Science has no single origin. Rather, systematic methods emerged gradually over the course of tens of thousands of years,[39][40] taking different forms around the world, and few details are known about the very earliest developments. Women likely played a central role in prehistoric science,[41] as did religious rituals.[42] Some scholars use the term “protoscience” to label activities in the past that resemble modern science in some but not all features;[43][44][45] however, this label has also been criticized as denigrating,[46] or too suggestive of presentism, thinking about those activities only in relation to modern categories.[47]