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Ralph Caspers investigates the question of whether another, perhaps even highly developed, civilization could have existed on Earth long before us. Humans have been on Earth for 300,000 years. We have only been living in a highly developed and industrialized civilization for about 300 years. But life on Earth has existed for about four billion years. Wouldn't it be possible that another highly developed civilization could have lived on Earth in this huge period of time? Another species that populated our Earth and then disappeared from the surface of the Earth, for example due to a nuclear war, past climate change or a meteorite impact like the dinosaurs did 66 million years ago. Can we find evidence of an ancient civilization on Earth? What traces should we look for? In science, this question is discussed in the so-called Silurian hypothesis. If we assume that an early, technologically advanced civilization led a similar life on Earth to that of humans today, then it is worth taking a look at our own legacy. The buildings of past human civilizations, such as the pyramids, have existed for thousands of years. But after a million years, all that would be left of them would be dust. After such a long time, traces of our human civilization would be our satellites in space and microplastics in the earth's layers. Will we find anything like this from an advanced civilization that lived much earlier? Ralph goes in search of traces... Chapters: 00:00 How long has life existed on earth? 02:38 Human traces on earth 07:11 Clues from the past Authors: Jens Hahne, Ralph Caspers Editing / graphics: Elke Baulig Sound design: Florian Ebrecht Sources: Schmidt, G., & Frank, A. The Silurian hypothesis: Would it be possible to detect an industrial civilization in the geological record?, 2019. https://www.cambridge.org/core/journa... Wright, JT Prior indigenous technological species. International Journal of Astrobiology, 2018. https://www.cambridge.org/core/journa... SA Benner, When did Life Likely Emerge on Earth in an RNA-First Process?, 2020 https://arxiv.org/abs/1908.11327 Britannica, Cambrian Explosion, 2019 https://www.britannica.com/science/Ca... Did you like the video? Then subscribe now to the official Quarks channel with Ralph Caspers @DimensionRalph on YouTube! Also visit the official Quarks channel on YouTube: @Quarks #Quarks on Instagram: / quarks.de / beautyquarks Quarks on Twitter: / quarkswdr Quarks on Facebook: / quarks.de #Earth #DeepTime #Civilization #ralphcaspers