I think it is entirely plausible that the ancient civilizations were way more advanced than we think they were.
The ancient Egyptians have evidence of core drills that you can count the rotations as it cut through the granite. The rate of feed is calculated to at least the rate of feed for our core drilling today.
The evidence is all over the place and nobody asks the right questions.
The obvious question is: where are the tools, where are the smithies, the smelting plants needed to sustain a technology like that. Also: why is it that nowadays we do not build like this (ultra low time-preference). The lack of evidence of artefacts combined with the latter points to an issue of mind rather than one of matter. Are there forgotten ways of impacting, shaping matter in the mental capacity? Use of sound? Turning granite into a plasma temporily? Or just stone tools and millennia of ultra low time preference stamina?
