Humanity has been looking to the stars in search of extraterrestrial life,
but we’ve found nothing yet. However, there are some researchers who believe
we should be taking a closer look at our own planet for the possibility
that an advanced alien civilization existed here on Earth before humans.
While the idea of an alien species existing on Earth long before humans
might sound far-fetched, there are many reasons why it could be a possibility.
To add to that, several past advanced civilizations have left behind mysterious
legacies, interesting mythology, and some civilizations have vanished without a trace.
So could it be possible that an advanced alien civilization
existed on Earth before us, and influenced early civilizations?
Get ready to discover this and more.
[LOGO]
There’s a big question that many don’t think about since we’ve been so busy
looking among the stars in search for extraterrestrial life, and that is;
‘How do we know we’re the only advanced species that has existed on our home planet?’
Consider for a moment that we have evidence of modern humans being around for about 200,000
years. However, life has existed on Earth for around 3.5 billion years,
leaving a huge chunk of pre-human years unaccounted for. That’s certainly plenty
of time for the rise and fall of not just one, but several pre-human civilizations,
not to mention a non-human species. Imagine for a moment, an alien race, with alien technology,
right here on Earth. Of course, there would be no evidence of these long gone civilizations
with plate tectonics at work. After just a few million years, everything on the surface of the
Earth would be at the bottom of the ocean, and those ancient sea beds would become mountains
over time. Not much evidence would survive after a few hundred thousand years, let alone millions.
But despite this, there’s an interesting idea that
arose from the British science fiction television series called ‘Doctor Who.’
We’re talking about the Silurian Hypothesis. But before we get into that, let us introduce
the Silurians; reptilian humanoids with scaly skin and other creepy reptilian features. These
technologically advanced reptiles lived on Earth long before the first humans. They came about
during the Silurian period; a real geological era that occurred around 443 to 419 million years ago.
Sometime during this period, the Silurians went into hibernation,
or ‘deep sleep’, due to a cataclysmic event,
only to awaken many millions of years later when humanity had become the dominant species on Earth.
The Silurian Hypothesis is an interesting thought experiment that takes into account
modern science’s ability to detect some evidence of a prior advanced civilization that may have
existed on Earth, maybe even several million years before humans appeared on the planet,
the key being; if advanced civilizations existed in the distant past, their remains
and technologies might have eroded or been buried beneath geological layers,
and any evidence of their existence could be difficult to detect with our current methods.
Astrophysicists, Adam Frank and Gavin Schmidt, proposed the Silurian Hypothesis in 2018 which
explores the possibility of detecting an ancient advanced civilization before humans
in the geological record. One of the main reasons they believe that such a civilization could have
existed, is that there has been sufficient fossil carbon to fuel an industrial civilization dating
back to the Carboniferous Period around 350 million years ago. One interesting thing is
that Schmidt had been studying distant exoplanets for hints of climate change,
or ‘hyperthermals’ which would signal quick temperature rises indicating the moment a
civilization industrialized, and was advanced enough to ‘turn on the lights’ so to speak.
Now this is where it gets even more interesting.
Scientists, using various methods to estimate temperatures on Earth, found that 55 million
years ago, global temperatures rose from 9 to 14 degrees Fahrenheit. This is a huge increase
in global temperature. Researchers call this period the Paleocene–Eocene Thermal Maximum.
This kind of jump in global temperature, perhaps from the release of carbon, would be the only
evidence that an advanced civilization, including our own, would leave behind.
Maybe there would be evidence of tapping geothermal power sources, or perhaps anomalies
in the chemical composition of sediment from artificial fertilizers, or maybe evidence of
the isotope plutonium-244, which doesn’t occur naturally outside of a supernova. Evidence of
these things could also indicate a high-tech civilization once existed on planet Earth.
Of course, it is possible that a meteor could have caused the Thermal Maximum,
or the eruption of a huge monster volcano, like the kind that currently smolders
beneath the Atlantic Ocean. Or it could have been caused by the awakening of an
advanced industrial civilization which rose, and fell, the same way we will.
