If their were hyper advanced human civilizations, before ours would we know it?

I was watching an old tv show called Life after People. It’s about how the earth would far if humans suddenly disappeared. What really surprised me is how many things we consider solid or durable markers of our technological advancement, would disappear almost without a trace within a couple hundred years if their weren’t enough humans around to maintain them. It got me thinking, about the possibility of advanced societies in the past that could have been lost in a similar matter. Then you have bizarre archeological finds like the Sumerian battery that just seem to not make sense with the rest of the technology found around it.

[QUOTE=mathew101281;3910846]I was watching an old tv show called Life after People. It’s about how the earth would far if humans suddenly disappeared. What really surprised me is how many things we consider solid or durable markers of our technological advancement, would disappear almost without a trace within a couple hundred years if their weren’t enough humans around to maintain them. It got me thinking, about the possibility of advanced societies in the past that could have been lost in a similar matter. Then you have bizarre archeological finds like the Sumerian battery that just seem to not make sense with the rest of the technology found around it.[/QUOTE]

Well, one would imagine they'd have left a whole lot more evidence behind than all the non-hyper-advanced civilisations that we do know about.

NASA scientist Gavin Schmidt pondered exactly those questions, including writing a short story about discovering a prehistorical advanced civilisation: [URL="https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/3kj4y8/gavin-schmidt-fiction-under-the-sun"]"Under the Sun"[/URL].

Unless they were radically different than everything else we've known, I'd think that the thing to look for would be refined materials. Namely, alloys and ceramics that might not decay over time.

Theoretically possible.

For example at one point it's possible that an advanced civilization lived in a area who back then was hospitable but now is a desert or underwater or whatever else kind of environment who would explain why we haven't found any evidence of them yet.

That being said, that's not something i think ever happened. No civilization is an island. I mean, we learned for example of the Hittites from some words from the bible, the Egyptians, the Babylonians and other sources. Before even finding any real archeological sites or texts from them we knew that a civilization existed around that area in that specific time-frame, more or less, just thanks to their neighbors.

Another example are the sea peoples. We don't know much about them but we do now for sure that they existed thanks to the impact they had on the late bronze age and thanks to one very precious Egyptian text. (among other things)

When we go back to the moon, we'll find that Blue Area with the abandoned city, just you wait.

First the "battery" silliness. From Wikipedia;

[QUOTE]The artifacts strongly resemble another type of object with a known purpose – storage vessels for sacred scrolls from nearby Seleucia on the Tigris.[11] Since these vessels were exposed to the elements,[1][b][improper synthesis?] it is possible that any papyrus or parchment inside had completely rotted away, perhaps leaving a trace of slightly acidic organic residue.[12] Although the Seleucia vessels do not have the outermost clay jar, they are otherwise almost identical.[1][b]

The object was looted along with thousands of other artifacts from the National Museum during the 2003 invasion of Iraq.[13]

In March 2012, Professor Elizabeth Stone of Stony Brook University, an expert on Iraqi archaeology, returning from the first archaeological expedition in Iraq after 20 years, [B]stated that she does not know a single archaeologist who believed that these were batteries.[/B][/QUOTE]


So really no evidence what so ever, anywhere of an an advanced pre-human civilization. And the fossil record alone points to the none existing.

It's fun in novels and comics, but let's look at reality with objectivity.

Let's say that [URL="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zealandia"]Zealandia[/URL] once was inhabited by an advanced society. Now, 93% of it is under water.

If there had been an advanced civilization, what would be left of it? I think there still would have been tell-tail signs even submerged.

I watched Life after People when it first aired, it was fascinating. But it is inconclusive that all signs of modern society would be wiped out completely.

If it's only been thousands of years, you might see evidence (we find stuff on earth all the time in that range). If it's in the millions of years range, I would doubt evidence would be there.

[QUOTE=BeastieRunner;3914160]If it's only been thousands of years, you might see evidence (we find stuff on earth all the time in that range). If it's in the millions of years range, I would doubt evidence would be there.[/QUOTE]

If it's millions of years, the problem is the fossil record.

There simply is no evidence for this, anywhere.
It is the stuff of fantasy fiction, nothing more.
We might as well be asking if the Elder Gods of Lovecraft were real. Or the locations of Middle Earth.

[QUOTE=Kirby101;3914176]If it's millions of years, the problem is the fossil record.

There simply is no evidence for this, anywhere.
It is the stuff of fantasy fiction, nothing more.
We might as well be asking if the Elder Gods of Lovecraft were real. Or the locations of Middle Earth.[/QUOTE]

Indeed.

We MIGHT find stuff but it would be so bizarre, or discernible would probably would never be able to gain any sort of boon.

I mean, look at the the changes and discrepancies with dinosaurs for starters ...

With the planet being a large majority water, that might've happened. However we have nothing to suggest that landmasses supported things like this. It's not to say it's impossible, but we should have more archeological and fossil records of one if one did exist. We also wouldn't know what to even look for. An ancient civilization might have a radically different appearance, bodily structure that might not fossilize well, and have made things out of material that are for all intents and purposes alien to us. Or those materials might be so commonplace to us, we would overlook it.

If you're thinking highly advanced (as in industrial revolution on-wards), probably not. However with their being dozens if not more hominids discovered it's not out of the question to have some early societies build up and then die out later.

[QUOTE=mathew101281;3910846] It got me thinking, about the possibility of advanced societies in the past that could have been lost in a similar matter. Then you have bizarre archeological finds like the Sumerian battery that just seem to not make sense with the rest of the technology found around it.[/QUOTE]

Humans in the past indeed lived in a more advanced society. They had technology that people living today are puzzled by. Our human ancestors were more technologically advanced. Something the mainstream education and institutions around the world brainwash the populace about.

[QUOTE=KnockBlock;3916587]Humans in the past indeed lived in a more advanced society. They had technology that people living today are puzzled by. Our human ancestors were more technologically advanced. Something the mainstream education and institutions around the world brainwash the populace about.[/QUOTE]

Where is your evidence for this?

[QUOTE=KnockBlock;3916587]Humans in the past indeed lived in a more advanced society. They had technology that people living today are puzzled by. Our human ancestors were more technologically advanced. Something the mainstream education and institutions around the world brainwash the populace about.[/QUOTE]

More like the other way round. We've gotten so comfortable using our advanced tech that we have lost knowledge of some low/no tech techniques by which our ancestors got things done.