Freezing someone in carbonite and keeping them alive, according to Vader, had never been done before, not freezing somebody at all. Even if that's the case, Vader is hardly the authority on all human history, remembered and forgotten.
Human civilization on Earth has existed for about 12,000 years. We've done a lot, and forgot a lot of what we've done.
Human civilization in Star Wars has existed over 50,000 years. I'm sure they've done, and forgotten, much more than we have.