The travel would be necessary or you wouldn’t be able to accelerate through the light and get closer and closer to present day. Staring from simply 1000 years away doesn’t tell you much.. yes, I’m sure many of those civilizations would be extinguished upon arrival. But if these beings move in a way we can’t understand, virtually instantaneous, that wouldn’t matter to them. They are simply collecting data.
Discussion
Human understanding is severely filtered. I don't believe it's always been so. Maybe we can find our way back.