We may be living in “Earth” 2.0.
Imagine our Planet full of people and the progression of knowledge not so different from what we see today.
An advanced/equal society that succumbed to the Earth itself rising up and folding over, burying virtually all traces of its former inhabitants.
It’s possible artifacts of prior civilizations may
be encapsulated within the subducted plates that
scientists have found deep within the earth.
No way to tell as yet.
That is my thought, too. The ultimate in “recycling”... an entire civilization folded under earth’s mantle and melted into oblivion. Erased so completely that it never was.
I always wondered about that. Would make a good book.