one thing that is probably true, though, is that the babylonians had more actual raw data than we do.

we have actual sunspot data, for example, going back a few hundred years.

they probably had thousands of years worth of observation, by the end of the process. those observations are probably lost, but (ignoring errors, like procession) they may have helped them understand cycles that we're really only able to guess with math. they probably recorded celestial objects we've never seen, and saw them come through more than once.

it's actually one of the great tragedies of history, and we can only hope we find something useful, eventually.