I would also mention the Neolithic Revolution, when the people's skeletons show that the average height decreased, average health weakened, illnesses became more frequent, bones were deformed by hard peasant work, compared to the blessed paleolithic times.
They did. Because in paleolithic times weak persons were dying as children and had no chance to leave an adult skeleton.
I believe, something similar was happening to the technologies. When you have to make a hundred of pots, you have no time to beautify them.
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Something similar with the iron vs bronze.
Iron refinery is very primitive, its sources are everywhere in bogs, and it's not harder to refine it than copper.
So, I believe that the "Bronze Age" was a local phenomenon in the copper-rich areas, rather than the "Iron Age" was very short.
Just instead of green stones (malachite) you burn orange mud (bog ore).