10 legendary lost cities that have actually been found

Levels

Difficulty

Lost City is a medium world. It contains twelve somewhat hard-hard days (, , , , , , , , , , and ), and one very hard day (). However, there are many easy and medium levels. It has the same difficulty as the previous world, Frostbite Caves.

• Easiest level: Lost City — Day 1 or Lost City — Day 22
• Hardest level: Lost City — Day 30

Main levels

Day	Plants	Zombies	Flags	First reward	Notes
Chosen	Available
	Choice	N/A		One
	Choice	Three		Two	A money bag
		N/A		Three	A money bag	Special Delivery level
	Choice	One		Two	Mystery Gift Box
		N/A		Three	A money bag	Special Delivery level
	Choice	N/A		Three
	Choice	N/A		Three	A money bag
		N/A		Two	Mystery Gift Box	Objective: Don’t let the zombies trample the flowersLocked and Loaded level
		N/A		Three	A money bag	Special Delivery level
	Choice	N/A		Three
	Choice	N/A		Three	A money bag
	Choice	N/A		Three	Mystery Gift Box	Objective: Produce at least 5000 sun
		N/A		Three	A money bag	Special Delivery level
		N/A		Three	Mystery Gift Box	Locked and Loaded level
	Choice	Two endangered		Three	A note	Save Our Seeds level
		N/A		Three	A Mystery Gift Box	Gargantuar battle
	Choice	N/A		Three	Mystery Gift Box
		One		Two	A money bag	Special Delivery level
	Choice	N/A		Two
	Choice	N/A		Two	Temple of Bloom
		N/A		Two	A money bag	Locked and Loaded level
		N/A		One (two in game)	A money bag	Locked and Loaded level
	Choice	N/A		Three	Mystery Gift Box
	Choice	N/A		Two	A money bag	Objective: Don’t let the zombies trample the flowers
	Choice	N/A		Two	A money bag	Objective: Survive the zombie attack withmost plants picked for you
	Choice	N/A		Two
	Choice	N/A		Three	A money bag
		N/A		Two (three in-game)	Mystery Gift Box	Locked and Loaded level
	Choice	N/A		Three	A money bag
	Choice	N/A		Two	Mystery Gift Box	Objective: Survive without planting on Dave’s mold colonies
		N/A		Two	A money bag	Locked and Loaded level
		N/A		None	Lost City Trophy, Far Future key	Zomboss battle

Special Delivery

Main article: Special Delivery

Special Delivery is a Brain Buster that is a conveyor-belt level with the plants given via said conveyor-belt. Being a conveyor-belt level, no sun and sun-producing plants will be given. Starting from Big Wave Beach, most of its levels are featuring new plants.

It is playable on Days , , , and .

Save Our Seeds

Main article: Save Our Seeds

In the Save Our Seeds levels, the player has to protect the endangered plants marked by a striped tile and his or her house too. If the player lets one of them be eaten by the zombies or disappear in some way, he or she will lose. Otherwise, it is a regular level, which the player can choose the plants to protect the endangered ones.

It is playable on Day , with two endangered A.K.E.E.s. This has the least amount of levels of its type in the world.

Locked and Loaded

Main article: Locked and Loaded

Locked and Loaded is a regular Brain Buster with the plants chosen, and the player has to use them to defeat the zombies. Starting from Dark Ages, its levels will always feature a premium plant.

It is playable on Days , , , , and .

Çatalhöyük is almost 10,000 years old

, meaning «Fork Mound», was once a large Neolithic settlement in southern Anatolia, Turkey. Archaeological evidence suggests the site existed between about 7500 BC to 5700 BC.

This makes the site one of the world’s earliest urban settlements. This is impressive enough, but the inhabitants also had a very different culture from what we are used to today.

The city’s buildings commonly shared walls and more resembled a honeycomb than what we would normally think of as a city. Individual units were accessed from the roof, and family members were buried under each home’s floor.

For reasons not yet known, the site was abandoned before the Bronze Age. After that, the ‘city’ was forgotten and buried until its rediscovery in the 1950’s.

