Was there any ancient civilization on earth before humans?
As we all believed, we are probably the most advanced civilization in the world. Of all the exoplanets we have explored so far, we are also probably the only intelligent life form in this entire universe. What if advanced civilizations from the future are watching us? And indeed, were there Ancient Civilizations Before Humans? It is called the Silurian hypothesis, proposed in 2019 by Gavin Smith and Adam Frank.
What is the Silurian hypothesis?
The Silurian hypothesis is the idea that an advanced industrial civilization may have existed on Earth millions of years before humans, but evidence of its existence may have been erased over time by geological and environmental processes. The term was introduced in 2018 by NASA scientists Gavin Schmidt and Adam Frank.
This hypothesis questions how ignorant and obsessed we are with finding advanced civilizations. We tend to assume that past civilizations could never have been advanced, which is why no one even considers the possibility that the fossil record of advanced ancient civilizations is almost undetectable.
Think about what would happen if our entire human civilization disappeared due to a pandemic, natural disaster, or some other reason? What are the chances that an advanced civilization born 100 to 200 million years after us would even know we existed? Would they ever accept that we were an Ancient Civilizations Before Humans?
Will Humans Leave Fossils Behind?
I know many people would argue that humans created massive man-made megastructures and left their mark on the world with complex, non-biodegradable plastics. Surely someone would eventually find fossils of our existence and progress, right? Well, it’s not as easy as you might think. Let me explain.
Dinosaurs ruled this Earth for over 150 million years. Across all species, they numbered in the trillions. Yet, we have found almost no complete dinosaur fossils. The reason? The Earth’s tectonic plates are constantly moving. For this reason, the Negev Desert in Israel is the only large exposed land surface that is at least 1.8 million years old. All other ancient land surfaces have been buried deep underground over time.
Let’s say it now! pure bliss. A small ancient surface is raised as a result of tectonic changes. Even then, fossilization is an extremely rare phenomenon. The average person might think that fossilization is very common, but in fact it requires very specific conditions.
For example, Tyrannosaurus rex was the dominant species during the Late Cretaceous, about 66 to 70 million years ago. They were spread all over the world and their population was about 2.5 billion. They completed at least 127,000 generations before becoming extinct. Do you know, despite their thick bones and teeth and despite their large numbers, how many T-rex fossils have we found? Only 32.
That means only one T-rex out of every 80 million was fossilized!
In addition to fossils, archaeologists study Earth’s history by examining different layers of soil, ancient ice trapped in glaciers, and the movements of tectonic plates. But because fossils are made of organic material like carbon and bone, they require very specific conditions to be preserved. So what are the chances of finding fossils of a civilization that existed 100 million years ago?
Similarly, what are the chances that future archaeologists, 100 million years from now, will find our fossils?
Even though our global population will soon reach 8 billion, humans have only modified 14.6% of the Earth’s land through infrastructure or agriculture, an area of about 18.5 million square kilometers, slightly larger than Russia.
Furthermore, our organic materials, such as teeth and bones, are not strong enough to survive 100 to 200 million years of degradation. And in terms of the scale of our civilization, we have only existed on Earth for about 3 million years. Our technological advances and use of plastics are even more recent, only 300 years old! That’s barely three centuries.
To put that in perspective: in 100 to 200 million years, our entire existence could be buried in Earth’s sedimentary layers, becoming almost undetectable to future civilizations.
If future civilizations only rely on fossil records, they might conclude that we never existed.
So, we need indirect evidence to prove our existence to future archaeologists. But how?
One possible clue is the massive release of carbon into the atmosphere and oceans from human activities. Since the mid-1700s, humans have been burning fossil fuels, releasing about half a trillion tons of carbon. This could be an important indicator for future generations.
While volcanic eruptions also release greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide, the carbon in fossil fuels has a different isotopic composition. Living organisms mainly absorb the lighter isotope, C-12, which is also prevalent in fossil fuels. Volcanic carbon, by contrast, contains the heavier isotope, C-13.
Future scientists therefore need to analyze ancient ice cores trapped in glaciers. By studying the air bubbles in these ice cores, they can determine whether the sudden increase in carbon dioxide was caused by natural causes or by human activity.
But how will they estimate the timeline of global warming?
Just as ancient air helps us estimate past global warming events, ancient aquatic and marine organisms can help future scientists determine the chronology.
For example, oysters store isotopic records in their shells, specifically two stable isotopes of oxygen: O-16 and O-18.
During periods of heavy rainfall, rivers carry large amounts of fresh soil and mineral sediments into the oceans, which the oysters absorb as they grow. This results in larger gaps between the growth bands on their shells. Furthermore, if these shells contain a higher concentration of O-18 instead of O-16, it means that global warming was occurring at that time.
But wait…
Will future civilizations accept only this much data as proof of our existence?
Ancient Civilizations Before Humans: No single piece of data is ever enough. Each additional piece of evidence strengthens a hypothesis and helps form predictive mathematical models. Another important piece of data can be unusual sedimentological data.
Every advanced civilization leaves an unusual but unique mark on the Earth’s sedimentary layers. Future generations should focus on these markers.
For example, due to artificial fertilizers, excess nitrogen is washed into coastal waters during rains. This increases the growth of bacteria and fungi to such an extent that oxygen levels drop drastically, creating “Dead zones.” The coastal zone of the Gulf of Mexico is a perfect example of this phenomenon, caused largely by human activity.
Although these dead zones are useless to us now, they may preserve evidence of our history for millions of years.
Other potential clues include:
- A drop in C-13 levels compared to C-12, indicating fossil fuel combustion.
- An increase of O-18 in oceanic calcium carbonate, signifying global warming.
- Oxygen depletion in water bodies, leading to anoxic conditions.
- The presence of rare and synthetic elements, such as chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), gold, nickel, platinum, and radioactive elements like Plutonium-244 and Curium-247.
But wait a minute… haven’t similar events already occurred in Earth’s history?
Approximately 56 million years ago, during the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum, global temperatures rose by 5-7°C in just 5,000 years. Many scientists believe that volcanic eruptions in the North Atlantic Fiery Province burned fossil fuels and released C-12 into the atmosphere.
But here’s the mystery – during this period, mammals spread throughout North America, and sediment layers show unusually high concentrations of metals.
Was this all just a coincidence? Or could it be evidence of an ancient advanced civilization?
Even Adam Frank, one of the scientists who proposed the Silurian Hypothesis, has stated in The Atlantic that he doesn’t fully agree with it. He believes it’s just an interesting way to think about history and should be explored further.
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