Prehistorical civilizations

Is it possible there were civilizations on earth, before the currently known limits of history/pre-history?

Steven Ashley's article suggests some techniques to look for this. While I think he goes a bit further than necessary, considering other species could have had civilizations as well, the points about what mineral or carbon compounds to look for are probably real.

Year Founded	Year Abandoned	City	Culture	Map Link
10000 BCE	Present	Tell es-Sultan	Natufian	31°52′16″N 35°26′38″E
9500-9000 BCE	Present	Jericho		31°52′16″N 35°26′39″E
7100 BCE	5700 BCE	Çatalhöyük		37°40′00″N 32°49′41″E
6000 BCE	1200 BCE	Hattusa	Hittite	40°01′11″N 34°36′55″E
5400 BCE	600 BCE	Eridu	Mesopotamia	30°48′57″N 45°59′46″E
5000 BCE	3000 BCE	Chalcolithic Era
4000 BCE	700 CE	Uruk	Hittite	31°19′27″N 45°38′14″E
3800 BCE	500 BCE	Ur	Sumerian	30°57′42″N 46°06′18″E
3300 BCE	2100 BCE	Early Bronze Age
2100 BCE	1600 BCE	Middle Bronze Age
1894 BCE	1000 CE	Babylon
1600 BCE	1200 BCE	Late Bronze Age
1200 BCE	800 BCE	Last Bronze Age Collapse
1200 BCE	500 BCE	Iron Age