...why "surprisingly"?
...people are people. There have been engineers, geeks, doctors, accountants, historians,..etc since the beginning of time. Just because they lacked advanced technology (which only comes with time) does not mean that these people were dumb or stupid or backward.
I for one, am not a bit "surprised" at anything that is found in antiquity. What is surprising to me is that someone is "surprised" at anything they find in the rubble.
As a matter of fact, I think that the deeper people dig, the more they are going to find. Every age builds on the top of the last age....
....the bottom layer is still down there.
The Romans were a lot more advanced than we give them credit for.
Had they not fallen, we may have had global warming a few centuries earlier than expected.........;^)
Other than that, what have the Mycenaeans ever done for us?
When I first learned about the Roman aqueducts, I was surprised. But I get what you’re saying.
Well... some things can surprise from time to time. But I agree with the basic point that we do tend to terribly underestimate the technological prowess of ancient cultures. I think there’s been some ‘surprisingly’ sophisticated societies going much further back than is often supposed.