The periods are named after the characteristic material of the finds. It is not really about "most advanced", it is about what have been preserved. Lots of iron

The periods are named after the characteristic material of the finds. It is not really about "most advanced", it is about what have been preserved. Lots of iron tools/weapons are preserved from the iron age, lots of bronze tools/weapons have been preserved from the bronze age. The division is from the 1820's and based on the finds available at the time. Of course today we have much better tools (like carbon dating) but the basic division is still valid. There is no "pottery age" because pottery is known through the ages, but specific characteristics of pottery is indeed used to subdivide the periods and cultures - Funnelbeaker culture, Linear Pottery culture etc. To suggest that pottery have been ignored by archeologists is absurdly ignorant.