There are certainly many people that respond predictably to propaganda, and our social behaviour is more influenced by our genes than we think. Several techniques, a few of which you mention, seem to be consistently applied successfully by TPTB across cultures.
Don't neglect the Mahabharata, with mentions of warplanes (Vimana) and possibly nukes. The text is at least 5k years old, and until very recently there were no planes to compare the descriptions to, so various religious meaning has been ascribed to such passages as mention Vimanas.
We marvel at megalithic architecture, because we can't do it. The people that did weren't communicating in grunts and picking nits outta their hair. The archeological theories that claim the Pyramids were chipped out with copper tools have zero relation to reality. Good engineers with modern tools are astounded at the inside corners of granite sarcophagi, because it is practically impossible to cut stone and polish it, to the tolerances that were met.
Only since our own technology has rediscovered such applications as flight, have we been able to better understand such ancient texts.
RE: Transcendence Part I