What if some of the Universe’s oldest objects are actually older than the Big Bang itself?

A new study from the University of Portsmouth suggests that ancient black holes may have survived from a time before the Universe as we know it existed. These hypothetical relics, described as “cosmic fossils,” could have endured a dramatic cosmic transition and may still be scattered throughout the cosmos today. If they exist, they could help solve one of astronomy’s biggest mysteries: the identity of dark matter, the invisible substance that appears to outweigh ordinary matter and shape the growth of galaxies.

The research challenges the conventional view that everything began with a singular Big Bang. Instead, it explores a “bounce” scenario in which the Universe was once contracting before reversing into the expansion we observe today. In that picture, some structures may have survived the transition, carrying information from a cosmic era that predates the Universe’s earliest observable light.