The world is full of ruined cities, but some have such mysterious rises
and falls that they haunt our imaginations. Even if we know who built
them, certain aspects of the city may simply defy comprehension in the
modern age. Here are 8 ancient cities that we may never fully
understand.
Photo via Franck Goddio
1. Çatalhöyük, Turkey
In 7,500 BCE, this city in the Mesopotamian region (now Turkey) held thousands of people and is believed by many to be one of the world's earliest urban settlements. But the culture of the people here was unlike anything we know today. First of all, they built the city like a honeycomb, with houses sharing walls. Homes and buildings were accessed by doors cut into the roofs. People would stroll on the streets across these roofs, and climb down ladders to get to their living quarters. Doorways were often marked with bulls' horns, and dead family members were buried in the floor of each home. It's not clear what happened to the culture of the people who lived in this city. Their architectural style seems to be unique, though archaeologists have found many fertility goddess figurines in the city that resemble others found in the region. So it's likely that when the city was abandoned, its culture radiated outward into other cities in the Mesopotamian region.
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Photo by Peter Andersen
2. Palenque, Mexico
As one of the largest and best preserved of the Maya city-states, Palenque is emblematic of the mystery of the entire Maya civilization — which rose up, dominated parts of Mexico, Guatemala, Belize and Honduras, then vanished with little explanation. Though descendants of the Maya are still thriving in Mexico and Central America, no one is sure why the great cities of the Maya fell into ruin and were finally abandoned in the 1400s. Palenque was in its heyday during the classical period of the Maya civilization, from about 700-1100 CE. Like many Maya cities, it had temples, palaces, and marketplaces. But Palenque, located near what is today known as the Chiapas region, has some of the most detailed sculptures and inscriptions from the Maya civilization, offering reams of historical information about kings, battles, and daily life. Theories for why this and other Maya cities were abandoned include warfare, famine, and climate change.
3. Cahokia, United States
Located across the Mississippi River from what is today St. Louis, Cahokia was for hundreds of years the biggest city in North America. Its inhabitants built enormous earthen mounds — some of which you can still visit today — and vast plazas which served as markets and meeting places. There is strong evidence that the inhabitants had very sophisticated agricultural practices, and that they diverted tributaries of the Mississippi several times to water their fields. Like the Maya, the people of Cahokia were at their civilizational height between 600-1400 CE. Nobody is certain why the city was abandoned, nor how the region was able to support such a high-density urban civilization of up to 40,000 people for hundreds of years.
4. Derinkuyu, Turkey
Derinkuyu
is an enormous, ancient underground city that dates back to the early
Byzantine Empire. It's unknown when the city was begun — some sources
say as early at the 7th century BCE — but it wouldn't have reached its
greatest size until the period between 500-1000 CE, when it was five
stories deep with room for 20,000 people, plus livestock, kitchens, a
church, and a wine-making facility. Locals dug tunnels and rooms beneath
their homes, deep into the soft, sandy volcanic rock of the central
Turkish region of Cappadocia. An entire underground civilization was
thriving here during the middle ages, which could provide a model for future communities trying to survive an apocalypse.
For
centuries, people had fled to the area to find a safe haven from
anti-Christian Romans, bandits, and later, anti-Christian Muslims.
Massive rocks could be rolled across the entrances, and air shafts kept
the place ventilated while people lived inside for months at a time.
Eventually, long shafts were dug to connect Derinkuyu with other
underground cities in the area. The was city was sealed up at some point
after the 10th century, and was only reopened to the public in 1969.
5. Pompeii, Italy
There are
ample historical records that document the Roman vacation town of
Pompeii, which was entombed in ash after the catastrophic eruption of
Mt. Vesuvius in 79 CE. We know that the city was partially destroyed by
an earthquake years before the volcano erupted, and that many of its
greatest homes were already abandoned by the time the final blast erased
the city forever. We even know, from historical records, that Vesuvius
started smoking and causing quakes in the days leading up to the fatal
eruption. So what's the mystery?
Because Pompeii was perfectly preserved in the exact configuration it had in 79 CE, there are hundreds of historical details that are utterly alien to contemporary eyes
— including decorative penis statues, weird graffiti, inexplicable art,
and living arrangements that are unlike anything you'd see in a modern
city. It's one thing to read historical accounts of ancient Rome, and
another thing to walk the streets of a Roman city unchanged since the
height of the Empire. The mysteries of everyday life are often greater
than the mysteries of how a civilization collapses.
6. Machu Picchu, Peru
A
lot remains mysterious about the Inca Empire, which dominated parts of
the regions now known as Peru, Chile, Ecuador, Bolivia and Argentina for
hundreds of years before the Spanish invaded, destroyed its cities, and
burned its libraries of quipu
records (the Inca language was "written" with knots and rope). Though
we know a lot about Inca technology, architecture and advanced
agriculture — all of which are in evidence at major Inca city Machu
Picchu — we still can't read what's left of the tapestries that contain
their written records. And we don't understand how they ran a vast
empire without ever building a single marketplace.
That's right — Machu Picchu and other Inca cities contain no markets.
This dramatically different from most other cities, which are often
built around central market squares and plazas. How did such a
successful civilization exist without a recognizable economy? Maybe one
day we'll discover the answers.
Photo via Franck Goddio
7. Thonis, Egypt
In the 8th
century BCE, this legendary city was the gateway to Egypt, a port town
that was full of incredible monuments, rich merchants, and huge
buildings. Now it is entirely submerged in the Mediterranean Sea. Thonis
began its slow decline after the rise of Alexandria in the 300s CE. But
eventually that slide became literal, as the city drowned in the sea
that was once the source of its wealth. Nobody is certain how it
happened, but by the 8th century CE the city was gone. It may have been
the victim of liquefaction after an earthquake.
Recently rediscovered by archaeologist Franck Goddio, the city is slowly being excavated. Above is a video reconstruction of what the city might have looked like in its heyday.
Photo by Marius Loots
8. Great Zimbabwe, Zimbabwe
One of the
great mysteries of southern Africa is the enormous, walled city known
today as Great Zimbabwe. The city was home to as many as 30,000 people,
and was at its peak from 1200-1450, when it was the heart of an
international trade region that stretched as far as China and India.
Wealth poured into the city from distant lands, but it was also rich in
gold from local mines and vast herds of cattle. Still, there are some
unknowns here — it's not clear how far the city's influence stretched,
nor what all its industries were. Clearly, though, it was
technologically advanced. The BBC describes the greatest remaining monument from the city:
The Great Zimbabwe monument is built out of granite which is the parent rock of the region - i.e. it predominates locally. The building method used was dry-stone walling, demanding a high level of masonry expertise. Some of the site is built round natural rock formations. The actual structure comprises a huge enclosing wall some 20 metres high. Inside there are concentric passageways, along with a number of enclosures. One of these is thought to be a royal enclosure. Large quantities of gold and ceremonial battle axes, along with other objects have been found there.
Like many
cosmopolitan cities of its era, Great Zimbabwe suffered a mysterious
decline. Famines caused by overgrazing may have contributed to its
demise, or perhaps a shift in preferred trade routes. If we understood
more about the city's local industries and trade partners, we might
understand better what led to its downfall.
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