Are Ancient Civilizations Still Hidden On Earth? | The Silurian Hypothesis
Le civiltà antiche sono ancora nascoste sulla Terra? | L'ipotesi siluriana
Legends of a fabled lost Golden Age may have seemed like no more than myths,
yet could it be possible that an unparalleled and advanced ancient civilization may have risen on
our planet without any of us being aware of it? In reference to an episode of the British series
Dr. Who, where the characters meet members of an ancient reptilian civilization,
“The Silurian Hypothesis” tries to answer the question of life on Earth.
Archaeologists have often been stumped by the remarkable technological feats of
ancient civilizations, leaving them perplexed about how such accomplishments were achieved.
Close your eyes and imagine this with me. Tucked away between the endless expanse of
the South Pacific Ocean lies Easter Island, a place of great mystery and intrigue. To this day,
it remains a mystery as to how the first humans to inhabit the island were able to
traverse the lengthy 3,600-kilometer journey from mainland South America.
One of the most fascinating aspects of Easter Island is the presence of the nearly
1,000 monolithic statues that can be found across its landscape. We are still unsure
of the precise method the islanders utilized to transport the human-head-on-torso statues,
referred to as “moai” in the native language. What prompted the early inhabitants of Easter Island to
undertake such an ambitious feat while in their isolated state remains a mystery. Regrettably,
the natives did not maintain a written record, and the oral history is limited.
Recent studies are beginning to shed light on the mystery of these imposing stone giants,
providing insights into their purpose and meaning that have fascinated the public for years.
For many years, scholars have deliberated over the methods used by people two and a half
millennia ago to transport and precisely place the large stone blocks at their respective sites.
This is where the Silurian hypothesis comes into play and attempts to answer all these mysterious
questions… How did the Moais get transported? How were the great pyramids of Giza built in
the ancient civilization? Do any advanced ancient civilizations remain undiscovered
on Earth? ---
The Silurian Hypothesis is the name given by two researchers studying the possibilities of
an industrial civilization preceding humanity. Their work has interesting implications for how
we should study Earth and the impact we have on it. In addition, these research findings may
have beneficial implications for astrobiologists looking for another form of life in the universe.
The Silurian Hypothesis is primarily speculative and remains a thought experiment, however,
it has been raised very seriously by two scientists in a paper published
in the International Journal of Astrobiology. The two researchers based their paper on Drake's
equation which is used to estimate the number of active and communicative extraterrestrial
civilizations in the Milky Way galaxy. At the same time, the two scientists
questioned the frequency of life arising on a planet. This reasoning leads to the
question: Can the same planet host multiple civilizations over the course of its lifespan?
And this leads us to the following two questions. Did our Earth host an advanced civilization many
millions of years ago? And if so, do you think any trace of this vanished civilization could remain?
These two questions were raised very seriously by Gavin Schmidt from the
Goddard Institute of Space Studies at NASA and Adam Frank from the Department of Physics
and Astronomy at the University of Rochester. However, in this study, the two men point to
anomalies that have taken place 56 million years ago and suggest that the Silurian
Hypothesis may not be as eccentric as it may seem. The Silurian hypothesis is not completely within
the scope of archaeology. Indeed, researchers have based their work on the hypothesis of
an ancient civilization that could have lived tens, if not hundreds of millions of years ago.
To verify the Silurian hypothesis, do not expect to find traces of plastics that degrade
after 1,000 years or even glass, although it is one of the most resistant materials.
Nor should we count on statues buried in the sand, or submerged cities.
To know how to find traces of an extinct ancient civilization, we must rely on the only model we
know, ours. More precisely, our current model, the industrial era. Of course, this example is
very precarious, the industrial era spans about 300 years, which represents a tiny fraction of
time on a planetary scale. However, to validate the Silurian hypothesis, this ephemeral model
remains the only one we have at our disposal. If we postulate that an industrial civilization
like ours existed in a very distant past, what traces did this civilization leave behind?
In their study, Schmidt and Frank raise interesting questions about our way of
studying the Earth. They claim that we know very little about our planet when it comes to
studying such distant periods. The oldest part of the Earth's surface is in the Negev Desert in
southern Palestine, 1.8 million years old. Three craters dug by erosion, the largest of which
is 8 kilometers wide and 35 kilometers long, open onto the Earth's crust. The ocean floor
is relatively young too and the oceanic crust is constantly being recycled. As a result, all ocean
sediments are posterior to the Jurassic period and therefore have less than 170 million years.
