5 ms·

This sounds like an incredible science fiction series that needs to be written. Any chance such books already exist?

by adaisadais 7y ago

h2odragon 7y ago
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_of_Eden https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_of_Eden and many others :)
- dghughes 7y ago
  That reminds me of the Troodon dinosaur. It had a large brain size compared to its body. I think I recall reading Troodon's brain left marks on its inner skull. It was supposedly very intelligent due to its brain size.
brownbat 7y ago
In some ways, Howard's Hyborian Age stories featuring Conan were a response to scientific revelations of his day indicating the plausibility of a vanished age prior to recorded history. Aschulean hand axes have been dated to 1.76 million years ago, Oldowan tools were made up to 2.6 Mya. Just really smart apes, sure, but who would know if they had a breakaway 5,000 years of brilliance reflected mainly through an extensive oral tradition and crafts with exceptionally disposable materials. Not known in Howard's day, but Göbekli Tepe is an extensive temple complex in Turkey that predates when we thought sophisticated organized societies emerged, and seems like something his Hyboreans might have built. If you want to get way out on a limb, our theory about how monkeys got to the new world is pretty suspicious. Currently, we theorize that a breeding population managed to accidentally raft across the Atlantic exactly one time in all of history, but this is so rare it didn't happen for other animals, and never took them to the much closer North America from there. Might as well guess some ancient extinct navigators brought some monkeys along as pets, then died out and left the monkeys as the only evidence. Crazy and unsupported conjecture, but why not, par for current theories.
- filoeleven 7y ago
  “Just really smart apes” basically describes us, too! There’s that 40k-year-old bracelet that was made with a “relatively high speed” drill, something we didn’t think the denisovans could do: http://siberiantimes.com/science/casestudy/features/f0100-stone-bracelet-is-oldest-ever-found-in-the-world/ http://siberiantimes.com/science/casestudy/features/f0100-st... I’m also reminded how in the past 15 years or so, using LIDAR, we are learning that there are way more Mayan or Aztec ruins than previously thought; they were just covered up by the jungle. There’s a lot of mystery still buried in the earth.
variaga 7y ago
Try 'Toolmaker Koan' by John McLoughlin Also the Silurians from Doctor Who (and the 'Sea Devils', also from Doctor Who because of an IP licensing dispute)
gregcrv 7y ago
La Nuit Des Temps by Barjavel. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Ice_People_(Barjavel_novel) https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Ice_People_(Barjavel_nov...
slyall 7y ago
A minior plot point of "The Light of other days" by Baxter and Clarke was an earth civilization 3 billion years ago which was destroyed by an asteroid hitting earth that wiped the surface clean. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Light_of_Other_Days https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Light_of_Other_Days
LargoLasskhyfv 7y ago
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Shores https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Shores

This sounds like an incredible science fiction series that needs to be written. Any chance such books already exist?

h2odragon 7y ago

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_of_Eden https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_of_Eden and many others :)

dghughes 7y ago
That reminds me of the Troodon dinosaur. It had a large brain size compared to its body. I think I recall reading Troodon's brain left marks on its inner skull. It was supposedly very intelligent due to its brain size.

brownbat 7y ago

In some ways, Howard's Hyborian Age stories featuring Conan were a response to scientific revelations of his day indicating the plausibility of a vanished age prior to recorded history. Aschulean hand axes have been dated to 1.76 million years ago, Oldowan tools were made up to 2.6 Mya. Just really smart apes, sure, but who would know if they had a breakaway 5,000 years of brilliance reflected mainly through an extensive oral tradition and crafts with exceptionally disposable materials. Not known in Howard's day, but Göbekli Tepe is an extensive temple complex in Turkey that predates when we thought sophisticated organized societies emerged, and seems like something his Hyboreans might have built. If you want to get way out on a limb, our theory about how monkeys got to the new world is pretty suspicious. Currently, we theorize that a breeding population managed to accidentally raft across the Atlantic exactly one time in all of history, but this is so rare it didn't happen for other animals, and never took them to the much closer North America from there. Might as well guess some ancient extinct navigators brought some monkeys along as pets, then died out and left the monkeys as the only evidence. Crazy and unsupported conjecture, but why not, par for current theories.

filoeleven 7y ago
“Just really smart apes” basically describes us, too! There’s that 40k-year-old bracelet that was made with a “relatively high speed” drill, something we didn’t think the denisovans could do: http://siberiantimes.com/science/casestudy/features/f0100-stone-bracelet-is-oldest-ever-found-in-the-world/ http://siberiantimes.com/science/casestudy/features/f0100-st... I’m also reminded how in the past 15 years or so, using LIDAR, we are learning that there are way more Mayan or Aztec ruins than previously thought; they were just covered up by the jungle. There’s a lot of mystery still buried in the earth.

variaga 7y ago

Try 'Toolmaker Koan' by John McLoughlin Also the Silurians from Doctor Who (and the 'Sea Devils', also from Doctor Who because of an IP licensing dispute)

gregcrv 7y ago

La Nuit Des Temps by Barjavel. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Ice_People_(Barjavel_novel) https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Ice_People_(Barjavel_nov...

slyall 7y ago

A minior plot point of "The Light of other days" by Baxter and Clarke was an earth civilization 3 billion years ago which was destroyed by an asteroid hitting earth that wiped the surface clean. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Light_of_Other_Days https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Light_of_Other_Days

LargoLasskhyfv 7y ago

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Shores https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Shores