Were ancient people smarter than us?

I'm not talking about giant atomic death rays or super physic powers which sink huge cities under water, I'm speaking about whether our ancestors were actually... smarter or at least think better than present day humans?

It's easy to scoff at such an idea since they do not live in large air conditioned homes with automobiles and advanced computers or tools. But it's also interesting to note that the same people that lack such things were capable of inventing and creating amazing things. Such as the pyramids, pythagoram theoram, calculating how large the earth was, are but examples of the amazing skills of the ancients. Take away the technology that we rely upon so much and the current 1st world human civilization would crumble and fall into anarchy.

So, any comments about this issue?

Please use the search function. Egads, man, there's a thread with the same name, same subject!

Ancient People Smarter Than Us

Authored by yours truly.

I've seen a theory that ancient peoples had much better memory and recall than modern peoples. The reason is that modern people don't need to memorize as much. We have books, TV, the internet, etc, if we need to look up data. For example, ancient bards could memorize entire stories like the Iliad line for line, and recite them verbatim. How many people do you know who can do that today? Memory doesn't necessarily translate into intelligence, but it is the closest thing I could think of.

The ancients were certainly more knowledgable about the world we live in. Take for example that the so-called herbal remedies that can actually cure most minor ailments & speed recovery from more serious problems...Modern times rely upon the ineffective drugs of pharmaceutical corps, which are designed to treat symptoms because the corps can't make money buy actually curing anybody.

In ancient times, more people understood the skills it took to live from day-to-day, but modern people specialize in such highly specific skills that have nothing to do with actual survival, that if the system of food supply were to break down, many would starve before they couls figure out how to hunt or trap their food...They spend too much time in board rooms to understand the nature of the world.

Also in ancient times most people didn't live past their 40th birthday... make of that what you will.

Closed... please add to the existing topic.