From cities with mysterious origins, to ones
that were nearly wiped off the map forever, Here are 9 ancient ruins that have defied
history. No matter what they’ve been through, they
are still here! 9. Çatalhöyük, Turkey
Built in what was once Mesopotamia, the city of Çatalhöyük, which now resides in Turkey,
is easily one of the biggest mysteries of the ancient world. I mean reaaaallly ancient, it reached its
heyday around 7000 BC!! This place makes ancient Rome look modern!! These tightly clustered mudbrick houses kind
of look like honeycombs, don’t you think? Every single house in this city shares a wall
or two with another house, just like how honeycomb is connected in a hive. To get out of their houses, the people would
use ladders and cut doors in the roofs. The people would actually walk across the
roofs like we would walk across the street. The Neolithic residents left behind paintings,
plaster reliefs, and pottery. As well as their dead which they buried in
the floors! At one time, this thriving ancient metropolis
had about 8,000 residents and archaeologists are still uncovering thousands of mysterious
objects. There are many skulls found that have the
same type of head wounds in the skulls that later healed (so they were non fatal). This has led archaeologists to believe that
they might have been an egalitarian society but that they used controlled violence to
keep everyone in check. We are still trying to understand how these
people lived, and why things eventually fell apart. 8. Palenque, Mexico
Mexico is a land of many mysteries and lost people and cities. But easily the biggest civilization, with
the biggest mystery surrounding them, are the Mayans. This tribe came from an unknown area, arrived
in Mexico, and set up an empire that lasted over 3000 years. Then they were gone. To this day, many still study the Mayans in
order to find out more about them, and especially what happened to them. One of their most well-preserved cities that
they made was Palenque. Palenque is a prime example of how well the
Mayans could plan and construct their cities. This place not only had temples, but other
massive public and ceremonial buildings, and texts inscribed in various places that help
tell the tales of the empire. So here's the question, if the Mayans were
so powerful, and Palenque was so advanced, why did they abandon it? Most historians note that the city was abandoned
around the 1400's, much like various other Mayan cities. But why? Why did they leave such wonders behind? Were they driven out? Did they have to flee to survive? Or were they all affected by a disease? No one knows the answers to these questions,
but there are many expeditions going on to try and figure out the answer. And now for number 7 but first be sure to
subscribe if you haven't already!! We’d love to have you around here!! 7. Cahokia, United States
This one might come as a surprise. In the United States, there is an old city
that used to be the biggest city in North America at one point in time. This was the city of Cahokia, a pre-Columbian
Native American City. It was founded around the year 600 and lasted
until the 14th century. You can still go there today, it's across
from St. Louis on the other side of the Mississippi river. The builders of Cahokia were very talented
and their gigantic mounds still exist today. Although they didn’t leave behind any written
records, the urban planning and agricultural evidence tells scientists that Cahokia was
once home to around 40,000 people, which baffles scientists. Some estimates claim that in the 13th century,
the population of Cahokia was equal to that of London in the same century! The people would use the Mississippi River
to water their crops, and created tributaries that would make the water go where they needed
it to. While it's not known exactly who lived there,
many guess that there were members from several different tribes and the people later became
known as the Mississippians. It’s hard to say what happened to these
people. When the French arrived in the 17th century,
the mounds were already there. Archaeologists are wondering what happened
to everybody and they believe that they may have run out of food, or had difficulty battling
contamination in these city-like conditions. Just like the Maya, the city was abandoned. 6. Derinkuyu, Turkey
Turkey is home to another ancient, fascinating and mysterious place: Derinkuyu. The concept of making underground cities may
seem like something from fantasy television shows, or Fraggle Rock, but many cultures
have made very grand underground cities. Turkey has a lot of ancient cities like this,
and not just underground, but in caves. But, when it comes to Derinkuyu, it's honestly
a whole other story. This city is ancient, and can be traced back
to the 8th century BC. Christians took over and expanded the underground
caverns. It reached its peak during the earliest days
of the Byzantine Empire when it was used by the Christians as a hideout during the Arab-Byzantine
wars At its peak it held about 20,000 people, a very impressive number for that many people
to be living, and thriving, underground. And remember, this is before the year 1000,
so they didn’t have all the modern advances we have. They had to worry about sanitation, ventilation,
safety, and general health. To be clear, this wasn't a slum, or a makeshift
city, this place had churches, and kitchens, and areas for livestock, it even had a place
to make wine! This truly was a civilized and fully realized
city under the earth. Why was the city underground? It was meant to be a safe haven for people. It was a dark time in this period of history,
and there was a lot of warfare going on above ground. Later on it was used by Christians and refugees
to hide from the Ottomans. This place was a safe haven with secret entries
and exits where people could bring in goods and provide services and live their daily
life in relative safety. Weirdly enough, later on the city was sealed
off for some reason, and it wasn't opened again until 1969, by accident. Over 200 underground cities have been discovered
in the region. 5. Yonaguni Monument, Japan
Off of the coast of Japan, there is a place called Yonaguni Island which was famous for
