Re: Dating an alien base on Mars

Brian Davis wrote:

If your aliens were considerate enough to build some version
of Stonehenge, you might be able to date it by running the
heavens back to find a time at which it lined up nicely with
the sun or the planets or something.

Well, if the aliens left a map of Mars, the climate might be
avalible (extent or composition of the polar caps, for instance).
Given the obliquity changes of Mars, this might at least bracket the
dates. If it was long enough ago, and they left a really good map
(what type of map material would be usable millions of years later,
or more, under martian conditions?), you could do crater dating of
the entire Martian surface to know when the maps were made. Likewise,
if there are any tabulated information that can be identified as
discussing the orbital parameters of Phobos & Deimos this would be a
goldmine. Not only could you get (possibly, again depending on the
length of time) the date, but also the distance units.

Star maps might also be useful.

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