[BroJoeK]

equaviator: "If human beings were indeed making and using hand tools 300,000 years ago then I think it’s fair to say that the historic timeline of hand tools goes that far back."

By normal definition of the word "history", it began when people themselves began writing, circa 3,200 BC.
Everything before that is classified as "pre-historic".

"Pre-historic" doesn't mean we know nothing about those folks, just that we have no written records which they themselves left.

[equaviator]

So then the difference is between what had been recorded at the time and evidence being discovered and recorded now. I think it all counts as history, whether it be Nostradamus’ Quatraines, cave paintings, distant supernovae or the fossilized remains of some previously undiscovered ancient species.