Humans, as far as we can tell, have demonstrated a marked handedness throughout history, from the earliest days of prehistory, through the ancient civilizations of Egypt, Greece and Rome, to the more recent history of medieval and modern times.

Through all this long history, right-handedness has been the majority and the default handedness. Left-handedness, always in a small minority, has often been discouraged, condemned and discriminated against, at times forcefully.

For convenience, the story of handedness has been divided up into the following broad periods:

• Prehistory
• Ancient History
• Recent History