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 known lost cities have been studied extensively by scientists. Abandoned urban sites of relatively recent origin are generally referred to as ghost towns. This article however includes places where people lived that were important local centres, without applying a specific test of size.
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 and study, 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.
Cities may become lost for a variety of reasons, including geographic, economic, social (e.g. war), others, or some combination of these.
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 its water supply. The city was rediscovered in 1992 when satellite photography revealed traces of the ancient traderoutes leading to it.
Other settlements are lost with few 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.
Many cities have been destroyed by natural disasters and rebuilt, sometimes repeatedly. But in other cases the destruction has been so complete that the sites were abandoned completely. Classic examples include the Roman cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum, buried with many of their inhabitants under a thick layer of volcanic ash after an eruption of Vesuvius. A lesser known example is 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 civilization. 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 sank into the North Sea during a massive storm surge 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 this was in turn passed over in favor of Baghdad (and later Samarra) for the site of the Abbasid capital.
Some cities which are considered lost are (or may be) places of legend such as the ArthurianCamelot, RussianKitezh, Lyonesse and Atlantis. Others, such as Troy and Bjarmaland, having once been considered to be legendary, are now known to have existed.
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 VandalKingdom of North Africa, before being destroyed by the Arabs after its capture in AD 697.
Ciudad de los Cesares - City of the Caesars, A legendary city in Patagonia, never found. Also variously known as City of the Patagonia, Wandering City, Trapalanda or Trapananda, Lin Lin or Elelín,
Lost City of Z - A city allegedly located in the jungles of the Matto Grosso region of Brazil, was said to have been seen by the British explorer Col. Percy Harrison Fawcett sometime prior to World War I.
Kuelap - A massive ruined city still covered in jungle that was the capital of the Chachapoyas culture in Northern Peru.
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 the Mexican state of Chiapas, known for its beautiful art and architecture
Tikal ? One of two "superpowers" in the classic Maya period.
Cahokia ? Located near present-day St. Louis, Missouri. 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.
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.
Calleva Atrebatum, Silchester, England - Large Romano-British walled city 10 miles south of present day Reading, Berkshire. Just the walls remain and a street pattern can be discerned from the air.
Chryse Island in the Aegean, reputed site of an ancient temple still visible on the sea floor.
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.
Vineta ? Legendary city somewhere at the Baltic coast of Germany or Poland.
Winchelsea, East Sussex, UK Old Winchelsea, Important Channel port, pop 4000+, abandoned after 1287 inundation and coastal erosion. Modern Winchelsea, 2 miles inland, was built to replace it as a planned town by Edward I of England
Ys - Legendary city on the western coast of France.
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