Perhaps the author is thinking of the many creation myths about an original nearly-divine past.
In practical terms, for most of history the large majority of people were farmers and simply thought that the world was just about the same as it had always been.
Traditional belief systems were usually structured in terms of cycles, whether the yearly change of the seasons, the growth and decline of a human life, or the silent movements of celestial bodies.
Leaving aside great wars or catastrophes, social and economic changes happened slowly and would have been hard to identify by an individual living through them.
In practical terms, for most of history the large majority of people were farmers and simply thought that the world was just about the same as it had always been.
Traditional belief systems were usually structured in terms of cycles, whether the yearly change of the seasons, the growth and decline of a human life, or the silent movements of celestial bodies.
Leaving aside great wars or catastrophes, social and economic changes happened slowly and would have been hard to identify by an individual living through them.