I do believe people who lived a very long time ago like the Egyptians, Incas etc were a lot clever than what we take them for.
But maybe only a few of the select knew this technology and used it to their advantage and that would explain why the technology has been lost? Such people back then would be regarded as Wizards, Gods or magically people?
At the end of the second world war, alot of the clever german scientists were taken back to America and their technology enhanced, but in the days of the Egyptians maybe they were all slaughtered and when the next Rulers took over a lot of this technology was lost.
The same thing happened here in Britain when the Roman Empire ended a lot of the technology that the Romans had and used was lost and the Anglo Saxons that followed didnt have such luxurys as them.
Hopefullly below they should be a link to a site about batterys found in Iraq which are dated over 2000bc
Certainly makes you think.
http://www.pilotguides.com/destination_gui...s_treasures.php