The oldest civilisation on earth is believed to be Mesopotamia which is 10,000 years old. But humans have been around for 200,000 years. Could older civilisations have existed but evidence has just corroded away? Or is there a reason why civilisation couldn't have emerged before then?

by Adam-West

Ramihyn

You are not the first one to ask this question – so there are some good answers from earlier threads. See for instance this great response by /u/mckinnon24 or some shorter (albeit not short) ones in this thread.

To summarize, the answer to your first question is "most probably not".

khosikulu

Don't forget just in the last week, regarding 'civilizations we don't know about,' this thread was very active with solid responses from /u/freevoulous, /u/CommodoreCoCo, and many others, including extended discussion on evidence and its nature that you might appreciate.