It is a bias that many people with only a passing interest in history sadly have: that the more far back you go the dumber/less sophisticated people were. The

It is a bias that many people with only a passing interest in history sadly have: that the more far back you go the dumber/less sophisticated people were. The more you look at historical evidence the more you see that, quite logically, people were very much like us. Complaining about the same stuff ("kids these days...") and so on. Sure a 12th century European farmer would probably struggle with a bit with a smartphone (same as many of our grandparents), but had likely a huge understanding of what plant required what environment to thrive, their growth cycles, what was edible and how to safely prepare it, how to do manual labor while keeping your clothes impeccable etc.