Scientists have compiled a clear picture of life thousands to even millions of years ago.
However, if we fast forward one million years, would other civilizations do the same thing to learn about ours?
What would the earth look like in a million years?
What would Aliens find?
Would they be interested in cloning us for fun?
This is what happens if Aliens arrive on Earth a million years into the future.
The Anthropocene epoch is upon us. The historical period in which the human impact has been so significant that it has altered the geology of the planet around us is known as the Anthropocene era.
It could be a time of ecological collapse and mass extinction in 100 years.
Big bummer, right?
We don’t know when or how our species will end its last walk on this planet.
An alien team of scientists could discover evidence of nuclear radiation.
Climate change or perhaps a huge asteroid that ended human existence?
Or maybe they’d find us on another planet.
Even if you do settle on another planet,
You’d be an alien aboard a starship in one million years.
It’s only just entered orbit around Earth.
“I don’t know if you are serious or not.”
However, despite all your efforts to search the planet for intelligent life below, you would find nothing.
An ongoing super volcano eruption could cause a slight delay in your descent to the surface.
The darkness of ash would cover the planet. You may have to wait several years for your alien crews to clear it before you can even land on the planet.
Finally, you would be approved to visit Earth.
There, everything would be dead and barren. All signs of life would be gone, including fires and storms. Your team of archaeologists, paleontologists, and geologists would be able to tell you that digging is the best way to discover evidence of ancient civilizations.
This is what you would be looking for in boundary layers. These are geological signatures.
A transition from one time period to another. You would look for fossils of animals and plants, as well as changes in the rock layers.
A thin layer of clay could be found that marks the boundary of our Anthropogenic Era.
The top layer would only contain small fossilized remains from a few species of plants.
The rock below would be older. Diverse plant fossils would also be plentiful.
Your team would now be able to confirm that there was a mass extinction period.
This layer will reveal the history of Earth’s past one million years as you search through it.
Unnatural amounts of carbon from fossil fuel emissions would be discovered. Evidence of global temperature fluctuations. There are also widespread chemical pollutants. However, the effects of climate change may have reversed over the one-million years that humans have not been present.
Your team could uncover areas where coastal residents used to live and excavate remnants of cities in the sedimentary rocks.
Imagine exploring the underground tunnels and sewers beneath New York City. You wouldn’t find anything in perfect condition. Bricks would have changed from their red color to gray.
Steel would have rusted away and dissolved, leaving only soil imprints.
You’d finally make the greatest discovery of them all. Fossilized human bones. These bones, just like the dinosaurs would be found in sedimentary rocks. Nearly all fossils of dinosaurs we find today come from species that lived near rivers or lakes that were flooded.
Their remains were quickly covered in silt and mud by floods. This prevented their bones from rotting. Homo sapiens would be the same.
Your alien team would solve the puzzle and reveal that many of these fossilized human remains were caused by tsunamis or catastrophic floods.
Based on the extent to which these bones have bonded with the rocks surrounding them, your team might be able to create a timeline for our unfortunate end.
Bones can take many years to decay. A funeral casket is a good option, as it allows the bones to be buried in a dry area.
They could survive for up to 100 years. Mummified bones can last for thousands of years.
If you find any of these, it would indicate to your team that humans have been walking the Earth since before the dinosaurs. However, fossilized remains could reveal that our extinction point is further back than we thought. There would not be any soft tissue samples, such as muscles. Only rocks that were once bones.
But, you might also find fossilized plastic within the layers of sedimentary rocks. It is not known how long it takes for plastic waste to become organic matter. It could take hundreds or even thousands of years. It could take hundreds of years.
Or, as you and your team could discover, millions. The real holy grail of all, human DNA, would be something you should keep your fingers crossed about.
The oldest DNA samples discovered in modern times date back to 800,000. They are from both insects and plants. However, studies show that DNA may take 7 million years for to break down. Then there was eureka.
Human DNA samples would be found in ice cores from Greenland. The big question is, what are you going to do with these DNA samples?
Have fun with genetics or research human genes?
One option would be to clone the ancient people.
It is possible to create a Jurassic Park with people.
It would instead be called Anthropocene Park. Based on your tragic history, you would find so many things to do at this amusement park.
You might be able to clone animals and play a mass extinction game.
The winner would be the person who can kill the most species in a short time.
Hidden oil reserves could be found by digging. You can increase carbon emissions to enjoy watching the icebergs melt.
You could also play a game with nuclear war.
Unfortunately, scientists and you wouldn’t be capable of figuring it out.
What was life like for people at the end of our civilization?
If you don’t mind finding some of our descendants still living,
That was on the red planet right next to it.
That’s another story for usawhatif.com