Unlocked Descriptions of Known Lost Cities[]

Splendor Plains: Elwin’s residence is just as bright and bold as his fashion sense, and every pane of his widowed walls is set with a different color of glass. But the architecture is also surprisingly sleek and modern, with a flat roof and lots of sharp angles. And while the décor is some what sparse there are plenty of «Elwin» touches-like the room holding his stuffed animal collection and the tunnels visible under the glass floor, which allow his pet banshee(Bullhorn) to scurry wherever his little heart desires. The house is bordered by forest on one side and ocean on the other, providing Foxfire’s resident physician with a variety of peaceful views to enjoy after stressful days in the Healing Center (most of which involve complicated injuries suffered by Sophie Foster).

Wanderling Woods: As the Lost Cities’ only graveyard, the Wanderling Woods is a place of peaceful silence, filled with carefully arranged, incredibly special trees. Wanderlings are planted with the DNA of someone deceased in order to grow with hints of their physical attributes. As a result, no two Wanderlings are alike, and each is labeled with a sign to indicate the life being memorialized- though there are three Wanderlings that were planted prematurely: Sophie Foster’s, Dex Dizznee’s, and Alden Vacker’s. Only elves may enter the Wanderling Woods (unless special permission is granted by the Council), and a golden sign arches over the entrance reminding visitors that «those who wander are not lost.» And while some might comment on how few trees grow in the woods-and claim it as proof that death is rare in the Lost Cities-those mourning loved ones would likely argue that there are still far too many Wanderlings.

Геликаон: Реальная Атлантида

Фоторедактор: Drekis

Атлантида была не единственным мифическим греческим городом, утонувшим под водой. Город Гелике постигла та же участь, и он разделяет каждую частицу мифической силы Атлантиды.

Согласно греческим мифам, Гелика была уничтожена гневом бога Посейдона.
Жители города изгнали ионийское племя, которое было верным поклонником бога моря, из Гелики. В ярости Посейдон за одну ночь утащил под воду весь город.

Гелике был разрушен в 373 году до нашей эры, и на протяжении веков считалось, что это не более чем притча—пока ее не нашли. В конце 1980-х годов два археолога начали поиски, чтобы найти его. Это заняло у них больше десяти лет работы, но они нашли его. На протяжении веков Гелике была погребена под Землей. Под их ногами был мифический город.

Команда обнаружила, что катастрофа, которая уничтожила его, не была точно актом Посейдона, но это было бы похоже на него. Землетрясение сжижило землю, превратив ее под ногами несчастных греков в воду, когда весь их город рухнул во внутреннюю лагуну, образованную разрушительным толчком.

30. Memphis[SEE MAP]

flickr/IDS.photos

Memphis, founded around 3,100 BC, is the legendary city of Menes, the King who united Upper and Lower Egypt. Early on, Memphis was more likely a fortress from which Menes controlled the land and water routes between Upper Egypt and the Delta. By the Third Dynasty, Saqqara had become a sizable city. It fell successively to Nubia, Assyria, Persia, and Macedonia under Alexander the Great. Its importance as a religious centre was undermined by the rise of Christianity and then of Islam. It was abandoned after the Muslim conquest of Egypt in 640 AD. Its ruins include the great temple of Ptah, royal palaces, and a colossal statue of Rameses II. Nearby are the pyramids of Saqqara.

26. Sukhothai[SEE MAP]

Sukhothai is one of Thailand’s earliest and most important historical cities. Originally a provincial town within the Angkor-based Khmer empire, Sukhothai gained its independence in the 13th century and became established as the capital of the first united and independent Tai state. The ancient town is reported to have had some 80,000 inhabitants. After 1351, when Ayutthaya was founded as the capital of a powerful rival Tai dynasty, Sukhothai’s influence began to decline, and in 1438 the town was conquered and incorporated into the Ayutthaya kingdom. Sukhothai was abandoned in the late 15th or early 16th century.

6 Sigiriya: The Eighth Wonder Of The World

In Sri Lanka, in the fifth century AD, King Kassapa built his palace atop a boulder that was 200 meters (650 ft) tall. According to the legends, it was one of the most incredible castles in the world. To get in, one had to walk up a large staircase that went through the mouth of a massive brick-and-plaster lion.

Kassapa didn’t live in his castle for long. Shortly after it was completed, his brother Mogallana attacked. Kassapa’s army deserted him, terrified for their lives, and his wives leaped off the side of the boulder to their deaths. Sigiriya was conquered and left behind as a monument to the king’s excess. For a while, it became an outpost and, later, a Buddhist monastery, but soon, it was forgotten to time.

