Nicholas_Mahudel Nicholas Mahudel (1704 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 fossils.