Been thinking along the lines of Planet of the Apes -but without any man made catastrophe, meteorite impact and climate stabilization- what sort of structures or evidence of our civilization would remain in five or six million years if we all just vanish? Would an intelligent species of evolved insects -or something else- find buried artifacts in the ground like we did the dinosaurs? Would ancient structures like the pyramids or Great Wall remain for that long, and would any modern things like the Eiffel tower, Burj Khalifa, or even some present day Doomsday Vaults survive that amount of time? In our digitized age, I assume that not much would remain, other than satellites maybe or I suppose any modern species that just happens to get preserved like a dinosaur did.
More than they’re going to get otherwise. Also this is a series of questions, not a shower thought.
It is pure conjecture to say any other “intelligent” and industrious species would arise, but many modern constructions would have little to no sign of existence. Any metal, even most stainless steels, would be rusted away or buried many feet deep after millions of years. Even plastics and cement would be deteriorated enough that there would mostly just be the greatly disturbed strata that would give big clues that something either catastrophic or massively industrious happened. Only very rare areas that are geologically stable and have low corrosion would have much of a chance to retain anything recognizable, like how only some cave paintings are still around today.
So, maybe a couple military bases might retain enough structure to piece some things together, but it’ll still be a mess by the time another equivalently
self-centeredintelligent species comes about.