When European archaeologists started investigating the story, though, they found out that the castle was real. There really was a massive lion guarding the staircase, and one really had to walk through his mouth to get in.

Inside, it is even more incredible than the legends said. At one part, there is a gleaming white parapet that works a mirror, letting the bloated king stare at his own reflection as he walks through his palace.

UNESCO declared Sigiriya the eighth wonder of the world, and today, it’s a popular tourist destination. But for a long time, it was nothing more than the forgotten ruins of a deposed tyrant.

Vinland: where the Vikings supposedly settled in North America

Vinland, Winland, or Vineland was the name given to an area of North America apparently settled by Norse Vikings in around 1000 AD. Once thought to be a myth, a Viking settlement was actually found in in Newfoundland in the 1960’s.

Before this discovery, the story was widely dismissed as pure fantasy. Interestingly, the story also told of how the adventurers fought the locals, who they called Skraelingar.

These people, it was said, dressed in white clothes and lived in caves and holes. When they attacked, they carried long poles and let out terrifying battle cries. There is no evidence for this story, but it does appear that the Viking settlement at L’Anse Aux Meadows was used as a Viking encampment for a short time, perhaps as a base for further exploration or to gather supplies.

Tiwanaku was once a cultural center in Bolivia

was a pre-Columbian settlement that can be found in Western Bolivia. Its original name has been lost to the ages, as its inhabitants did not have a written language. 

Tiwanaku is thought to have been inhabited by peoples who probably spoke the Puquina language. It is thought that the site was inhabited from as early as 1500 BC.

The city reached its height between 300 BC and 300 AD when it appears to have been a cultural center. Around 1000 AD, the city fell into decline and was abandoned, as climatic changes forced the inhabitants to leave.

It was first recorded by Europeans in 1549, by Spanish conquistador Pedro Leon, whilst he was searching for the Inca capital. 

13. Calakmul[SEE MAP]

flickr/Ed Clayton

Hidden inside the jungles of the Mexican state of Campeche, Calakmul is one of the largest Maya cities ever uncovered. Calakmul was a powerful city that challenged the supremacy of Tikal and engaged in a strategy of surrounding it with its own network of allies. From the second half of the 6th century AD through to the late 7th century Calakmul gained the upper hand although it failed to extinguish Tikal’s power completely and Tikal was able to turn the tables on its great rival in a decisive battle that took place in 695 AD. Eventually both cities succumbed to the spreading Maya collapse.

1 La Ciudad Blanca: The City Of The Monkey God

Photo credit: Dave Yoder, National Geographic

In his quest for gold, Hernan Cortes heard rumors that there was a city of great wealth hiding in the jungles of Honduras. It was called the White City by some and the City of the Monkey God by others, and it was promised to hold an incredible fortune.

Cortes never found it—but the legend lived on. Charles Lindbergh claimed he saw it flying over the country, and others spread rumors that they’d found it but, for whatever reason, couldn’t say where it was, and the city remained nothing more than a legend.

Archaeologists may have actually found it. A group followed the path described by one of the crazier people who claimed to have found the place, and to their surprise, they actually found a city where he said it would be. They found a pyramid in a rain forest, built by a culture that had vanished 1,000 years ago. Inside, there were caches of stone sculptures and impressive architecture that, by the standards of their neighbors, would have been considered signs of incredible wealth and power.

Some people doubt whether this is really the city Cortes wrote about, but if nothing else, it’s evidence of a lost civilization of people who lived their entire lives out in the jungle, separated from life, and whose very existence had been all but forgotten until now.

Read more about real legends on 10 Historical Legends That Are Probably True and 10 Mythical Things that Actually Existed.

fact checked by
Jamie Frater

Mark Oliver

Mark Oliver is a regular contributor to Listverse. His writing also appears on a number of other sites, including The Onion’s StarWipe and Cracked.com. His website is regularly updated with everything he writes.

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Ханаду: Дворец Хубилай-Хана

Фото: Zhenglan Qi Administration of Cultural Heritage of the site of Xanadu City

Марко Поло вернулся из Китая с невероятными описаниями империи Хубилай-хана. Но самым невероятным был Ксанаду, дворец великого хана.

