We used to think that human civilisation was progressive. The men and women of the Enlightenment believed that ingenuity and good sense could solve most problems and make the world a better place.
The Agricultural Revolution would produce more food and eradicate hunger. The Industrial Revolution would produce an abundance of goods and end poverty. Medical science and modern sewers would make cities clean and healthy. Everyone would live longer and better.
This was a very powerful idea. It got going as early as the Renaissance. Medieval people had a rather gloomy outlook: life was hard, the main thing was to avoid disaster, the future would probably be worse than the past. The Renaissance mindset was more optimistic, and this became a buzzing positivity by the 18th century, encapsulated in the epithet ‘Age of Reason’.
Excavating the past of south Wales