Fossil evidence indicates that there have been several Homo species who rose to the point of being tool users before their demise. Therefore the emergence of a technicallogical species on Earth is not unique to humans. Given the long history of life on this planet, is it possible that other creatures have evolved into a tool-using race in the far past? After all, humans have been here for a tiny fraction of the planet's history.
Three billion years is a long time. Time enough for many civilizations to come and go. Would subduction and erosion be enough to eliminate all artifacts from a civilization from millions of years ago?