While some nefarious potheads are raking in the coals of their pipe dreams on the mass media, let's not oversimplify the odds of causality. The mystery of lost utopia may inspire grand illusions, but given the circumstances, largely depends on adaptability, and not necessarily conquest or selective breeding. Many an advanced culture came and went as randomly as seeds in the wind Albeit industrial or domestic; there is no one size fits all. Each had its own challenges. that despite all elaborate designs, inevitably ended with that fundamental question of fight or flight. Change is continuity.
When two remote cultures take to erecting pyramids that doesn't make them related. Pyramids are the simplest form of architecture that isn't going to fall over if you increase its size. One culture used it to shelter sacred cenotes, while for the other, served as grand memorials to their dynasties. Some used pictograms to illustrate while others reduced it down to simple symbols or strokes. These were usually nomads and traders that got around with little time to make an oil painting of it, except on some rock face.
Ancient stone rows don't necessarily have some deeper significance other than simplify the hunting of herds. Conversely, stone circles doesn't make their builders astronomers. They observed the skies to make a calendar of the seasons. In that regard the Pleiades marked the glad year half.
If you really want to understand the past, imagine a world without your modern conveniences and stop taking too much for granted.
