There has been an solar eclipse on this planet on going for more than a billion years.
but the stunning spectacle is only understood by astronomers for a few thousand, and will not continue for billions more (the moon will become too small). without protective gear the ancients could only with difficulty have figured out what caused the darkness, who would suspect the the moon to be up in the daytime, in the glaring sun?
An eclipse is one of those bible "miracles" we can look with awe at now, unless you consider jesus the first surfer, barefoot no less, ha ha.