<p>We found many dinosaur <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fossil_track" rel="nofollow noreferrer">fossil tracks</a> around the world, and they all have one thing in common: they are tracks of bare feet.</p>
<p>We invented shoes about <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shoe#History" rel="nofollow noreferrer">10,000 years ago</a>, a few millennia before building cities.</p>
<p>So, if the dinosaurs had developed enough to build cities, they definitely would have worn shoes and we would see these shoes in fossil tracks.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2022-12-12T10:12:14.480Z
(This is not meant as a very serious answer.)
Jean-Marie Prival
CC BY-SA 4.0
2022-12-12T10:30:21.800Z
The first "city", Jericho, was built 11000 years ago.
David Hammen
CC BY-SA 4.0
2022-12-12T12:06:36.953Z
@DavidHammen This is the age of the first settlement, but its "city" status is disputed (hence your quotation marks). Anyway, 10000 years is actually the age of the most ancient shoe we found, but their invention could be older, they just didn't survive until today (which could be true for cities, but they are less likely to decompose than bark).
Jean-Marie Prival
CC BY-SA 4.0
2022-12-13T17:06:01.963Z
That's a very interesting observation, thanks! So there might be indeed a chance to observe traces of civilization over such a period of time.
E. Sommer
CC BY-SA 4.0
2022-12-12T10:11:38.067Z
2022-12-12T10:11:38.067Z
Jean-Marie Prival
<p>&quot;Lack of evidence is not evidence of lack.&quot;</p>
<p>That said, there is no evidence of any intelligent civilization prior to humanity. If dinosaurs, or for that matter, some other species, had achieved our current human level of civilization, only to be wiped out by an asteroid collision with the Earth, there would be evidence that that high level civilization had happened. We wouldn't see the huge deposits of coal and oil dating back to the Carboniferous and the huge deposits of iron dating back to the two billion year old oxygenating of the atmosphere, all of  which we are currently exploiting. We would see strange bands of iron embedded in very thin and narrow but very long rock formations (i.e., 65 million year old freeways). We don't see any of that. A dinosaur equivalent of our current level civilization can be ruled out.</p>
<p>On the other hand, if dinosaurs or some other species had only achieved the equivalent of pre-pottery Neolithic civilization when the first towns were being built by humans (about 10000 years ago), only to be wiped out by an asteroid collision with the Earth, there might well be no evidence of that. It has been hard enough for archeologists to find the rather faint signs of those 10000 year old civilizations, and that's mostly because those archeologists know where to look. Finding signs of an equivalent 65 million year old civilization where no one knows where to look would be nigh impossible. Lack of evidence is not evidence of lack.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2022-12-12T09:29:30.203Z
2022-12-12T09:29:30.203Z
David Hammen
<p>Suppose that at least 65m years ago, the dinosaurs (or, for that matter, another species) would have sufficiently developed to build settlements with houses, roads and the like.</p>
<p>Would archaeologists be able to identify remains of these structures 65 million years later? Or would erosion, tectonic shifts and the like erase any possible traces? My idea is the following: One can argue on grounds like too small brains that dinosaurs did not have a 'civilization' and hence did not leave buildings. But can one argue against that on archaeological grounds?</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2022-12-09T20:22:42.123Z
Largely answered at https://earthscience.stackexchange.com/questions/20036/have-we-looked-for-human-like-signals-in-the-geological-record Basically there's no evidence for cut stone, fired pottery, or other tool use or other chemical signals in the paleontological record.
jeffronicus
<sedimentology><tectonics><stratigraphy><archaeology>
If dinosaurs lived in cities, would we be able to find traces?
E. Sommer
# If dinosaurs lived in cities, would we be able to find traces?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2022-12-09)

Suppose that at least 65m years ago, the dinosaurs (or, for that matter, another species) would have sufficiently developed to build settlements with houses, roads and the like.

Would archaeologists be able to identify remains of these structures 65 million years later? Or would erosion, tectonic shifts and the like erase any possible traces? My idea is the following: One can argue on grounds like too small brains that dinosaurs did not have a 'civilization' and hence did not leave buildings. But can one argue against that on archaeological grounds?

**Tags:** sedimentology, tectonics, stratigraphy, archaeology

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: Largely answered at https://earthscience.stackexchange.com/questions/20036/have-we-looked-for-human-like-signals-in-the-geological-record Basically there's no evidence for cut stone, fired pottery, or other tool use or other chemical signals in the paleontological record.  

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## 2 answers

### Answer by username_3 on 2022-12-12. Score: 3 | Accepted answer

"Lack of evidence is not evidence of lack."

That said, there is no evidence of any intelligent civilization prior to humanity. If dinosaurs, or for that matter, some other species, had achieved our current human level of civilization, only to be wiped out by an asteroid collision with the Earth, there would be evidence that that high level civilization had happened. We wouldn't see the huge deposits of coal and oil dating back to the Carboniferous and the huge deposits of iron dating back to the two billion year old oxygenating of the atmosphere, all of which we are currently exploiting. We would see strange bands of iron embedded in very thin and narrow but very long rock formations (i.e., 65 million year old freeways). We don't see any of that. A dinosaur equivalent of our current level civilization can be ruled out.

On the other hand, if dinosaurs or some other species had only achieved the equivalent of pre-pottery Neolithic civilization when the first towns were being built by humans (about 10000 years ago), only to be wiped out by an asteroid collision with the Earth, there might well be no evidence of that. It has been hard enough for archeologists to find the rather faint signs of those 10000 year old civilizations, and that's mostly because those archeologists know where to look. Finding signs of an equivalent 65 million year old civilization where no one knows where to look would be nigh impossible. Lack of evidence is not evidence of lack.


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### Answer by username_2 on 2022-12-12. Score: 1

We found many dinosaur [fossil tracks](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fossil_track) around the world, and they all have one thing in common: they are tracks of bare feet.

We invented shoes about [10,000 years ago](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shoe#History), a few millennia before building cities.

So, if the dinosaurs had developed enough to build cities, they definitely would have worn shoes and we would see these shoes in fossil tracks.

> **Comments:**
> **username_2**: (This is not meant as a very serious answer.)  
> **username_3**: The first "city", Jericho, was built 11000 years ago.  
> **username_2**: @username_3 This is the age of the first settlement, but its "city" status is disputed (hence your quotation marks). Anyway, 10000 years is actually the age of the most ancient shoe we found, but their invention could be older, they just didn't survive until today (which could be true for cities, but they are less likely to decompose than bark).  
> **username_0**: That's a very interesting observation, thanks! So there might be indeed a chance to observe traces of civilization over such a period of time.  

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