Ancient engineering and the limits of modern technology comparisons

Eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century cabinets demonstrate the woodworking skill possible with tools less precise than those used by modern manufacturers. Greater access to machinery does not establish that modern people are more intelligent than their predecessors. Iron Age hillforts involved extensive reshaping of the land, while castles and cathedrals also demanded difficult construction work. Japanese timber temples assembled without nails provide another example of sophisticated methods. Different technologies allowed earlier craftspeople to solve problems in ways that are easy to underestimate.