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For other uses of the term Lost city, see Lost city (disambiguation).

In the popular imagination lost cities were real, prosperous, well-populated areas of human habitation that fell into terminal decline and whose location was later lost. Most lost cities are of ancient origins, and have been studied extensively by archaeologists. Abandoned urban sites of relatively recent origin are generally referred to as ghost towns.

Lost cities generally fall into three broad categories: those whose disappearance has been so complete that no knowledge of the city existed until the time of its rediscovery, those whose location has been lost but whose memory has been retained in the context of myths and legends, and those whose existence and location have always been known, but which are no longer inhabited.

The search for such lost cities by European adventurers in the Americas, Africa and in Southeast Asia from the 15th century onwards eventually led to the development of the science of archaeology.

Contents 1 How are cities lost? 2 Lost cities by region 2.1 Africa 2.2 Asia 2.2.1 Far East Asia 2.2.2 Southeast Asia 2.2.3 South Asia 2.2.4 Central Asia 2.2.5 Western Asia/Middle East 2.3 South America 2.3.1 Inca cities 2.3.2 Other 2.4 North America 2.4.1 Maya cities 2.4.2 Olmec cities 2.4.3 Lost cities in the United States 2.4.4 Lost cities in Canada 2.4.5 Other 2.5 Europe 3 See also

Cities may become lost for a variety of reasons, including geographic, economic, social (e.g. war), others, or some combination of these. Many are lost for reasons that are currently unknown.

An Arabian city named Ubar (Iram of the Pillars) was abandoned after much of the city sank into a sinkhole created by the collapse of an underground cavern, which also destroyed their water supply, and its location was forgotten for some centuries. It was rediscovered in 1992 by satellite photography that revealed the traces of the ancient tradeways.

Other settlements are lost with little or no clues to guide historians, such as the Colony of Roanoke. In August 1590, John White returned to the former English colony, which had housed 91 men (including White), 17 women (two of them pregnant) and 11 children when he left, to find it completely empty.

Malden Island, in the central Pacific, was deserted when first visited by Europeans in 1825, but ruined temples and the remains of other structures found on the island indicate that a small population of Polynesians had lived there for perhaps several generations some centuries earlier. Prolonged drought seems the most likely explanation for their demise. The ruins of another city, called Nan Madol, have been found on the Micronesian island of Ponape. In more recent times Port Royal, Jamaica sank into the Caribbean Sea after an earthquake.

Cities have been destroyed by natural disasters and rebuilt again (and again), but the destruction has occasionally been so complete that they were not rebuilt. Classic examples include the Roman cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum, buried with many of their inhabitants in a catastrophic flow of volcanic ash after an eruption of Vesuvius. A lesser known example would be Akrotiri, on the island of Thera, where in 1967, under a blanket of ash, the remains of a Minoan city were discovered. The volcanic explosion on Thera was immense, and had disastrous effects on the Minoan civilisation. (It has been suggested that this disaster was the inspiration that Plato used for the story of Atlantis.)

Less dramatic examples of the destruction of cities by natural forces are those where the coastline has eroded away. Cities which have sunk into the sea include the one-time centre of the English wool-trade, at Dunwich, England, and the city of Rungholt in Germany which sunk into the North Sea in a great stormtide in 1362.

Cities are also often destroyed by wars. This is the case, for instance, with Troy and Carthage, though both of these were subsequently rebuilt, and the Achaemenid capital at Persepolis was accidentally burnt by Alexander the Great.

Various capitals in the Middle East were abandoned; after Babylon was abandoned Ctesiphon became the capital of the new Parthian Empire, and was in turn passed over in favor of Baghdad (and later Samarra) for the site of the Abbasid capital though all these cities are fairly close together.

Some of the cities which are considered lost are (or may be) places of legend such as the Arthurian Camelot, Russian Kitezh, Lyonesse and Atlantis. Others, such as Troy and Bjarmaland, having once been considered to be legendary, may actually have existed.

• Akhetaten, Egypt – Capital during the reign of 18th Dynasty pharaoh Akhenaten. Later abandoned and almost totally destroyed. Modern day el Amarna.
• Canopus, Egypt – Located on the now-dry Canopic branch of the Nile, east of Alexandria.
• Itjtawy, Egypt – Capital during the 12th Dynasty. Exact location still unknown, but it is believed to lie near the modern town of el-Lisht.
• Tanis, Egypt – Capital during the 21st and 22nd Dynasties, in the Delta region.
• Memphis, Egypt – Administrative capital of ancient Egypt. Little remains.
• The capital city of the Hyskos in the Nile Delta.
• Leptis Magna – Roman city located in present day Libya. It was the birthplace of Emperor Septimius Severus, who lavished an extensive public works programme on the city, including diverting the course of a nearby river. The river later returned to its original course, burying much of the city in silt and sand.
• Dougga, Tunisia – Roman city located in present day Tunisia.
• Carthage – Initially a Phoenician city, destroyed and then rebuilt by Rome. Later served as the capital of the Vandal Kingdom of North Africa, before being destroyed by the Byzantine Empire.
• Great Zimbabwe
• Audoghast – Wealthy Berber city in medieval Ghana, sacked by mujihadeen, location unknown.

• Yamatai – Japan.
• Yonaguni – Submerged rock formations resembling megaliths near the island of Yonaguni, Japan.

• Sukhothai
• Ayutthaya
• Angkor

• Vijayanagar
• Poompuhar – Located in South India.

