The Mesopotamians (according to some in the ancient writing field) worked out that there was a collision of 2 planets. The result was the earth and a non rotating satellite, the moon. The earth once had less mass. That they are still looking for impact points is only the beginning. They still need to prove that two planet size bodies collided. There was still a lot of debris that may have "rained" down for hundreds of years after the initial impact.
The only difference in interpreting the data, is because the current model stretches out the time line to fill 4 billion years worth of activity. I do not think we can flat out say it took that long if there were suspensions of time and maturity was built into the model itself. Of course if we flat out say there was no outside influence, existence left all alone, cannot do what humans have claimed they actually experienced. To say they made it all up though, makes about as much sense to me, as me explaining there is more to existence than what we can observe with our current 5 senses, to those who do not accept that point.