Ксанаду, по словам Марко Поло, был мраморным дворцом, окруженным массивным парком шириной 26 километров (16 миль), наполненным фонтанами, реками и дикими животными. Там хан держал 10 000 чистых белых лошадей в золотом дворце, охраняемом драконами. Короче говоря, это был рай, не похожий ни на один другой на Земле.

Дворец был разрушен армией Мин в 1369 году, задолго до того, как большинство европейцев получили возможность увидеть его. По мере того, как проходили века, он превращался в легенду. Это было место, о котором писали поэты, но оно было не более чем плодом воображения.

С тех пор, однако, место дворца Хубилай-хана было обнаружено, и мы обнаружили, что Марко Поло не преувеличивал. Дом хана был в два раза больше Белого дома, окруженный огромным парком, в котором, похоже, когда-то содержался дикий зверинец животных со всего мира.

В каждой его части есть пандусы для лошадей, и там даже есть драконы, описанные Марко Поло. Это статуи, стоящие на колоннах, выкрашенных в желтый цвет, но они поставлены точно так, как он сказал.

2. Angkor[SEE MAP]

Angkor is a vast temple city in Cambodia featuring the magnificent remains of several capitals of the Khmer Empire, from the 9th to the 15th century AD. These include the famous Angkor Wat temple, the world’s largest single religious monument, and the Bayon temple (at Angkor Thom) with its multitude of massive stone faces. During its long history Angkor went through many changes in religion converting between Hinduism to Buddhism several times. The end of the Angkorian period is generally set as 1431, the year Angkor was sacked and looted by Ayutthaya invaders, though the civilization already had been in decline. Nearly all of Angkor was abandoned, except for Angkor Wat, which remained a Buddhist shrine.

La Ciudad Blanca: Город Обезьяньего Бога

Фото: Дэйв Йодер,National Geographic

В поисках золота до Эрнана Кортеса дошли слухи о том, что в джунглях Гондураса скрывается город с огромными богатствами. Одни называли его Белым городом, другие-Городом Обезьяньего Бога, и ему обещали невероятное состояние.

Кортес так и не нашел его—но легенда продолжала жить. Чарльз Линдберг утверждал, что видел его летящим над страной, а другие распространяли слухи, что они нашли его, но по какой-то причине не могли сказать, где он находится, и город остался не более чем легендой.

Археологи, возможно, действительно нашли его. Группа последовала по пути, описанному одним из самых безумных людей, которые утверждали, что нашли место, и, к их удивлению, они на самом деле нашли город, где он сказал, что это будет. Они нашли пирамиду в тропическом лесу, построенную культурой, которая исчезла 1000 лет назад. Внутри были тайники каменных скульптур и впечатляющей архитектуры, которые, по меркам их соседей, считались бы признаками невероятного богатства и власти.

Некоторые люди сомневаются, действительно ли это тот город, о котором писал Кортес, но, в любом случае, это свидетельство потерянной цивилизации людей, которые всю свою жизнь жили в джунглях, отделенные от жизни, и само существование которых было почти забыто до сих пор.

9 Dvaraka: The Home Of Krishna

Photo credit: Go UNESCO

To a Hindu, Dvaraka (sometimes spelled Dwarka) is as sacred as a city can be. It is the ancient home of Krishna, the supreme personality of the God Head, who lived on the Earth 5,000 years ago.

Dvaraka was built by the architect of the gods under Krishna’s own orders, who demanded a city made of crystal, silver, and emeralds. He also demanded that 16,108 palaces be made for his 16,108 queens. In the end, though, the city was destroyed in a massive battle between Krishna and King Salva, who annihilated it with blasts of energy.

It all sounds like the last thing you’d expect to have any truth in it—but when archaeologists started exploring the sea where Dvaraka was supposed to have been, they actually found the ruins of a city that fit the description. It didn’t have 16,108 silver palaces, but it was a major ancient city with the same layout, and the rest fit as just a little bit of embellishment.

There’s reason to believe the real Dvaraka might have first been built 9,000 years ago, making it one of the oldest cities on Earth. At its peak, it was one of the busiest seaports in the world. Then, in the second millennium BC, it collapsed into the water, just like in the legend.

