What if humanity was not the first industrial civilization? What if, untold millions of years ago, amid the climate fluctuations and the struggles for dominance between the species, a society arose? Would its traces be detectable in the rocks and soil, the element isotopes themselves, after such a long period?
The hypothesis is an exercise published recently in the International Journal of Astrobiology. And although the scientists have their doubts about a proto-human population dominating the globe long before humanity’s family tree sprouted branches, they nonetheless hold that the investigation holds scientific value. Read more.