Nicholas Mahudel
Encyclopedia
Nicholas Mahudel was a French
antiquary
interested in prehistoric research. He proposed the chronological prehistoric sequence stone age
- Bronze Age
- Iron Age
.
With his work Three Successive Ages of Stone, Bronze, and Iron (1734), he influenced fellow antiquaries, notably William Borlase
who further developed this idea.
During the 18th century still, controversy was vivid as to whether thunder-stones had been made by men or were actually fossil
s. Mahudel, member of the Académie des Inscriptions http://www.aibl.fr/us/sommaire/som.html, presented several of those stones and showed that they been evidently been cut by the hand of man. "An examination of them," he said, "affords a proof of the efforts of our earliest ancestors to provide for their wants, and to obtain the necessaries of life."
He established the stone - bronze - iron sequence after he had compared several burial sites. He noticed that graves with decayed urn
s largely featured bronze
items, whereas iron
was found in more recent ones.
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
antiquary
Antiquarian
An antiquarian or antiquary is an aficionado or student of antiquities or things of the past. More specifically, the term is used for those who study history with particular attention to ancient objects of art or science, archaeological and historic sites, or historic archives and manuscripts...
interested in prehistoric research. He proposed the chronological prehistoric sequence stone age
Stone Age
The Stone Age is a broad prehistoric period, lasting about 2.5 million years , during which humans and their predecessor species in the genus Homo, as well as the earlier partly contemporary genera Australopithecus and Paranthropus, widely used exclusively stone as their hard material in the...
- Bronze Age
Bronze Age
The Bronze Age is a period characterized by the use of copper and its alloy bronze as the chief hard materials in the manufacture of some implements and weapons. Chronologically, it stands between the Stone Age and Iron Age...
- Iron Age
Iron Age
The Iron Age is the archaeological period generally occurring after the Bronze Age, marked by the prevalent use of iron. The early period of the age is characterized by the widespread use of iron or steel. The adoption of such material coincided with other changes in society, including differing...
.
With his work Three Successive Ages of Stone, Bronze, and Iron (1734), he influenced fellow antiquaries, notably William Borlase
William Borlase
William Borlase , Cornish antiquary, geologist and naturalist, was born at Pendeen in Cornwall, of an ancient family . From 1722 he was Rector of Ludgvan and died there in 1772.-Life and works:...
who further developed this idea.
During the 18th century still, controversy was vivid as to whether thunder-stones had been made by men or were actually fossil
Fossil
Fossils are the preserved remains or traces of animals , plants, and other organisms from the remote past...
s. Mahudel, member of the Académie des Inscriptions http://www.aibl.fr/us/sommaire/som.html, presented several of those stones and showed that they been evidently been cut by the hand of man. "An examination of them," he said, "affords a proof of the efforts of our earliest ancestors to provide for their wants, and to obtain the necessaries of life."
He established the stone - bronze - iron sequence after he had compared several burial sites. He noticed that graves with decayed urn
Urn
An urn is a vase, ordinarily covered, that usually has a narrowed neck above a footed pedestal. "Knife urns" placed on pedestals flanking a dining-room sideboard were an English innovation for high-style dining rooms of the late 1760s...
s largely featured bronze
Bronze
Bronze is a metal alloy consisting primarily of copper, usually with tin as the main additive. It is hard and brittle, and it was particularly significant in antiquity, so much so that the Bronze Age was named after the metal...
items, whereas iron
Iron
Iron is a chemical element with the symbol Fe and atomic number 26. It is a metal in the first transition series. It is the most common element forming the planet Earth as a whole, forming much of Earth's outer and inner core. It is the fourth most common element in the Earth's crust...
was found in more recent ones.