SWBKCB,
I am sure primative peoples had a far better sense of direction (and position) in the past but, in our modern world this has been lost. However, how much of that is innate rather than observation from living close to the natural world and thus being very sensitive to the natural and stellar signs all around them is open to debate. Certainly, ancient travellers in the desert would have known the stars and also the signs on the ground, as did the Polynesian navigators with their understanding of the stars and the wave patterns in the sea.
Civilisation has submerged (obliterated?) so many of these ancient sensitivities.