On Nov 5, 2012, at 1:37 PM, Charlie wrote:
In other words, the iron age.
"Iron Age" is a term that has nothing at all to do with metallurgy. It is a term of art used by archaeologists to provide a chronological sequence into which to sort the "styles" they claim to recognize in potsherds excavated at various sites (none of which contain anything like a stratified sequence of all the periods, like "Early Iron I, Late Bronze III, etc.) throughout the Mediterranean world. Much earlier, "Iron Age" was the term used by mythistorians from Hesiod to Ovid to denote the fourth in a declining sequence of human epochs-- Golden Age, Silver Age, Age of Heroes, Iron Age--separated by catastrophic episodes of extraterrestrial ("divine" or "heavenly") origin. In neither usage does the term "iron age" signify anything about technology, let alone "progress."
Shane Mage This cosmos did none of gods or men make, but it always was and is and shall be: an everlasting fire, kindling in measures and going out in measures. Herakleitos of Ephesos
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