Gordium: King Midas’ great capital

, or Górdion (pronounced Gor-di-yon) in Turkish, was the capital city of the ancient Phrygian Empire. Located in Asia Minor, it is roughly 47 miles (75 km) SW of Ankara. 

The city lies on what was once the ancient road between Lydia and Assyria that crossed the Sangarius River. Gordium’s most famous ruler was the quasi-legendary King Midas.

Gordium was sacked by the Cimmerians and subsequently abandoned in around 800 BCE but was rebuilt by the Persians.

Alexander the Great is said to have visited the city and solved the puzzle of the Gordian Knot, which said that whoever could loosen the knot would rule Asia — Alexander is said to have solved this problem by simply cutting the knot.

The forgotten city was rediscovered and excavated in 1900 by Gustav and Alfred Korte, and later by the Pennsylvanian Museum, between 1950 and 1973.

Timgad was once a thriving Roman colony

, or Colonia Marciana Ulpia Traiana Thamugadi to the Romans, was once a thriving Roman colony in Algeria. It was founded by Emperor Trajan sometime around 100 AD.

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The once-lost city is located in the Aures Mountains of the region and was named in honor of Trajan’s mother Marcia. The city was abandoned after being sacked by the Vandals in the 5th century and then the Berbers in the 7th century.

It was later buried by the sands of the Sahara until its rediscovery and excavation.

Today, it is noted for being a great example of the Roman grid system town planning. It became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1982.

Hvalsey was a Viking settlement on Greenland

, aka ‘Whale Island’, is a long-lost Viking settlement located near Qaqortoq, Greenland. It is, to date, the largest and best-preserved example of Norse ruins in what is known as the Eastern Settlement.

It was settled around 1000 AD by Norse farmers who were thought to have arrived from Iceland. The site was probably home to about 4,000 people during its height. 

The Western Settlement would be abandoned in the 14th century, with Eastern Settlement lasting a little longer before also being abandoned. 

Records exist of a wedding being held in the settlement’s church in 1408. This was the last record of any habitation of the area.

The site was rediscovered in 1721 by a Danish missionary.

Sigiriya sits on a giant rock outcrop

was a 5th century AD city founded in Sri Lanka on top of a rock outcrop 656 feet (200 meters) tall. It was built by King Kasyapa and could only be accessed through the mouth of huge brick and plaster lion entrance.

According to Sri Lankan legend, Kasyapa (ruled 477 – 495 CE) chose the site for his new capital and promptly built his palace on the rocky outcrop. The sides of which were then decorated with colorful frescoes.

Sigiriya was not occupied for long as it was abandoned after the king’s death. It was a Buddhist monastery until the 14th century and is today a UNESCO World Heritage site.

The site was rediscovered by archaeologists in 1831.

14. Vijayanagara[SEE MAP]

flickr/pcsjith

Vijaynagar was once one the largest cities in the world with 500,000 inhabitants. The Indian city flourished between the 14th century and 16th century, during the height of the power of the Vijayanagar empire. During this time, the empire was often in conflict with the Muslim kingdoms. In 1565, the empire’s armies suffered a massive and catastrophic defeat and Vijayanagara was taken. The victorious Muslim armies then proceeded to raze, depopulate, and destroy the city and its Hindu temples over a period of several months. Despite the empire continuing to exist thereafter during a slow decline, the original capital was not reoccupied or rebuilt. It has not been occupied since.

11. Ctesiphon[SEE MAP]

flickr/Nick Maroulis

In the 6th century Ctesiphon was one of the largest city in the world and one of the great cities of ancient Mesopotamia. Because of its importance, Ctesiphon was a major military objective for the Roman Empire and was captured by Rome, and later the Byzantine Empire, five times. The city fell to the Muslims during the Islamic conquest of Persia in 637. After the founding of the Abbasid capital at Baghdad in the 8th century the city went into a rapid decline and soon became a ghost town. Ctesiphon is believed to be the basis for the city of Isbanir in the Thousand and One Nights. Located in Iraq, the only visible remain today is the great arch Taq-i Kisra.

Дварака: Дом Кришны

Фото: Go UNESCO

Для индуса Дварака (иногда пишется Дварка) священна настолько, насколько может быть священным город. Это древний дом Кришны, верховной личности Бога-Главы, который жил на Земле 5000 лет назад.