It’s interesting to think that this could be the fate of all advanced species;
a rise and fall of civilizations flowing as naturally as the change
of seasons. Such a cycle in the universe is ironic;
continually creating species whose technology brings on the very end they try to avoid.
Despite how popular and intriguing the Silurian Hypothesis may be,
it is after all, only a thought experiment.
But could it be possible that an advanced civilization existed
back in the Earth’s past millions of years ago?
While it might seem improbable that an advanced alien species is in hibernation
deep within the planet and waiting to wake up, it is theoretically possible that other
advanced species or civilizations could have existed on Earth before the emergence of humans,
and these are the reasons why scientists have considered this possibility:
[Extinction Events]
Earth has experienced multiple mass extinction events throughout its history. These events could
have wiped out advanced species and their civilizations, leaving little or no trace
behind. There have been at least five major mass extinction events. Researchers call these ‘The
Big Five’. In a mass extinction event, at least 75% of species are wiped out in a relatively
short amount of time, usually less than two million years. Could it be possible that an
advanced civilization on Earth got caught up in one of these causing them to completely vanish?
[Lack of Evidence]
Although we haven’t found anything yet, the absence of conclusive evidence doesn't
necessarily disprove the existence of earlier advanced species. As we previously touched on
briefly, Earth's geological processes, including erosion, plate tectonics,
and sedimentation, can gradually erase signs of past civilizations over millions of years.
[Search for Extraterrestrial Life]
The study of extremophiles, organisms capable of surviving in harsh conditions,
has led some scientists to consider that life could have arisen on Earth more than once,
potentially leading to multiple advanced species.
[Complexity of Technological Artifacts]
Advanced civilizations would likely leave behind technological artifacts, but these
artifacts might be challenging to identify due to their age and the transformations they would
undergo over time. Additionally, we may not yet fully understand the nature of such artifacts,
and we’ll show you one later in the video, so make sure to stay tuned so you won’t miss it.
Despite there not being any evidence of non-humans, there have been some early
human civilizations that were very advanced for their time which leads one to wonder;
‘Is it possible that extraterrestrial influence played a role in pre-human civilizations?’ There
is something called the Ancient Astronaut Hypothesis which suggests that advanced
extraterrestrial beings visited Earth in ancient times and influenced human civilization. This
idea has been popularized by authors like Erich von Däniken in his book "Chariots of the Gods?"
So let’s take a look at a couple of these advanced human civilizations
[Indus Valley Civilization]
The Indus Valley Civilization existed in what is now modern-day India and Pakistan,
roughly from 3300 to 1300 BCE. The inhabitants had well-planned cities
with advanced infrastructure such as grid street layouts, drainage systems, and public
buildings. They also had a writing system with a script that remains undeciphered to this day.
Despite being one of the world's oldest urban civilizations, much about their writing system,
social structure, and reasons for their decline remains difficult to understand.
[Ancient Egypt]
While we know a great deal about ancient Egypt, certain aspects of the ancient Egyptian culture
and technology remain a subject of debate among researchers. For example, the construction of the
pyramids at Giza, particularly the Great Pyramid, is still a mystery. How the ancient Egyptians,
with their limited technology, were able to build these massive structures with such precision is
still not fully understood. Not only this, but they also constructed massive obelisks,
some made with a single piece of stone. They are technological marvels that raise questions about
how the ancient Egyptians accomplished this feat. And let’s not forget the intricate and
elaborate mummification techniques to preserve the bodies of the deceased for the afterlife.
Egyptian mythology features gods like Amun-Ra; the sun god believed to control the sun's movement,
and Thoth, the god of wisdom and writing. With all that is unanswered about ancient Egypt,
it’s easy to see how it’s possible that an alien civilization could have influenced,
or even helped this ancient civilization. And this idea has been around for some time. Movies
like Stargate have credited alien technology for the unexplained things in ancient Egypt.
