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There are those who believe that civilization runs in cycles and that everything old will soon become new again. There are also those who believe that human progress is linear, and sapient beings inherently become smarter each day than they were the day before. Others suggest that perhaps the highest moment of human achievement occurred before what we consider history.

For generations, writers have pitched the idea that a far-off alien species or early humanity hid countless technological advancements from modern eyes. Unfortunately, not every science fiction concept has a perfect background and some are steeped in distasteful elements of the era they were written in.

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Ancient advanced civilizations are fairly common in science fiction stories. Modern scientists discover evidence of technology far beyond current capabilities and track it back to some prehistoric era. It's common to all mediums, from video games to TV, to film, but it has its origins in literature. This concept is heavily tied in with the "ancient aliens" phenomenon, which, in turn, is heavily tied in with deeply unpleasant colonialist stereotypes. Modern ancient aliens conspiracy theorists chalk any achievement or evidence of a civilization that wasn't built by white people up to aliens. Unfortunately, sci-fi writers have been doing much of the same for generations.

Loretta examining a hole in The Lost City

The first known example of a story with this subject appears to be Apoikis by Kurd Lasswitz. That story pitched the idea of an advanced city-state off the coast of Greece which never suffered through the Dark Ages. This mostly served as speculative history, a "what if" story about the power and weakness of human ingenuity. The real first salvo in the genre came from the father of cosmic horror, H. P. Lovecraft. In his iconic 1931 novel At the Mountains of Madness, Lovecraft imagined the Elder Things, which lived in a once-great civilization in the frozen wilds of Antarctica. The Elder Things are nightmarish masses of tentacles, yet they were apparently able to craft the DNA that would one day become mankind. This idea has reoccurred over generations of sci-fi literature and more.

One of the most common lost civilizations is Atlantis, which appears in everything from DC Comics to Ecco the Dolphin. The general idea originated in works by Plato, which depicted a fictional battle between Greek city-state Athens and advanced naval power Atlantis. Athens won, less by successful military engineering and more because Atlantis lost favor with the gods and sank into the sea. The idea was refined between the 1500s and the 1800s, adding to Plato's somewhat non-descript island. Over the generations, it became common to believe that some percentage of the unexplained marvel of the world could be blamed on Atlanteans. Atlantis was seen as a utopian society before the modern age and is often credited with the accomplishments of the Maya and other indigenous populations.

In fiction, however, countless authors and creators took ideas from Atlantis. Stargate-1 was one of the most iconic examples of the trope, eventually even discovering Atlantis and making a spin-off series out of it. Disney's cult classic animated film Atlantis: The Lost Empire featured the eponymous undersea civilization, complete with one of the other great hallmarks of the franchise, blue neon. Sci-fi creators love to cover their advanced ancient civilizations in glowing blue paint and simple machines. Atlantis is a great example, but perhaps the perfect visual guide comes in The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild.

A Guardian charging a laser blast in Breath of the Wild

Video games have become an unlikely haven for this concept. The Final Fantasy franchise, for example, features an average of at least one advanced ancient civilization in each game. Final Fantasy X has multiple highly advanced civilizations that either gave up or briefly abandoned their technological marvels. The aforementioned Breath of the Wild takes place almost entirely in a civilization that reached its technological peak hundreds of years before the game's narrative starts. The various gears and lasers represent some of the most unique imagery of the genre, truly emulating the existence of something alien in the distant past. Beyond that, the Uncharted franchise takes place in a variety of locations based primarily on those classic lost civilizations of old sci-fi authors. From Shangri-La to Iram of the Pillars, that franchise eagerly keeps those old ideas alive in their undoctored state.

The advanced ancient civilization trope primarily exists to suggest explanations for aspects of mankind that lack them. Unfortunately, a lot of the things that couldn't be explained to old-world sci-fi writers were easily explained by indigenous cultures. Though this trope starts from a rough place steeped in a colonial mindset, there are plenty of examples that raise interesting questions about where mankind came from and what we're capable of. A reality that moves in circles from technological advancement and complete ruin is a fascinating idea that more science fiction creators can operate within.

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