How many known years before Christ?

Answer 1

History goes back many thouands of years; prehistory long before recorded history. Some of the periods used by archaeologists for convenience are as follows, approximate and varying according to region:

Paleolithic Age (from the introduction of stone tools, 2.6 million years BCE)

Mesolithic Age (from about 20,000 BCE)

Neolithic Age (about 9500-3000 BCE)

Early Bronze Age (3000-2300 BCE)

Intermediate Bronze Age (2300-2000 BCE)

Middle Bronze Age (1800-1550 BCE)

Second half of the Middle Bronze Age (1700-1550 B.C.E.)

Late Bronze Age (1550-1200 BCE)

Iron Age I (1200-1000 BCE)

The earth itself is approximately 4.54 billion years old.

Answer

The phrase "Before Christ" as it pertains to the Julian and proleptic Gregorian calendars refers to a period with no official limit. However, the beginning of recorded history is less than ten thousand years B.C.

You will rarely if ever hear a phrase like "millions of years Before Christ" because that is virtually synonymous with "millions of years ago", since 2012 years is relatively insignificant compared to millions of years.

The Gospel of John begins "In the beginning was the Word.." Subsequent verses, including "The Word was made flesh and dwelt among us" indirectly identify the Word as the Christ. Therefore, literally speaking, according to Saint John, there was no "before Christ".