Intelligence and intellect are two different things
Of course there are and were plenty of smart people who lived and live
in what we consider to be primitive societies. I am sure many of them
have a level of common sense that puts many urban dwellers to shame.
But do and did they think about the kind of stuff Einstein did thanks to
his growing up in modern Europe? I would tend to say no. They too
need to be in a society that fosters that kind of abstract intellectual
mindset.