Baius
We can do wonderful and terrible things, as you said, but such is the duality of man, isn't it? We're beautifully ugly. If we didn't have both, I don't think we're whole. Serenitas trying to bleach out the duality of man is unnatural and wrong.
Perhaps it wouldn't be; I certainly hope so.
Do you mean from culture even before Itzal's? I don't know, maybe, but it's hard to think anything survived the massive destruction and pass of time.
However, the Catastrophe happened at the peak of our magical knowledge, so it's hard to think we could find anything of use that wasn't from that time.