Dugdale, William (1605–1686)

English antiquary. His works include the Monasticon Anglicanum 1655–73, a history of English religious foundations; The Antiquiries of Warwickshire 1656; Origines Juridiciales 1666, a history of the English legal system; and The Baronage of England 1675–76.

He attributed stone tools to ancient Britons, asserting that they had used them before they had learned how to work brass or iron. This was a precursor of the Three Age System – a classification of successive developmental stages; Stone, Bronze and Iron, proposed by the Danish archaeologist Christian Thomsen in the 19th century.