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Introduction To Lost Cities |
 Cities
may become lost for a variety of reasons, including geographic,
economic and social, such as in war.
Prolonged drought seems the most likely explanation for the loss of
many cities. Without adequate water supplies for drinking and
agriculture, a city's population would have to abandon their homes
for a location with more stable water supplies. This may have
been common in the Yucatan, where water was supplied by rain and
underground rivers, but had very few above ground rivers.
In more recent times Port Royal, Jamaica
sank into the Caribbean Sea after an earthquake. Some cities
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, with no indication of struggle or any visible
reason for the mass disappearance.
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.
Less dramatic examples of the destruction of cities by natural
forces are those where the coastline has eroded away.
Cities are also often destroyed by wars. This was a common theme in
the highland Maya cities, and may also have been the motive in the
loss of the coastal cities in Peru.
Some cities which are considered lost are (or may be) places of
legend such as Chachapoya or Machu Pichu in Peru, having once been
considered legendary, are now known to have existed. |
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South America
-
 Inca cities
- 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.
- Choquequirao - Considered to be
the last bastion of Incan resistance against the Spaniards
and refuge of Manco Inca Yupanqui.
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Other Cultures
- Chan Chan – Chimu. Located near
Trujillo, in present day Peru.
- Tiahuanaco – pre-Inca. Located
in present day Bolivia.
- Cahuachi – Nazca, in present day
Peru.
- Caral – An important center of
the Norte Chico civilization, in present day Peru.
- 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,
- 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.
- Lost City of Z - A city
allegedly located in the jungles of the Mato 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.
- Tayuna (Ciudad Perdida) located
in present day Colombia
Mexico and Central America
-
 Maya cities
(incomplete list)
- Chichen Itza – This ancient
place of pilgrimage is still the most visited Maya ruin.
- Copán – In modern Honduras.
- Calakmul – One of two
"superpowers" in the classic Maya period.
- Coba
- 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.
-
 Aztec Cities
- Aztlán (possibly known as
Aztlantla) - the ancient home of the Aztecs
- Teotihuacan – Pre-Aztec Mexico.
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Olmec Cities
- La Venta – In the present day
Mexican state of Tabasco.
- San Lorenzo Tenochtitlán – In
the present day Mexican state of Veracruz.
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Other Cultures
- 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.
- Guayabo – Costa Rica - It is
believed that the site was inhabited from 1500 BCE (BC) to
1400 CE (AD), and had at its peak a population of around
10.000 (25,000 per Ferraro/McGuinness).
North America - United States
 The cities of
the Ancestral Pueblo (Puebloan 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.- 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.
- Pueblo Grande de Nevada a complex of
villages, located near Overton, Nevada
- Lost towns of Glen Canyon region of
Southern Utah-Glen Canyon Dam and Lake Powell Recreation Area
Created
North America - Canada
- L'Anse aux Meadows – Viking
settlement founded around 1000.
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An Ancient American Archaeology Site
by Tim McGuinness, Ph.D.
