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This was all before the rise of life on earth. Maybe it was a trigger event.

One other thing which is basically simple and requires no degrees in astronomy to comprehend... they keep on finding meteorites of Martian origin on Earth and for every one they find, logically, there must be many more lying around. I don't easily picture all those Martian meteorites lying around for millions of years (as would be the case if the event which spawned them occurred millions of years ago) and not all get covered up one way or other.

There have been a few meteorites of Martian origin found. Right now there are a few good places to look, the desert of Oman being one. As to whether the rocks were recently blasted off the surface of Mars, I don't see any reason why that would be necessary. They could have been flying around the solar system for a very long time before just recently landing on earth. Meteorites landing earlier than a few million years ago would be buried by now by the constant deposits of micrometeorites if by nothing else.

I would agree that we need to go to Mars in person --not just send robots-- and the present orbiter, Odyssey, is looking for various mineral deposits such as water that would aid a Mars settlement. They will also focus their excellent scientific cameras on the various features such as the Face to get a better look. I think it's all natural formations, but if it will assist the effort to launch a Mars settlement, I will join you in claiming the features might be manmade.