hammerhead sharks. Now, people are more intrigued by some unnerving
formations in the water that were found by a diver in 1987. The Yonaguni Monument is a series of rock
formations that has the scientific world split as to whether this is a natural design, or
something made by humans. And it's a debate that continues on to this
day. It looks like a lost city that sunk into the
ocean. The monument: is characterized as having clear
right angles and the largest structure is about 90 feet tall. It seems like there are stone pillars, a wall,
a road and a star-shaped platform. There is evena rock protrusion that looks
like the carving of a human face. But there are a lot of theories as to how
this happened. For example some think that it was a real
city that was built above the water when the ocean level was lower. It was then later slowly swallowed up by the
rising waters. However, there's no definitive proof that
this is the case. Many others think it is just limestone rock
which tends to break off at sharp angles, and that it was never a city at all, but geological
formations. No one has a clear answer to what this monument
really is. What do you think?? Let me know in the comments!! Or we could plan a diving expedition and go
see it for ourselves!! I’ve heard the currents are very strong
though, but in any case, it would still be cool to see those hammerheads! 4. Machu Picchu, Peru
Machu Picchu is arguably one of the most interesting and revealing places in the world. Why? Because it's through this city that we got
to take a look inside the Incan Empire. This civilization ruled a lot of South America
for quite some time, and their territory included Peru, Bolivia, Chile, Argentina, and more. And yet, for a while, we didn't know that
much about them, until we found Machu Picchu. This was one of the biggest cities in the
empire, and as such, we're able to learn a lot from it. One of the most shocking discoveries of the
city is that it was missing one of the most common aspects present in all other civilizations
in the world. It didn’t have a marketplace. In this city, and apparently in all the other
cities in the empire, they didn't have marketplaces. Which makes you wonder how they bought food,
traded items, or even just interacted with one another. Numerous civilizations built their cities
around a central marketplace, yet the Incas didn't, why? We are still trying to understand their civilization
and how they were able to build their cities and monuments in such high places. 3. Thonis, Egypt
If you're big into history, then you knew that it was only a matter of time before Egypt
showed up on my list. And as you know, it is home to many ruins
and mysteries, and the main topic of several videos on this channel!! Be sure to check them out when you finish
this video!! One of the biggest mysteries in the past was
what had happened to Thonis, also known as Heracleion. It was a port town in Egypt, and was literally
viewed as a gateway into the country itself. It had massive buildings, and monuments to
show off their culture and power to the Mediterranean. Then, one day, it sank into the Mediterranean
Sea, where it remains to this day. It took a loooong time to find it again!! It didn’t seem to disappear in the blink
of an eye either. This apparently happened over time. But no one is really sure of the cause. Many speculate that earthquakes, or liquefaction
could be the cause of its demise, but no one can say! It could be the waters just changed their
course. Needless to say, Egypt had to adapt big time
after the loss of Thonis. 2. Great Zimbabwe, Zimbabwe
Sticking with Africa, let's head to Zimbabwe, which holds one of the biggest mysteries of
the continent. It's called... Great Zimbabwe. Yeah, doesn't really sound mysterious, does
it? But don't let that fool you, there's more
to this than you might think. From 1200-1400, Great Zimbabwe was a major
point of trade, people came from all around including from India and China!! The city was very wealthy and had many different
industries including farming, livestock, and mining. It was a true crown jewel of the region. Yet, like just about all cities or monuments
on this list, its success led to ruin, and no one is exactly sure why? Some think that Great Zimbabwe grew so big
that its resources began to dwindle, forcing the people to move away in order to survive. Like Cahokia and maybe even Palenque, they
may have run out of food. Others speculate that cultural changes led
people away from this trade haven. Either way, it's now a ruin, and many archaeologists
and researchers are trying to figure out what happened! 1. Pompeii, Italy
There are many scary stories in history, but the story of Pompeii is one that we just can’t
get over. This is the city that was built in the fertile
valley near a volcano, Mt. Vesuvius. When it erupted, it caught people by surprise
and buried the city in soot and ash and left it covered and perfectly preserved for hundreds
of years. Now much of it has been uncovered and it is
a sad historical marvel and many people were frozen in time forever. As people continued to uncover the ancient
city, some oddities began to emerge. Because of how it was buried, everything that
survived is actually in pristine shape, which is a miracle in many ways. The fun part though, is that there are many
interesting "items" that you can see in the city that have many wondering what was going
on in Pompeii. For example, there are statues of reproductive
organs, graffiti that makes no sense, arrangements of items that make even less sense, and the
list goes on and on. What does it all mean? Why did the citizens of Pompeii have all of
this in their city? It's certainly not documented in any of the
history books, but it was believed that the people of Pompeii were being punished by the
Gods. While there are stories and some documents
of Pompeii, it just goes to show that while history may be written by those who have survived
it, that doesn't mean they're telling everyone everything. Thanks for watching! What did you think of these cities in ruins? Would you like to visit any of them? Let me know in the comments below. Be sure to subscribe and see you next time!
