We generally break history up into ages like the bronze age, iron age, classical, ect have people thought like this through history? Would say somone in the European middle ages have the concept of previous ages where society and technology were different?
There are a number of prior answers that you may be interested in, although I don't think any addresses your point specifically. In particular, /u/sunagainstgold's discussion of perceptions of the Future in the Middle Ages and my comments on Medieval perceptions of the past.