Below are a few markers for progress as I see it. Over the ages, progresses become cultures and second in nature for the community that practices it, at least in my view. My reading and understanding is geographically limited. I am sure progresses in other geographies may be equally rich or better. They are what I wish to explore more in the future.
Enter Pharaoh Akhenaten and you will find a direction for monotheism out of polytheism. If I am not mistaken, the establishment of Judaeo-Christian-Islam faith institutions follow that directional outlook. The subsequent writing of the ten commandments is a directional outlook.
Enter an ancient Greek philosopher and you will find one who said "I am looking for a human" after lighting a lamp in broad daylight. Broadly speaking, ancient philosophy in Greece led to its Classical Civilization. That lighting in broad daylight must be a directional outlook in philosophy.
Enter the enlightenment movement nearly a millennium ago and you see the renaissance, a quest for a rebirth of ancient Greek culture, a rediscovery of De Rerum Nature, or the Nature of Things, in the 15th century and subsequently the establishment or re-establishment of science. It was originally written BC. That rediscovery after so many centuries was a quest for a direction in science.
Enter the writing of the U.S. Constitution that includes three branches of government with checks and balances and you see the establishment of a form of governance that has led to 45 presidencies so far. At least one of the writers of the constitution, Thomas Jefferson, is known to have studied De Rerum Natura well enough and incorporated ideas in it into the Constitution of the U.S. A directional outlook in writing the constitution has led to success stories even if it was deficient to begin with when it was made to be exclusive.
Enter the late Ethiopian laureate Tsegaye Ghebremedhin's realization of ለካ ኣንተ ነህ and you will find a direction toward the time of Pharaoh Akhenaten.
Enter Teddy Afro's work of art of ወዲህ ወድያ እንዳልል and you hear a sense of direction. He expresses through art that outlook isn't unconstrained.
Enter the realization of a potential evolution from Gofta to God and you can feel a Grand Renaissance that will give a direction to filling in the deficiencies of the first renaissance, which knew about Goddess Athena and not about Pharaoh Akhenaten.
There must have been a culture at the time of Pharaoh Akhenaten and there is a culture today. I am from a school of thought that there is a directional progress from then to now and I also happen to think this directional outlook isn't known widely and that when it becomes a culture, it comes with its own constraints.
I hope I have a point here.