Right, it is like we 'lost' the exact recipe for certain paints. We can create much more vibrant, durable, repeatable paints with modern chemistry, but we don't

Right, it is like we 'lost' the exact recipe for certain paints. We can create much more vibrant, durable, repeatable paints with modern chemistry, but we don't know exactly how they did it. Of course neither ancient painters nor blacksmiths were great chemists, but they had certain heuristics they used to use to create their stuff. I think it is not a case of "we can't make steel / paint / buildings as good" but rather we don't know what their process was. It's more of historical interest.