Where would we look for ancient civilizations from a billion years ago?

originally posted by: Hanslune

originally posted by: Heliocentric
Your question is thought provoking and intriguing.

Personally, I ask myself what has happened in the last 200 000 years or so, since modern man appeared. Homo Sapiens clearly had the mental ability to organize himself into social communities, develop new tech skills, so why did 'he need a 190 000 years to do so, before developing what we define as civilization, and then go from simple stone tools to space technology in a mere 10 000 years, in a rapidly accelerating speed of evolution?

Even stranger, why is that 10 000 year evolution period almost simultaneous on the Euro Asian continent and the American continent, if there was no contact between continents?

It's a mystery, but if we play with the idea that mankind have developed civilizations continuously during these 200 000 years, and that we are simply not yet capable of identifying them (provided that there are traces left), then it makes more sense.

At least to me...

Good points the question could also be asked - are we looking for them? I think we are but at a very low rate of return. I suspect that if we do find a "90,000 year old catalhuyuck style settlement' it will be by accident more than by design, ie a specific archaeological survey looking for evidence of such.

Well, we are actively looking for 65 million + old dinosaur fossils and we do find them. If there are let's say 100 000 year old settlements out there, we do have the technology and resources to find them.

A question I would ask is; what would those remains appear like, and how would we identify them? Another question to ask is, have we already found some, but failed to identify them for what they are?

Personally I see it like this. Modern man is about 200 000 years old. He left Africa about 140 000 years BP according to the current standard theory, and then spread over the world. In the 1950's, Japanese archaeologists unearthed the remains of a 32 000 year old child on Okinawa, Japan. Researcher Jon Erlandson examined studies of ancient sea levels and bathymetric maps showing the depth of the seafloor between the islands of Okinawa and Japan at the time. He concluded that Okinawa was a distant island even then. In order to get there, several long sea voyages would have been required to reach it from Japan, including one crossing roughly 74 km long.

We are now fairly certain modern man reached Australia 50 000 years ago, perhaps earlier. Once again, detailed studies of the Southeast Asian coastline of 50 000 years ago show that a 1300 km long stretch of islands and at least eight ocean straits separated the island continent from the Asian mainland, with one water crossing greater than 70 km.

Conclusion? At least some of our ancestors built ocean going boats or rafts 50 000 years ago.

If we think about it, is it reasonable to believe that our ancestors 50 000 years ago were capable of figuring out how to cross great sea distances by building ocean going vessels, clearly a group effort involving complex skill sets, but somehow they never thought of organizing themselves into sedentary communities in whatever social organization they seemed fit and profit from organized labor efforts, develop new skill sets to master their environment and food resources, build houses and shelters, defenses, etc?

If not, then are we actively looking for early Paleolithic settlements, apart from in caves?

originally posted by: Hanslune
I suspect that if anything like that exists it will be in the same places as we did later evolve our cultures in civis, the fertile crescent and the civilized blanket and pillows (a term used by one of my profs) - a band of land from Egypt/Greece/Turkey/ME to the Ganges with the pillow being roughly round areas around the Mekong and the Chinese rivers.

IMO, archaeologists must work closely with geologists and climatologists in order to figure out the sweet spots that were prone to house a budding human community, which I believe they are doing. While you may not be wrong, there are plenty of those spots that are now submerged under water or have turned into wasteland. 50 000 years ago, the Mediterranean sea was something of a great valley below the general sea-level, containing two inland seas cut off from the general ocean. The Saharan desert was then a wet, tropical landscape, covered with lush forests and fertile plains.

originally posted by: Xeven
Where could we find evidence here on earth from so long ago?

I would look in that other 95% of the unexplored oceans and lakes / rivers for their essence or presence

The ocean is the lifeblood of Earth, covering more than 70 percent of the planet's surface, driving weather, regulating temperature, and ultimately supporting all living organisms. Throughout history, the ocean has been a vital source of sustenance, transport, commerce, growth, and inspiration.

Yet for all of our reliance on the ocean, 95 percent of this realm remains unexplored, unseen by human eyes.

oceanservice.noaa.gov...

NAMASTE*******

I like Submarines too!

originally posted by: Hanslune
Tough one. As noted by others your best chance is in space. On earth your best opportunity would be by identifying sedimentary rock laid down in that time period (Geologists know this type of info) and hope that something from that 1 billion year old civ was left there, the impression of which, or fossil of, will be your evidence. Beyond that its pretty much chance. Probably another possibility would be to look at places were fossil life has been found before (multi-cellular) of course its leaves only small traces itself.

What do you think of these "ooparts," like footprints in stone or these tales of hammers embedded in coal or something?

originally posted by: LowTechRedneck
a reply to: SubSea


Very well could be that Earth is a generator of intelligent species, each rising under specific ecological and climate conditions, then as those conditions change to such a degree the planet doesn't support said species, they are forced to scatter to the stars or die. Perhaps the Creator's endgame is creating the ultimate adaptable species through the rules set in place?

That's some epic sh$t right there.