People believe that Lost Cities were well populated areas once upon a time. Many of them have been destroyed by natural disasters and were abandoned completely. Here are some of them, perhaps there are still many yet to be discovered by scientists.
1. L’Anse aux Meadows (Canada)
L'Anse aux Meadows Newfoundland (Canada) - Sky Today
L’Anse aux Meadows is an archaeological site on the northernmost tip of the island of Newfoundland in the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador. Discovered in 1960, it is the only known site of a Norse village in Canada, and in North America outside of Greenland. The site remains the only widely-accepted instance of pre-Columbian trans-oceanic contact, and is notable for possible connections with the attempted colony of Vinland established by Leif Ericson around 1003, or more broadly with Norse exploration of the Americas. The name “L’Anse aux Meadows” made its first appearance as Anse à la Medée on a map of 1862, when it may have derived its name from a ship called Medée.
2. Ancient Pueblo (USA)
Ancient Pueblo - Cliff Palace, Mesa Verde National Park - Sky Today
Ancient Pueblo People or Ancestral Puebloans were an ancient Native American culture centered on the present-day Four Corners area of the United States, comprising southern Utah, northern Arizona, northwest New Mexico, and a lesser section of Colorado. The cultural group has often been referred to in archaeology as the Anasazi, although the term is not preferred by the modern Puebloan peoples. The word Anasazi is Navajo for “Ancient Ones” or “Ancient Enemy”. Archaeologists still debate when this distinct culture emerged, but the current consensus, based on terminology defined by the Pecos Classification, suggests their emergence around 1200 BC, during the archaeologically designated Basketmaker II Era. Beginning with the earliest explorations and excavations, researchers have believed that the Ancient Puebloans are ancestors of the modern Pueblo peoples.
3. Machu Picchu (Peru)
The mountain Huayna PicchuIn the front of the ruins of Machu Picchu - Sky Today
Machu Picchuis a pre-Columbian Inca site located 2,430 metres (7,970 ft) above sea level. It is situated on a mountain ridge above the Urubamba Valley in Peru, which is 80 kilometres (50 mi) northwest of Cuzco and through which the Urubamba River flows. Most archaeologists believe that Machu Picchu was built as an estate for the Inca emperor Pachacuti (1438–1472). Often referred to as “The Lost City of the Incas”, it is perhaps the most familiar icon of the Inca World. One of the earliest theories about the purpose of the citadel, by Hiram Bingham, is that it was the traditional birthplace of the Incan “Virgins of the Suns”. Research conducted by scholars, such as John Rowe and Richard Burger, has convinced most archaeologists that Machu Picchu was an estate of the Inca emperor, Pachacuti.
4. Teotihuacan (Mexico)
Teotihuacan -The view from the Pyramid of the Sun - Sky Today
5. Pompeii (Italy)
Pompeii, with Vesuvius towering above. - Sky Today
Pompeii is a ruined and partially buried Roman town-city near modern Naples in the Italian region of Campania, in the territory of the comune of Pompei. Along with Herculaneum, its sister city, Pompeii was destroyed and completely buried during a long catastrophic eruption of the volcano Mount Vesuvius spanning two days in 79 AD. The eruption buried Pompeii under 4 to 6 meters of ash and pumice, and it was lost for nearly 1,600 years before its accidental rediscovery around 1592. Since then, its excavation has provided an extraordinarily detailed insight into the life of a city at the height of the Roman Empire. Today, this UNESCO World Heritage Site is one of the most popular tourist attractions of Italy, with approximately 2,500,000 visitors every year.
6. Memphis (Egypt)
Memphis - Ruins of the pillared hall of Rameses (Egypt) - Sky Today
Memphis (Arabic: ممفس; Egyptian Arabic: ممفيس; Greek: Μέμφις) was the ancient capital of Aneb-Hetch, the first nome of Lower Egypt. Its ruins are located near the town of Helwan, south of Cairo. The history of Memphis is closely linked to that of the country itself. Its eventual downfall is believed to be due to the loss of its economical significance in late antiquity, following the rise of coastal Alexandria. Its religious significance also diminished after the abandonment of the ancient religion following the Edict of Thessalonica. Memphis has had several names during its history of almost four millennia. Its Ancient Egyptian name was Inebou-Hedjou, and later, Ineb-Hedj (translated as “the white walls”), because of its majestic fortifications and crenellations.
7. Carthage (Tunisia)
Ruins of Carthage (Tunis) - Sky Today
8. Angkor Wat (Cambodia)
An entrance pavilion of Ta Som (Angkor) with strangler fig (Cambodia) - Sky Today
9. Vijayanagara Empire (India)
Natural fortress at Vijayanagara (India) - Sky Today
The Vijayanagara Empire referred as the Kingdom of Bisnaga by the Portuguese, was a South Indian empire based in the Deccan Plateau. Established in 1336 by Harihara I and his brother Bukka Raya I. The empire rose to prominence as a culmination of attempts by the southern powers against Islamic invasions by the end of the 13th century. It lasted until 1646 although its power declined after a major military defeat in 1565 by the Deccan sultanates.
10. Babylon (Iraq)
Walls of Babylon (Iraq) - Sky Today
Babylon (Greek Βαβυλών, from Akkadian: Babili, Babilla) was a city-state of ancient Mesopotamia, the remains of which are found in present-day Al Hillah, Babil Province, Iraq, about 85 kilometers (55 mi) south of Baghdad. All that remains of the original ancient famed city of Babylon today is a mound, or tell, of broken mud-brick buildings and debris in the fertile Mesopotamian plain between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. The Greek form Βαβυλών is an adaptation of Babylonian Babili. The Babylonian name as it stood in the 1st millennium BC had been changed from an earlier Babilli in early 2nd millennium BC, interpreted as “gateway of the god” (bāb-ili) by popular etymology. The earlier name Babilla appears to be an adaptation of a non-Semitic source of unknown origin or meaning.
11. Petra (Jordan)
Petra (Jordan) Obelisk Tomb and the Triclinium - Sky Today
Petra (Greek “πέτρα” (petra), meaning rock; Arabic: البتراء, Al-Batrāʾ) is a historic and archaeological city in the Jordanian governorate of Ma’an that has rock cut architecture and a water conduits system. Established sometime around the 6th century BC as the capital city of the Nabataeans, it is a symbol of Jordan as well as its most visited tourism attraction. It lies on the slope of Mount Hor in a basin among the mountains which form the eastern flank of Arabah (Wadi Araba), the large valley running from the Dead Sea to the Gulf of Aqaba. Petra has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1985. The site remained unknown to the Western world until 1812, when it was introduced by Swiss explorer Johann Ludwig Burckhardt.
12. Karakorum (Mongolia)
Stone Tortoise, Karakorum (Mongolia) - Sky Today
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