2 ms·

Pre-history is tough. Outside of written accounts and a few major cities cited in particular environments - there isn’t a lot of evidence about what humans were

by lumost 3y ago

Pre-history is tough. Outside of written accounts and a few major cities cited in particular environments - there isn’t a lot of evidence about what humans were doing for 100k years before the Roman/Chinese empires formed. Even Egyptian history is pretty spotty. We know there were civilizations in North America such as the Mississippi River valley mound builders - but our knowledge tops out at “they existed”. It would not surprise me if agrarian civilization rose and fell multiple times due to climate change.

_aleph2c_ 3y ago
Maybe we should look off planet, look to the Lagrange points: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lagrange_point https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lagrange_point We might find some old equipment from an elder spacefaring species. If we don't find anything, maybe we should leave some human monuments out there so the next civilization can know about us.
- roseway4 3y ago
  As the Wikipedia article mentions, we’ve already done just this with the JWST…
  - NavinF 3y ago
    Naw the JWST won't stay there after it loses power. > The points L1, L2, and L3 are positions of unstable equilibrium. Any object orbiting at L1, L2, or L3 will tend to fall out of orbit; it is therefore rare to find natural objects there, and spacecraft inhabiting these areas must employ a small but critical amount of station keeping in order to maintain their position.
    - jamiek88 3y ago
      Nothing will. The Lagrange points are only quasi stable.
      - cperciva 3y ago
        L4 and L5 are "stable" -- but of course on timescales of billions of years even Earth's orbit isn't guaranteed to be stable.
- Scramblejams 3y ago
  Lagrange Point orbits still require station-keeping. Anything 'parked' there will eventually float away from it, unless the position is actively maintained.
andrewprock 3y ago
There is tons of archeological evidence dating back to the last ice age, roughly 10,000 years ago. Before that, there is ample evidence dating back to the middle paleolithic identifying cultural traditions including art, music, and ritual.
- lumost 3y ago
  Ample is debatable. We have biased evidence from specific biomes and regions. We are restricted to artifacts that survived from this period - effectively tusks, rocks, and specific forms of art.

by lumost 3y ago

_aleph2c_ 3y ago

Maybe we should look off planet, look to the Lagrange points: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lagrange_point https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lagrange_point We might find some old equipment from an elder spacefaring species. If we don't find anything, maybe we should leave some human monuments out there so the next civilization can know about us.

roseway4 3y ago
As the Wikipedia article mentions, we’ve already done just this with the JWST…
- NavinF 3y ago
  Naw the JWST won't stay there after it loses power. > The points L1, L2, and L3 are positions of unstable equilibrium. Any object orbiting at L1, L2, or L3 will tend to fall out of orbit; it is therefore rare to find natural objects there, and spacecraft inhabiting these areas must employ a small but critical amount of station keeping in order to maintain their position.
  - jamiek88 3y ago
    Nothing will. The Lagrange points are only quasi stable.
    - cperciva 3y ago
      L4 and L5 are "stable" -- but of course on timescales of billions of years even Earth's orbit isn't guaranteed to be stable.
Scramblejams 3y ago
Lagrange Point orbits still require station-keeping. Anything 'parked' there will eventually float away from it, unless the position is actively maintained.

andrewprock 3y ago

There is tons of archeological evidence dating back to the last ice age, roughly 10,000 years ago. Before that, there is ample evidence dating back to the middle paleolithic identifying cultural traditions including art, music, and ritual.

lumost 3y ago
Ample is debatable. We have biased evidence from specific biomes and regions. We are restricted to artifacts that survived from this period - effectively tusks, rocks, and specific forms of art.