Fossilization is an extremely rare event. The proportion of organisms
that fossilize is estimated to be between 0.01 and 0.1%. Dinosaurs roamed the Earth
for about 180 million years, yet only a few thousand almost complete specimens exist.
Finally, finding clues about the existence of a pre-human civilization seems impossible.
In the past of our planet, several climate disruptions have certain similarities with
the changes we are currently experiencing, although the time frame is completely different.
For example, 55 million years ago, there was the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum,
a period of 200,000 years during which the temperature increased by 8 degrees Celsius.
Researchers are not making hasty conclusions. There is no proof whatsoever of the presence of
a prior industrial civilization. It is possible that the phenomenon is natural. Nevertheless,
we find the above analyses sufficiently intriguing to motivate further research.
This study exploring new ideas also provides an excellent basis for astrobiologists studying
intelligent life on other planets. Finally, why should such a hypothesis be reserved for fiction?
Recently, researchers from the University of Western Ontario declared that the Red Planet
could have presented favorable conditions for life a little over 4 billion years ago,
long before the first known forms of life on our planet. We can speculate that if intelligent life
had developed on Mars 4 billion years ago, there would simply be no trace of that civilization.
Hey! Are you still watching? Hit the subscribe button to stay
updated on the new videos we post every day! American astronomer Jason T. Wright published
an article in 2017 that finally proves to be a precursor of the Silurian hypothesis. Entitled
"Prior Indigenous Technological Species," it lists a few techno-signatures that could
survive the test of time and attempts to apply this model to other bodies in the Solar System.
Astronomers are searching for biosignatures such as oxygen or other products of biology and
metabolism in the atmospheres of other planets, like Mars and the TRAPPIST-1 system, as evidence
of life. On the other hand, a techno-signature is evidence of technology, such as an artificial
radio signal or space mining. Although this is associated with the "Ancient Aliens" idea
which suggests extraterrestrials visited Earth thousands of years ago and helped with science
and engineering, an astronomer would interpret 'ancient' as meaning billions of years. Therefore,
anything from an intelligent life that long ago would be hard to find because it is so
difficult to detect and recognize artifacts from humanity after only thousands of years. To search
for techno-signatures, the Earth is not the most efficient place because it destroys evidence of
technology and any artifacts from millions of years ago are most likely undetectable.
According to a study published by the NASA Goddard Institute in 2016, Venus could have been the first
habitable planet in the Solar System, and for at least two billion years, leaving time for life
to appear, develop, and then disappear about 750 million years ago when conditions started
to deteriorate, to become as they are now. If the Silurian hypothesis interests you,
you can turn to the book "The Night of Time" by René Barjavel. A science
fiction novel published in 1968, it won the ‘Prix des Librairies’ the following year.
The general summary of the plot is that during the Cold War, a team of French scientists discovered
an ancient civilization beneath the Antarctic ice. Carbon dating said this civilization is 900,000
years old, much older than humans, causing international attention and a research station
being built. The excavation uncovered a buried city of wonders, but all would melt away with
the ice—except for an odd generator and two humans encased in solid helium. The scientists
chose to revive the female first and set off a narrative that followed international events
surrounding the station and the tragic story of the female's ancient life that had been erased.
--- As tantalizing and thought-provoking as the
Silurian Hypothesis is, more research needs to be done before we can draw any concrete conclusions.
There are no archaeological or geological records that indicate the presence of a
pre-human industrial civilization on Earth. Therefore, it remains a mystery as to whether
or not such a civilization ever existed. Despite the lack of evidence, the two
researchers who proposed the Silurian Hypothesis are still working on gathering data that could
potentially support their idea. They are exploring the possibility that certain
techno-signatures of advanced civilizations might still survive in the Earth’s ancient environment,
such as certain metals, chemicals, or patterns in the terrain that could
indicate large scale engineering and construction. In the search for signs of intelligent life in the
universe, some experts are now turning to outer space and looking to other planets in the Solar
System, such as Venus and Mars, in the hopes of finding clues of a prior industrial civilization.
What do you think? Do you think aliens came down to Earth and helped ancient civilizations out,
building those wonders on Earth at such an early and primitive time? Or would there be a finer
explanation? Let us know in the comments below. You've reached the end of this video!
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