The big bang is a POSSIBLE explanation. It's not the ONLY possible explanation. That's what I'm trying to suggest here. Even though we can plot trajectories of galaxies backwards in time, we cannot be sure that matter itself was created in this event. We ASSUME this. We BELIEVE this is the case. We do not KNOW this is the case.

What we SEE are photons. These photons are collected and measured. Someone had the idea that the amount of photons collected could help us determine overall composition. While I trust that it helps us to know while elements are present for certain, that method does not tell us what is NOT visible, or not emitting photons.