For example, is it even plausible that societies much more highly "advanced" existed long before the early ancient societies that we're aware of, but due to some sort of "global catastrophe", their civilization and all of the achievements were lost to time? I'm not talking about advanced on terms with our society today, but somewhere close to the first ancient civilizations we are aware of.
Hiya!
You'll struggle to find a quality answer due to the way you've framed your question, I'm afraid. In effect, you're asking whether there's evidence earlier than the earliest evidence we have. Your question sounds like you're trying to ask whether we have evidence of civilisations which declined and 'regressed' technologically - if that's the case, I'd urge you to resubmit your question and frame it more in that direction. We don't have evidence for any civilisations that pre-dates the earliest evidence we have of civilisation. That's what 'earliest' means. :P