Civilisations Lost To Time

BY: BHARAT EXPRESS 

Flourishing around 2600–1900 BCE, cities such as Harappa and Mohenjo-daro featured organised streets and advanced drainage systems.

Indus Valley Civilisation

Between roughly 800 and 1000 CE, many major Maya cities in the southern lowlands lost population.

Classic Maya Cities

Communities built impressive stone settlements across the American Southwest, including cliff dwellings at Mesa Verde.

Ancestral Puebloans

Near modern-day St. Louis, Cahokia became a major urban centre around 1050 CE, with enormous earthen mounds and a large population.

Lost City Of Cahokia

From around the 11th to 15th centuries, Great Zimbabwe served as a major centre of trade and political power.

Great Zimbabwe

The Nabataeans built prosperous trading settlements, including Petra in present-day Jordan. Rome annexed their kingdom in 106 CE, and Petra later lost much of its importance as trade routes shifted and earthquakes damaged the city. 

Nabataean Kingdom 

The people of Rapa Nui created hundreds of monumental moai statues. Their society experienced major changes before European contact in 1722, but the popular idea that they simply destroyed themselves remains debated.

Rapa Nui Civilisation

These societies did not all vanish without a trace. Their cities, monuments, inscriptions, and descendants help researchers piece together what happened.

The Past Still Speaks