Дварака была построена архитектором богов по приказу самого Кришны, который потребовал построить город из хрусталя, серебра и изумрудов. Он также потребовал, чтобы для его 16 108 королев было построено 16 108 дворцов. В конце концов город был разрушен в массовом сражении между Кришной и царем Сальвой, который уничтожил его взрывами энергии.

Все это звучит как последнее, что можно было бы ожидать, чтобы в этом была какая—то правда, но когда археологи начали исследовать море, где, как предполагалось, была Дварака, они действительно нашли руины города, которые соответствовали описанию. В нем не было 16 108 серебряных дворцов, но это был крупный древний город с такой же планировкой, а все остальное подходило лишь для небольшого украшения.

Есть основания полагать, что настоящая Дварака была построена 9000 лет назад, что делает ее одним из древнейших городов на Земле. В свое время это был один из самых оживленных морских портов в мире. Затем, во втором тысячелетии до нашей эры, он рухнул в воду, как и в легенде.

3. Tikal[SEE MAP]

Between ca. 200 to 900 AD, Tikal was the largest Mayan city with an estimated population between 100,000 and 200,000 inhabitants. As Tikal reached peak population, the area around the city suffered deforestation and erosion followed by a rapid decline in population levels. Tikal lost the majority of its population during the period from 830 to 950 and central authority seems to have collapsed rapidly. After 950, Tikal was all but deserted, although a small population may have survived in huts among the ruins. Even these people abandoned the city in the 10th or 11th centuries and the Guatemalan rainforest claimed the ruins for the next thousand years.

Order of events

The player can gain access to Lost City by using the key obtained in Frostbite Caves — Day 30.

After beating Day 15, the player finds a map which leads to one of the lost temples. The player survives waves of Porter Gargantuars on Day 16.

On Day 32, Dr. Zomboss tells the player to not usurp his discovery of Lost City, and he and his zombies already report their findings to the Eminent Journal Of Missing and Mislaid. After defeating Zombot Aerostatic Gondola, Crazy Dave complains that after all those discoveries he hasn’t found his taco yet, while Penny comforted him and ensured that the search will continue.

The lost city of La Ciudad Perdida

According to legend, around 1,300 years ago, a people called the Tairona were commanded by their gods to found the city of along a mountaintop in the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta. 

They would occupy the area for almost a millennia before the Spanish arrived in Columbia. Although the two civilizations never met face to face, the Tairona were wiped out by the diseases carried by the conquistadors.

Abandoned for hundreds of years, the settlement was found by a group of bandits in the 1970s, who plundered any valuables and sold them on the black market. Forgotten for almost 500 years, the city is now once again back on the map.

20. Hattusa[SEE MAP]

wikipedia/Bernard Gagnon

Hattusa became the capital of the Hittite Empire in the 17th century BC. The city was destroyed, together with the Hittite state itself, around 1200 BC, as part of the Bronze Age collapse. The site was subsequently abandoned. Modern estimates put the population of the city between 40,000 and 50,000 at it’s the peak. The dwelling houses which were built with timber and mud bricks have vanished from the site, leaving only the ruins of the stone built temples and palaces. The lost city was rediscovered in the beginning of the 20th century in central Turkey by a German archeological team. One of the most important discoveries at the site has been clay tablets, consisting of legal codes, procedures and literature of the ancient Near East.

8 Great Zimbabwe: The Medieval Castle Of Africa

Photo credit: Yves Picq

In the early 16th century, Portuguese explorers started reporting that they’d heard legends about a castle in Africa. In the land today known as Zimbabwe, the natives told them, was a stone fortress that towered over the trees. The locals called it “Symbaoe,” and even they didn’t know who had built it.

One explorer wrote home, “When, and by whom, these edifices were raised, as the people of the land are ignorant of the art of writing, there is no record, but they say they are the work of the devil, for in comparison with their power and knowledge it does not seem possible to them that they should be the work of man.”

For centuries, Europeans thought Symbaoe was just a superstitious story. Then, in the 19th century, they actually found it. There, in Zimbabwe, was a massive castle with stone walls more than 11 meters (36 ft) tall.

