]], [[Mesolithic]] and [[Neolithic]] periods by [[John Lubbock, 1st Baron Avebury|John Lubbock]].<ref>{{cite web |title=John Lubbock's "Pre-Historic Times" is Published (1865) |url=http://www.historyofinformation.com/expanded.php?id=2556 |access-date=27 December 2016 |publisher=History of Information |archive-date=12 June 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170612125923/http://historyofinformation.com/expanded.php?id=2556 |url-status=live }}</ref>