Indeed it would. So much history has been lost, and I'm particularly upset with the early Church's hand in destroying a great deal of it simply because it didn't conform to the church's belief system of the time. Or at least squirreling it away in hidden/off limits libraries/archives and whatever, for much the same reasons.
And then there's all the wars, and disasters... what the Taliban did to the ancient sites in Afghanistan...
The one I'm most fascinated by is 'The New World Bible' which apparently was similar enough, yet different enough, from the Church's Bible that the Padrés feared it was a satanic mockery of the One True Word. To the best of my knowledge every copy was systematically tracked down and destroyed.
what the Taliban did to the ancient sites in Afghanistan...
Don't forget that we know so little of Ancient Egypt because when islam took over ALL hieroglyphic writings they could find were destroyed. The characters looked too much like representations of humans, something strictly forbidden by islam.