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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The three-age system is a conceptual division of human prehistory into three consecutive time periods used in archaeology and anthropology. Each period is named after the most technologically sophisticated cutting-tool technology available in the period:
- The Stone Age (earliest)
- The Bronze Age
- The Iron Age (latest)
The three ages are fundamental concepts in archaeology and are used as broad categories for dividing prehistory globally. The modern version of the system originated in the 1830s with Danish archaeologist Christian Jürgensen Thomsen (1788–1865) and was based on the Typology (archaeology) classification of Danish archaeological finds in the Museum of Northern Antiquities in Copenhagen (later the National Museum of Denmark). The system has gradually become more sophisticated and been subdivided into various regional sub-categories. The system's origins and development has created much debate among archaeologists. The system's strength and effectiveness is that allows the clear and unambiguous distinction of archaeological materials which tend to be very high survival-rates in the archaeological record. However, these tools or objects may not have had primacy in ancient societies that they are given in popular culture.