In this case it's not engineering prowess, however, it's just dumb luck: they had plenty of volcanic ash to work with, we don't. Another example is Roman potte

In this case it's not engineering prowess, however, it's just dumb luck: they had plenty of volcanic ash to work with, we don't. Another example is Roman pottery. By sheer coincidence the clay they used was of exceptionally high quality (extremely fine particles, IIRC) so Roman pottery is extremely hard and durable, much harder and durable than we can make pottery today. Unfortunately, there was only one source of this clay (somewhere on the coast of Italy) and the Romans depleted it.