[The Maya Civilization]
The Maya civilization in Mesoamerica is renowned for its advanced mathematics,
astronomy, and intricate calendar system. However, the reasons for the sudden collapse of many of
their city-states remains unexplained. The Mayans mysteriously declined and collapsed
around the 9th century. It is interesting to note that these ancient people left behind
the Mayan Calendar which was unique in its complexity and sophistication. You
may remember the 2012 phenomenon where media hype and hysteria predicted that the end of
the Mayan Calendar cycle meant that the world would come to an end on December 21, 2012. But,
of course, it turned out that it would just be the end of the cycle on the Mayan calendar…not
doomsday. Despite this, it is still debated on how the Mayans created such a complex device for
tracking time and is still a mystery to this day. Alien influence? No one really knows.
[Ancient Mesopotamia]
The Sumerians of southern Mesopotamia developed one of the earliest civilizations on Earth between
3500-1700 B.C. Many modern day inventions came from Mesopotamia, such as the wheel, agriculture,
advanced mathematics, urbanization, and transportation. Their mythology
is also extraordinary. The Anunnaki are ancient Mesopotamian deities that are mentioned in various
Sumerian, Akkadian, and Babylonian texts. The term "Anunnaki" is often translated to mean "those who
from the heavens came" or "princely offspring" in Sumerian. These beings are a subject of interest
in the ancient astronaut hypothesis that we mentioned earlier, which suggests that they
were extraterrestrial beings who visited or influenced Earth in the distant past,
and sometimes are considered advanced beings who taught humans various skills and knowledge.
And while we’re on the subject of the Annunaki, there are mysterious beings in the Hebrew
Bible called the Nephilim. According to interpretation, the Nephilim were the
offspring of Anunnaki beings who intermingled with humans, and are described as giants.
The modern popularization of the Anunnaki as ancient astronauts is largely attributed
to the work of Zecharia Sitchin, an author who claimed that the Anunnaki were extraterrestrial
beings from the planet Nibiru, and who visited Earth and influenced human history.
But if such beings truly existed, then where is the evidence? And could these
beings have existed on the planet millions of years ago before humans?
Some researchers believe that if there were such advanced non-human
civilizations that had previously existed on the planet, we would find some evidence,
perhaps even a fossil of some unidentified creature. However,
fossilization is an exceptionally rare occurrence, and so unlikely that scientists estimate that
less than one-tenth of 1% of all the animal species that ever lived have become fossils.
But that doesn’t mean we haven’t found something. There is something that was
discovered that remains a complete mystery. We’re talking about the Antikythera Mechanism which was
discovered in 1901 in the Antikythera shipwreck, which lies off the coast of the Greek island of
Antikythera in the Aegean Sea. The shipwreck is believed to have occurred around 65 BCE.
The Antikythera Mechanism is considered one of the most complex devices from antiquity. Some
have called it the world's first analog computer. It consists of a series of interconnected gears
and dials made of bronze, and it was designed to track the positions of celestial bodies,
such as the sun, moon, and planets, and to predict astronomical events. The device
could accurately predict the dates of solar and lunar eclipses, the positions of the planets,
and other celestial events. It had a sophisticated system for modeling the
motions of celestial bodies, and its level of precision was astounding for its time.
While the purpose of the Antikythera Mechanism is clear, its origin and the identity of its creators
remain somewhat mysterious. Some suggest it may have been made by the ancient Greek philosopher
Posidonius, while others think it could have been the work of multiple craftsmen and scientists.
So who really built and designed this out of place artifact? No one really knows. It
is worthwhile to mention that it is believed to have been constructed around 204-178 B.C.
and machines with such similar complexity did not appear again until the 14th century.
While the idea of pre-human advanced civilizations is intriguing, it remains a topic of speculation
and scientific debate rather than confirmed fact. Scientists are continuously exploring Earth's
geological history and searching for potential signs of past life and civilizations. Until
concrete evidence emerges, it remains a hypothesis and an area of speculation, similar to the
search for extraterrestrial intelligence on other planets or the possibility of life on exoplanets.
As we delve deeper into our planet's past,
we may uncover new clues and uncover extraordinary secrets.
We’re just about out of time for now, but before we go,
we’d like to know what you think. Will we one day awaken an ancient advanced civilization
deep beneath the surface of the planet? Will artificial intelligence be able to help us
find alien life in the universe? Have your say in the comments, and make sure to stay
tuned here for more amazing discoveries to come about our planet, and the universe we live in.