Top 10 Lost Cities

Advertisement

Humans seem to have a need to imagine the past as grander than the present, and that the ancients had some knowledge we have lost. This has been compounded by archaeological discoveries of important cities no one had known existed. It seems absurd to us, who have the internet to remind us of every fact, that anything so large as a city could be lost. But cities have always fallen into disuse for a variety of reasons, and without a resident population, have been lost to history for centuries until rediscovered.


10. Pavlopetri, Greece

Pavlopetri was a town of pre-Classical Greece that was settled in the Stone Age and persisted until ~1000 BC. That the site was submerged has given archaeologists a unique insight into life at the time. Other sites have been built over, or plundered for building material, or ploughed over by farmers, but Pavlopetri is uncontaminated. The town was likely submerged by rising sea levels and subsidence of the ground caused by earthquakes. Since sea levels have fluctuated widely over the course of human existence it is entirely likely that other such sites exist in the world’s oceans awaiting discovery.

9. Cliff Palace, Colorado

‘Cliff Palace’ was constructed in this Golden age of the Anasazi; dendrochronology dates most of the buildings at the site to ~1200 AD. Occupation of the site was short lived and it was abandoned by 1300 AD. It remained undiscovered in the desert, until 1888. While out looking for stray cattle Richard Wetherill, Charles Mason and an Ute tribesman called Acowitz found the site nestled under a cliff wall. Their accidental discovery turned out to be the largest cliff dwelling in North America.

8. Akrotiri, Santorini

Santorini, or Thera, is the home of the Thera volcano. It is now thought that the explosion of Thera around 1600 BC, one of the largest eruptions in recorded history, brought about the collapse of the Minoan empire. The discovery of Akrotiri, in 1967, brought to light exceptionally well preserved frescos, homes up to three stories high, and a complex planned settlement. The water supply system suggests the people of Akrotiri had access to running hot and cold water, with the hot water provided by the very volcano which would destroy them.

7. Tikal, Guatemala

Tikal was once the capital city of a Mayan kingdom and a major city of the New World. The site was occupied from ~200-900 AD. Thanks to the almost perfect preservation of the city much is known about the grandeur of Tikal at its height, as well as the powerful kings who ruled there. While the site is sometimes – like other New World ruins – listed as ‘mysteriously’ abandoned, research is showing that the land could not support the large number of people congregating in the city. Abandonment occurred over a number of years and the city was left for the jungles to grow over. It seems, however, that some locals knew of its existence during those years, for rumors of a lost city in the area persisted.

6. Timgad, Algeria

Timgad is the archetypal lost city from adventure stories. Once a vibrant city founded in the desert on the orders of the emperor Trajan it survived the upheavals of the empire and grew to a large trading city. After being sacked in the 5th century it was reborn as a center of Christian life. A second major sacking in the 7th century by Vandals led to the complete abandonment of the city. That is when the sands of the Sahara covered the site and preserved the city until its rediscovery, in 1881.



5. Machu Picchu, Peru

This old Inca city sits on a peak in the Andes. It was only inhabited for a short period of time, likely 1450-1572 AD, before being abandoned as a result of the Spanish conquest of South America. Since Spaniards never found the city, and locals did not reveal its location, Machu Picchu only came to the attention of the West in the early 20th century. Debate still exists as to whether Machu Picchu was a regular settlement, a Royal retreat, or a religious sanctuary. To reach the site itself is now incredibly easy, with regular buses and trains. This has led to worries about the sustainability of large numbers of visitors there.

4. Mohejo-daro, Pakistan

The Indus Valley civilization reached its peak approximately 2000 BC, though it was considerably older. Science, writing, trade, crafts, religion and agriculture all progressed remarkably. The advanced nature of this civilization can be seen at Mohenjo-daro with its ordered streets and drainage system. Unlike other sites on this list, there is no obvious palace or temple complex. This has led some to consider the Indus Valley civilization as egalitarian, however we know very little of the people who lived at Mohenjo-daro, so such a statement is bold. Flooding of the Indus appears to have destroyed the city at least six times and new cities were built directly on top of the ruins of the previous ones.

3. Petra, Jordan

The inclusion of Petra may prove controversial as one can question whether it was really lost. It was certainly abandoned, but may have been very well known to locals. At any rate it was lost from Western knowledge for at least a thousand years. The ancient precursor of Listverse, Pliny the Elder, mentions Petra and it was taken into Roman rule in 103 AD. The city in the desert flourished until an earthquake destroyed the vital water system. With other cities available it seems it was easier to just abandon the site than rebuild.

2. Troy, Turkey

For all the importance placed in the Iliad, it was for a long time thought that Troy was as mythical as Atlantis. Then in 1871 a self-taught classicist, Heinrich Schliemann, funded a dig at a mound in Hissarlik. There – where in ancient time a city called Ilium (named for the Iliad) had stood – they found huge defensive walls of the type described by Homer. As well as the walls of Troy, Schliemann discovered golden jewelry which he displayed as the jewels of Helen. This treasure was once thought lost after the Second World War, but was, in fact, looted by the Soviets and can be found in the Pushkin museum. Modern excavations of the site have revealed the city to be large – large enough to be the basis of the ancient legend. They have also discovered the city was founded in around 3000 BC and destroyed multiple times.

1. Pompeii and Herculaneum, Italy

“There were some so afraid of death that they prayed to die.” So write Pliny the Younger of the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD. His uncle, the great elder Pliny, had taken the Roman fleet across the bay of Naples to rescue those people trapped at the foot of the volcano. The expedition would cost the elder Pliny his life as the towns of Pompeii and Herculaneum were smothered in ash. The ash, which destroyed so many lives, perfectly preserved the two towns for 1700 years. While we often think of the ancient Romans as inhabiting a flawless world of white marble, Pompeii reveals a real town with many features we would recognize today. Political slogans are daubed on walls; “Vote for Lucius Popidius Sabinus!” There is also fruitier graffiti on toilet walls. A mural shows a riot that occurred around the cities amphitheater. The city has been a gold mine for archeologists and is a major tourist site. Unlike the other cities here you can still see some of the inhabitants. Dotted throughout the ruins are the ghostly, and in many cases ghastly, plaster casts of the dead whose bodies left hollows in the ash.

Share

Be a Fan