Most of the "but how could they do this" questions concern moving large rocks hundreds of miles without roads or wheels, or building slender towers supported on

Most of the "but how could they do this" questions concern moving large rocks hundreds of miles without roads or wheels, or building slender towers supported on intricate networks of arches without engineering calculations or even Newtonian physics. That's a step up from everyday solutions to practical problems. For the projects for the average peasant to fill their spare time the amazed reaction tends to be the opposite: "how could they not see fit to extend their tiny hovels, build separate quarters for the livestock, put floors on their muddy paths or consider tidying up and not literally shitting on their own doorsteps. Though much of that explanation lies with vastly overestimating how much spare time people who had to make virtually everything they used and owed service to more powerful people actually had...