One of the biggest mistakes that mainstream professional archeologists make is to assume that ancient people were necessarily primitive and incapable of any sort of advanced technology.
They are every bit as invested in “settled science” as are the warmists.
I’ve held a view similar to yours for years. They fill in information voids with opinion not based on facts. Since they are “scientists”, they are presumed correct by the masses.
And with newer generations of “scientists” finding out it’s OK to just BS like the climate change fakes, it’s likely getting worse.
Add to this the worst of the worst scientists not getting good jobs making real money going after grants to study this and that and turning their political opinions into facts as “settled science” really makes them all look bad.
settled science = dogma