Yes - Sauron is one of the remarkably few people in Middle-Earth who have not lost knowledge over time - the others are majorly proscribed from such actions (Wi

Yes - Sauron is one of the remarkably few people in Middle-Earth who have not lost knowledge over time - the others are majorly proscribed from such actions (Wizards, including Saruman before he turned), or crushed into depression by what they lived through - depopulated Lindon where small remnants mostly builds ships for further movement west, the small settlement of Rivendell which doesn't have enough resources to spend on industrialization, the elves of lothlorien are in similar condition to Lindon, Arnor is so ruined that AFAIK there are no more cities that aren't ruins, and Dwarves are too harassed to expand much, though they have major win at Lone Mountain (but haven't recovered Moria). Generally in the Middle-Earth, the parts we see, are post-apocalyptic environment constantly wrecked by wars and depopulated so hard most people are too busy raising crops to survive.