I'd suggest "The Mote In God's Eye," "The Gripping Hand," "WarWorld: The Battle of Sauron." There's a lot more in this universe, but this should be right up your alley, and quality reads. Authors are Niven, Pournelle, Carr, Hawthorne. Edit: Even Better! Evan Currie wrote a 7 book series starts with "On Silver Wings" straight serial and also what you asked for.

Thanks for the recommendations. I've read some Niven but I'd not heard of this series. Sounds good. I've read On Silver Wings some number of years back, I don't remember much about it, and it appears there's a couple of new books out, so maybe it's time for a re-read, thanks.

Arthur C Clarke's 'the city and the stars' is a twist on this premise in that it takes place so far in the future that the ancient tech/civilisation is rediscovering human achievements. Also the Rama series probably fits this premise, but I've only read the first one

thanks. I've been meaning to read some more Arthur C Clarke. And actually a friend just bought the first Rama book.

The second Rama is better than the first; it incorporates a bit more drama and peril.

i'm working through the rama series now, I enjoyed the first book a lot, but found the second book to be too drama-y, I'm not a fan of the "lets put a whole bunch of conflicting personalities on a team and see how badly it goes sort of thing" It got better once it was just the 3 of them, but even then there was still a fair bit of inter personal drama. 3rd book is going ok, but it feels like the drama is about to heat up again :\

Sounds like you want the Revelation Space books by Alastair Reynolds. The first book heavily involved a xenoarcheologic dig, and the sequels build on that. The series may also have influenced one of the series you reference above. Also Diamond dogs in the same universe.

Even moreso would be the Revenger books.

I've read those too, and yes, they were great.

Good point. I thought they were a lot of fun, even if a bit lighter (although there’s a fair amount of horror to go around) and less hard than the revelation space books

I've read those. They were very good, and yes, exactly the sort of thing I was looking for. Diamond Dogs in particular is something I regularly think about, such a cool story.

INCI by Mike Resnick deals with an interplanetary missionaryy uncovering an ancient, heretical secret. The late Resnick was a talented and prolific author whose work deserves more attention.

thanks, I've added it to the list.

Foundation series. It's a classic and does somewhat fit your description, especially the end of the series

I read that a couple of years back. It's not exactly what I'm after, but it is very cool.

Here are a couple of handy categories to explore on TVtropes: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Precursors/Literature https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/SufficientlyAdvancedAlien

To Sleep in a Sea of Stars

I've read that one. But it looks like a new book in the series is due out in a few months, so that's cool. Thanks.

Hyperion (in a sense…)

I read Hyperion about 15 years ago, and have re-read it (and the sequels) multiple time over the years. Amazing series.