how do we know there weren’t advanced human civilisations 50,000+ years ago?

Question

Recorded history only goes back around 5,000 years, but humans have been around for 200,000 years. Could there have been highly sophisticated ancient societies of which no trace remains?

In: 16

Answer 1

We don’t know that there weren’t. But we have no evidence that there were.

I also don’t know that there are no unicorns living in my sock drawer, but I have no evidence that there are.