I think that, in Vaults, there should be blueprints that can be found that will teach the player how to make ancient blocks and furniture. I really like those 2x2 circle lights in the Vaults, but I can't get them without hacking. Another option would be to put chests in the Vaults that contain amounts of blocks or placeable items. My brother told me he got a microformer out of an essence chest, so maybe have those drop them as a more common drop? The tenant that would be associated with the ancient stuff would be an archaeologist.
No, wait. I made a mod that does that. You can craft the ancient stuff at the Terraformer. I'll post a link once Steam stops being a scrimmy bingus. Darn thing won't load. EDIT: Okay, here it is!