• Arkaim – Early Aryan civilization.
• Harappa – Non-Vedic civilisation.
• Mohenjo Daro – Non-Vedic civilization.
• Dwarka – ancient seat of Krishna, hero of the Mahabharata. Now largely excavated. Off the coast of the Indian state of Gujarat.
• Niya – Located in the Taklamakan Desert, on the ancient Silk Road route.
• Loulan – Located in the Taklamakan Desert, on the ancient Silk Road route.
• Subashi – Located in the Taklamakan Desert, on the ancient Silk Road route.
• Otrar – City located along the Silk Road, important in the history of Central Asia.
• Karakorum – Capital of Genghiz Khan.
• Old Urgench – Capital of Khwarezm.
• Mangazeya, Siberia

• Iram of the Pillars – Lost Arabian city in the Empty Quarter.
• Akkad
• Babylon
• Çatalhöyük – A Neolithic and Chalcolithic settlement, located near the modern city of Konya, Turkey.
• Choqa Zanbil
• Kish
• Lagash
• Nineveh
• Persepolis
• Petra
• Ctesiphon
• Ur
• Hattusa – Capital of the Hittite Empire. Located near the modern village of Boğazköy in north-central Turkey.
• Troy

• Machu Picchu – Possibly Pachacuti's Family Palace.
• Vilcabamba – Currently known as Espiritu Pampa.
• Paititi – A legendary city and refuge in the rainforests where Peru, Bolivia and Brazil meet.

• Chan Chan – Chimu. Located near Trujillo, in present day Peru.
• Tiahuanaco – pre-Inca. Located in present day Bolivia.
• Kawachi – Nazca, in present day Peru.
• Caral – An important center of the Norte Chico civilization, in present day Peru.
• Ciudad de los Cesares – A legendary city in Patagonia, never found.
• Trapalanda – A wealthy city supposed to be located between the sound of Magellan and the early Spanish settlements in Chile.
• Santa Maria de la Antigua del Darien – First city in the mainland of the American continent, in the Darien region between Colombia and Panama. Founded by Vasco Nuñez de Balboa in 1510.

incomplete list – for further information, see Maya civilization

• Chichen Itza – This ancient place of pilgrimage is still the most visitied Maya ruin.
• Copán – In modern Honduras.
• Calakmul – One of two "superpowers" in the classic Maya period.
• Koba
• Naachtun – Rediscovered in 1922, it remains one of the most remote and least visited Maya sites. Located 44 km (27 miles) south-south-east of Calakmul, and 65 km (40 miles) north of Tikal, it is believed to have had strategic importance to, and been vulnerable to military attacks by, both neighbours. Its ancient name was identified in the mid-1990s as Masuul.
• Palenque — in Chiapas, Mexico, known for its beautiful art and architecture
• Tikal — One of two "superpowers" in the classic Maya period.

• La Venta – In present day Tabasco, Mexico.
• San Lorenzo – Near present day Veracruz, Mexico.

• Cahokia – Located near present-day St. Louis. At its height Cahokia is believed to have had a population of between 40,000 and 80,000 people, making it amongst the largest pre-Columbian cities of the Americas. It is known chiefly for its huge pyramidal mounds of compacted earth.
• The cities of the Ancestral Pueblo (or Anasazi) culture, located in the Four Corners region of the Southwest United States – The best known are located at Chaco Canyon and Mesa Verde.
• Lost counties, cities, and towns of Virginia
• Lost counties, cities, and towns of Maryland
• Pueblo Grande de Nevada a complex of villages, located near Overton, Nevada

• L'Anse aux Meadows – Viking settlement founded around 1000 by Leif Ericson.
• Gangnon - Mining community in northern Quebec that has disappeared after the closing of the mine. All that is left are some sidewalks and a main road.

• Aztlán- the ancient home of the aztecs
• Izapa – Chief city of the Izapa civilization, whose territory extended from the Gulf Coast across to the Pacific Coast of Chiapas, in present day Mexico, and Guatemala.
• Teotihuacan – Pre-Aztec Mexico.

• Atil, Tmutarakan, Sarai Berke – Capitals of the steppe peoples.
• Attila's Fortified Camp, Romania – Probably the great ruins at Saden (Zsadany, Jadani, now Cornesti -jud. Timis) from or to which the Hun tribe Sadagariem took or gave their name.
• Avars'Khan Fortified Camp, Romania - Probably the re-occupied city of Attila at Saden (Zsadany, Jadani, now Cornesti -jud. Timis).
• Birka, Sweden
• Damasia – Sank into the Ammersee, Germany.
• Dunwich, United Kingdom – Lost to coastal erosion.
• Hedeby, Germany
• Helike, Greece on the Peloponese – Sunk by an earthquake in the 4th century BC and rediscovered in the 1990s.
• Kaupang - In Viksfjord near Larvik, Norway. Largest trading city around the Oslo Fjord during the viking age. As sea levels retreated (the shoreline is 7m lower today than in 1000) the city was no longer accessible from the ocean and was abandoned.
• Kitezh, Russia - Legendary underwater city which supposedly may be seen in good weather.
• Niedam near Rungholt
• Ny Varberg, Sweden
• Pompeii and Herculaneum in Italy - buried by the eruption of Vesuvius in 79 AD and rediscovered in the 18th century
• Rungholt – Sunken in the Wadden Sea, Germany.
• Saeftinghe, Netherlands - prosperous city lost to the sea in 1584.
• Akrotiri – On the island of Thera, Greece.
• Selsey, United Kingdom - mostly abandoned to coastal erosion after 1043.
• Tartessos, Spain
• Teljä, Finland
• Trellech, United Kingdom.
• Uppåkra, Sweden
• Vineta – Legendary city somewhere at the baltic coast of Germany or Poland.

• Lost city (fiction)
• Ghost town
• Lost lands
• Mythical place
• Collapse by Jared Diamond