Experts from a US museum believe it could be one of the oldest examples of advanced surgery. The Museum of Osteology in Oklahoma said the skull is reported to have been that of a man who was injured in battle before undergoing surgery to implant a piece of metal in his head to repair a fracture.
We, the “modern humans”, would do so many mental gymnastics but to accept the apparent fact that “ancient humans” were in no way less smarter than us.
In reality intelligence was about the same, just less existing knowledge to stand on.
It’s not individual intelligence, it’s access to knowledge.
Every big leap forward in human society has been about how far/fast ideas can be exchanged.
When that happens, suddenly all types of other advancements happen and then slow down over time till the next leap in communication.
The biggest thing humans have going for us, is it only takes one human to figure something out these days.
I would argue that intelligence is different than exploration. We now have amassed so much recordable knowledge across so many disciplines. In the past those that remembered this knowledge correctly or where to find it were the intelligent ones. Now it’s how we use it. It’s a drastic pivot point in human history and the computer is the center piece.