At any point in time, there were always skilled technical people pushing the edge of their trade. I had the privilege of visiting a Viking museum in Oslo, where I had an epiphany.

Did you know that 1000 years ago, viking smiths were smelting iron from bog peat, and making swords from it?

http://www.hurstwic.org/history/articles/manufacturing/text/...

And then you have their outrageously sophisticated and evolved ships. I'd like to think that if I lived back there, I would have gotten involved with something like that.