1 percent of flight?

this is sort of a continuation of the other thread that i most likely should not have started.
to phrase it a different way...
the ancient egyptians created wondrous works, that are still here today in some damaged form.
some believe it is proof of some sort of intervention.
i dont, but i do not know that it is not.
but here is something to consider...
why not flight back then? it was proposed many times. icarus...an old fable.
but what id like to be considered here is...the physics that govern flight were no different then, than they are now - or ever - according to our concept of time.
a wing would have always flown.
and all over the world, our history, for we are great at recording our own history, indicates flight.
yet why did not even DiCaprio (thats a joke, to see if you are thinking!) invent a machine that flew?
that 1 percent was just not utilized.
i really dont know the answer. i just know that something very important is there.
thank MOST of you, for being thoughtful and welcoming.

Material technology probably. People probably tried, and failed, for as far back as we had eyes to see birds, gorges to cross, and imaginations enough to defy normality. Fabric weight and strength, frame weight and strength, potential sources of propulsion that were light enough, control system weight... not forgetting the pilot. And maybe they quite simply didn't quite understand how aerofoils act in airflow to create lift. Getting aloft is easy, but staying so is harder let alone control and safe return.