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Here's a sentence from the "Critical Introduction to Law and Literature" by Kieran Dolin:

His decision denied that these indigenous peoples had proprietary rights to the lands in question, despite their continuous occupancy since before the coming of whites.

The meaning seems to be the same as "before," but I can't find proof in any dictionary. This phrase sounds very strange to me, as 'since' and 'before' are almost opposite, and here they are together.

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    Amending the question so I don't need to get the actual dates right: >> It is 4012 on Planet Elbaran. Dylan was writing in 3400. Purples had first come across the ocean to Ormeria from Hughrope in 3000. Indigenous peoples had had continuous occupancy since 1200, ie since [well] before the coming of the purples in 3000, and were still occupants when Judge Drudd made his ruling in 3150.
    – Edwin Ashworth
    Commented Dec 8, 2019 at 23:07
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    'Since before (or previous) to the coming of whites' refers to a state or condition that prevailed prior to the named event and acts as a contrast. 'Had proprietary rights' is a condition that no longer prevails. Now, a completely different situation exists. What changed one condition to another is 'the coming of the whites'. 'Since before' acts as more than a fulcrum (which is all that 'before' would be), it extends back into the first condition.
    – Nigel J
    Commented Dec 9, 2019 at 11:41

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If it was just “... before the coming of whites” without the “since,” it would suggest that their occupation stopped when the white people came.

The “since” is necessary to indicate that the period of occupancy spanned the period from before the coming of the white people to after thymes arrived to today.

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If we consider that the coming of whites took place at a certain point in time, "since before the coming of whites" works well to refer to some period starting at some indefinite point before and continuing up to the coming of whites.

For example, if the coming of whites refers to the discovery of America by Columbus in 1492, "since before the coming of whites" could refer to a period of time extending from some previous time (say, in 15,000 BC) up to 1492.

For further reference, we can see this Wikipedia article as well as this related one, which refers to the arrival of the first aborigines in America.

My claim is that "since before X" works well when one knows the end but ignores the beginning of the period in question.

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