Since the resurgence began, more than 300 years ago, humanity has yearned to order and understand our past. Much of the records of the ancient past are long gone. But the general outlines remain. Current historical practice divides the past into the following ages. Each age is here described by a definition as well as an assessment of how much is known an the age, and from what sources.
Prehistoric Age – This covers all time leading up to the widespread use of the first common tools. It is erroneously thought of s the ‘stone age’ although the use of stone tools falls under the craftwork age. Little is known of humans in this time other than they evolved from other hominins.
Craftwork Age – This age spans from the first widespread and replicable tool use and manufacture up until the first forging of metal on a widespread basis. While the term ‘stone age’ applies in part, wood, string and many other non-metal tool materials were widely used as well. Humans I this age are known by their tools and some sparse records of cave paintings and glyphs, though most of those are lost.
Metalwork Age – This age encompasses the first widespread forging of metals up to the first widespread manufacture of complex machinery. The first written records date from this age. We know much more abrupt the metalwork age than the older ages. Copper smelting around 10,000 years ago shows the barest beginnings and the age encompasses the Egyptian, Mesopotamian, Chinese, Mayan, Greek, Roman, Umayyad, Aztec, and Incan empires are flourished and died in this age. Records are sketchy and largely secondary accounts written down centuries later.
Mechanical Age – This age stretches from the first widespread complex machines up until the widespread use of electricity. Since so much more is known about this age, it is harder to pinpoint its beginning. Accounts of the Roman and Chinese empires show complex machines that might qualify. But whether we count from Roman or Tang Dynasty days, by the time exploration ships began making widespread trade voyages and the printing press was making books a commodity, the mechanical age was well underway. This age saw the rise of factories and the idea of the nation-state, especially in Europe and the Americas.
Electrical Age – Little is known for sure of how electricity was first developed. Odd myths and legends of Benjamin Franklin, Luigi Galvani, Thomas Edison and Nikola Tesla make it hard to separate fantastic stories of exploding elephants from factual accounts of science. However the age can roughly be defined as beginning with the widespread deployment of electric lighting and ending with the collapse of the great generators and the worldwide blackout. It is characterized by the great federations like the European Union, the United States, the African Congress and others.
Delian Age (or sub-age) – This age coincides with the latter part of the electric age and ends at the same point. It is properly considered a sub-age, but is of such significance and character that it is regularly treated separately. It starts with the rise of the Citadel form of government, where large regional cities pulled in most of the population and power. Debates still rage on how much this form of governance stagnated human development by providing too comfortable of a safety net. However, it is certain that just such a debate led to the revolt of the heretics and those revolts caused the worldwide blackout among other disasters.
Dark Age – Traditionally dated from the worldwide blackout, but more accurately starting with the fall of the 31 Citadels, the dark age was a period of retrenchment. Population fell all through the Delian Age because of advancements in science. It plummeted in the Dark Age because of an absence of science. Historians argue about just how close to extinction humanity got during this period in which much of the world’s written records were destroyed.
Resurgence – This movement began with a deep interest in preserving the citadel sites and finds its benchmark date with the ceremonial re-establishment of the Delhi Citadel. It is characterized by literature and philosophy that emphasized putting the short term concerns of money and safety behind the priorities of advancement and common purpose.
Modern Age or sometimes Mesh Age – Previous technologies that had fallen into decline were quickly revived in the resurgence and soon advances never seen before were being made. The establishment of The Mesh brought about a distinct change of thinking and behaving for humanity. For the first time anyone on the planet, for a negligible cost, could access anyone else and any other kind of information. This led to an abandonment of forced philosophies and governments, and the principle of self-organization and social attractors as the order of the day. The world has surpassed the wealth and well-being of the Delian Age while abiding the stagnation that led to that society’s downfall.
