Why didn't ancient societies learn from the mistakes that they made?

Question

Why didn't ancient societies learn from the mistakes that they made?

Answer 1

No civilization learns from their mistakes. If that were the case, then America would have learned that placing a nuclear inceptor in Russia's backyard could cause something close to the Cold War.  

Answer 2

what makes you think they didnt?... how do you think new inventions, government, farming, and new ideas got started, trial and error, what is perplexing, is why modern mankind doesn't learn form past mistakes that have occurred over and over in the history of mankind, that have always been to the detriment of humans?