Genesis 1, 1-2
in the beginning god had created the heaven and the earth and the earth had become chaotic and empty. (Hebrew)
some early catastrophe wrecked the earth which was not without form and void before that, this was a judgement of god on earlier civilizations for their wickedness.
Jeremiah 23 I beheld, The earth, and lo! it was waste and wild,––The heavens also, and their light was, not: 24 I beheld, The mountains, and lo! they were trembling,––And, all the hills, had been violently moved: 25 I beheld, And lo! there was no, man,––Yea, all the birds of the heavens! had fled: 26 I beheld, And lo! the garden–land, was a desert,––And, all its cities, had been broken down, Because of Yahweh, Because of the glow of his anger! 27 For, thus, saith Yahweh, A desolation, shall all the land become–Nevertheless, a full end, will I not make.
We do find buried ruins of cities older than Adam and skeletons which are many thousand years older.
