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One hurdle is that the easy to mine materials have already been mined. We have been using progressively more sophisticated methods of ore finding, mining and purification.

Doing that the second time around would be harder. Though we can probably recover good quality materials from scraps.

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Exactly, second time round it's going to be a civilisation built on recycling. It's crazy to think that by going slightly backwards the whole way forward would be so different.

Early civilisation was hunter-gatherers, scavenging for food and resources. Imagine a new civilisation where we scavenge the remnants of where we're are now. The progress forward would be very quick, but also so very different.

During the Christian dark ages, the occupants of Constantinople lived within walls they did not have the knowledge or skill to engineer and build. I imagine that a post-apocalyptic society may feel the same.

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