The castle was made in AD 900 by an African civilization that has been lost to time—but they were incredibly connected. Inside the fortress, relics were found from all around the world, likely gathered by trading with other countries. There were Arab coins, Persian pottery, and even relics from the Chinese Ming dynasty.

Great Zimbabwe is more than just a castle. It’s proof that a lost African civilization, forgotten to history, had trade routes that connected all the way to China.

31. Skara Brae[SEE MAP]

flickr/chatirygirl

Located on the main island of Orkney, Skara Brae is one of the best preserved Stone Age villages in Europe. It was covered for hundreds of years by a sand dune until a great storm exposed the site in 1850. The stone walls are relatively well preserved because the dwellings were filled by sand almost immediately after the site was abandoned. Because there were no trees on the island, furniture had to be made of stone and thus also survived. Skara Brae was occupied from roughly 3180 BC–2500 BC. After the climate changed, becoming much colder and wetter, the settlement was abandoned by its inhabitants.

7. Tiwanaku[SEE MAP]

flickr/_tom_

Located near the south-eastern shore of Lake Titicaca in Bolivia, Tiwanaku is one of the most important precursors to the Inca Empire. During the time period between 300 BC and 300 AD Tiwanaku is thought to have been a moral and cosmological center to which many people made pilgrimages. The community grew to urban proportions between the 7th and 9th centuries, becoming an important regional power in the southern Andes. At its maximum extent, the city had between 15,000–30,000 inhabitants although recent satellite imaging suggest a much larger population. Around 1000 AD, after a dramatic shift in climate, Tiwanaku disappeared as food production, the empire’s source of power and authority, dried up.

Великий Зимбабве: Средневековый Замок Африки

Фото: Ив Пикк

В начале 16-го века португальские исследователи начали сообщать, что они слышали легенды о замке в Африке. Туземцы рассказывали, что на земле, ныне известной как Зимбабве, была каменная крепость, возвышавшаяся над деревьями. Местные жители называли его “Симбаоэ”, и даже они не знали, кто его построил.

Один исследователь писал домой: “Когда и кем были воздвигнуты эти здания, поскольку люди этой страны не знают искусства письма, нет никаких записей, но они говорят, что это дело рук дьявола, ибо в сравнении с их силой и знанием им кажется невозможным, чтобы они были делом рук человека».

На протяжении веков европейцы считали Симбаоэ всего лишь суеверной историей. Затем, в 19 веке, они действительно нашли его. Там, в Зимбабве, был массивный замок с каменными стенами высотой более 11 метров (36 футов).

Замок был построен в 900 году нашей эры африканской цивилизацией, которая была потеряна во времени, но они были невероятно связаны. Внутри крепости были найдены реликвии со всего мира, вероятно собранные путем торговли с другими странами. Там были арабские монеты, персидская керамика и даже реликвии китайской династии Мин.

Великая Зимбабве-это больше, чем просто замок. Это доказательство того, что исчезнувшая африканская цивилизация, забытая историей, имела торговые пути, соединявшие ее с Китаем.

12. Palmyra[SEE MAP]

flickr/A travers

For centuries Palmyra (“city of palm trees”) was an important and wealthy city located along the caravan routes linking Persia with the Mediterranean ports of Roman Syria. Beginning in 212, Palmyra’s trade diminished as the Sassanids occupied the mouth of the Tigris and the Euphrates. The Roman Emperor Diocletian built a wall and expanded the city in order to try and save it from the Sassanid threat. The city was captured by the Muslim Arabs in 634 but kept intact. The city declined under Ottoman rule, reducing to no more than an oasis village. In the 17th century its location was rediscovered by western travelers.

Taxila was captured by Darius and later surrendered to Alexander the Great

, aka Takshashila, is a rediscovered ancient city in northern Pakistan. The ruins are situated near modern Taxila in the Punjab region of Pakistan roughly 35 km (22 miles) NW of Rawalpindi.

The ancient city was captured by the Persian king, Darius the Great in 518 BC and later surrendered to Alexander the Great. It would go through a period of rule by various other conquerors before becoming an important Buddhist site.

It is thought to have been founded around 1000 BC; it would become an important city in the region owing to its position on East-West trade routes.

It would later undergo a period of decline until it was finally destroyed by the Huns in the 5th century AD. The city was rediscovered by Alexander Cunningham in the mid-19th century.

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