It’s staggering to think that nearly 97% of our history is lost.

Modern humans, Homo sapiens, have roamed the Earth for around 200,000 years, but written records only date back about 6,000 years. That’s a whopping 194,000 years of human life undocumented and largely unknown. Ancient tools, scattered artifacts, and prehistoric cave paintings are some of the only clues to what life might have been like during that vast, mysterious era.

Archaeologists and historians continue to unearth fragments of this hidden history, but we’re likely only scratching the surface. Incredibly, almost everything our ancestors experienced—from their struggles, inventions, and social structures to their cultural achievements—remains a mystery, with no written record to shed light on those early days. Imagine all the tales and traditions that were never passed down or the languages that vanished without a trace.

As we dig deeper into the past, each artifact becomes a precious piece of a massive, lost puzzle—remnants of the vast story of humanity that’s still waiting to be uncovered.