Experts from a US museum believe it could be one of the oldest examples of advanced surgery. The Museum of Osteology in Oklahoma said the skull is reported to have been that of a man who was injured in battle before undergoing surgery to implant a piece of metal in his head to repair a fracture.
In reality intelligence was about the same, just less existing knowledge to stand on.
Standing on the shoulders of giants.
Unfortunately the current leap in communication today is tik tok and AI controlled short videos.
The other alternative leap in communication was meta.
I would argue that intelligence is different than exploration. We now have amassed so much recordable knowledge across so many disciplines. In the past those that remembered this knowledge correctly or where to find it were the intelligent ones. Now it's how we use it. It's a drastic pivot point in human history and the computer is the center piece.
Tough to say what existing knowledge there was after the Spaniards saved them.
"saved"