Play at being Indiana Jones or Lara Croft at these fascinating sites recovered from the jungle or the desert sands.
From the fabled King Solomon’s Mines to the lost city of Atlantis, tales of mighty ancient cities hidden by time have long fired the imaginations of explorers, writers and scholars. Whether you’re a budding Indiana Jones or Lara Croft, these lost cities will have you reaching for your backpack and heading for the door – so start exploring…
Palenque, Mexico
Once entirely obscured by thick, verdant jungle, the ancient Mayan city of Palenque is now Mexico’s most breathtaking archaeological site. Located in the northern highlands of the country, Palenque contains some of the finest examples of Mayan architecture and bas-relief carvings anywhere. Abandoned more than a millennium ago this once grandiose metropolis rose to prominence under Pakal, a club-footed king who reigned from 615AD to 683AD. Today the tallest and most notable structure is Pakal’s pyramid crypt: the elaborate Temple of Inscriptions.
Petra, Jordan
The Rose Red City of Petra, in Jordan, is one of the most astounding ancient sites in a region, the Middle East, that is probably thicker with them than anywhere else in the world. Carved out of solid rock, its grandeur unfolds as you emerge from a narrow chasm forming its entrance. Built during the fifth and sixth centuries BC, this once thriving city was rediscovered in 1812 by a Swiss traveller, Johann Ludwig Burckhardt, but only came to be visited by travellers en masse after its appearance in the film Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade in 1989. Petra’s most striking feature is the 2,000-year-old treasury building, which in the early morning the sun paints an ethereal rose red.
Great Zimbabwe, Zimbabwe
The largest complex of ruins in Africa south of the Egyptian pyramids, Great Zimbabwe provides proof of the existence of a sophisticated African civilisation long before Europeans set foot on the continent. Built between 400AD and the 15th century, this once flourishing gold trading post was rediscovered by the American-born German explorer Adam Renders in 1867. All that remains today is a series of winding stone walls rising 10.9 metres high, which are incredibly held together without a speck of mortar.
Great Stupa of Sanchi, India
The World Heritage-listed Sanchi Stupas are the best-preserved group of ancient Buddhist monuments in India. Crowning the hilltop of Sanchi in Madhya Pradesh, they’re believed to have been built by Emperor Asoka in 273BC and extended by later rulers. The ruins lay neglected until the 19th century, when treasure hunters discovered them in 1818. The most elaborate and well-known of the more than 50 monuments is the Great Stupa, with its nearly perfect hemispherical dome. Its four gateways, or toranas, are among the finest examples of Buddhist art in India.
Troy, Turkey
Immortalised in the writings of Virgil and Homer, what may be the long-fabled city of Troy was unearthed by the German archaeologist Dr Heinrich Schliemann in the 19th century in Anatolia, in Turkey. Called Ilion by the Greeks and referred to by Homer in the Illiad, much of Troy’s history has been clouded in fiction. Whether or not Achilles and his Trojan horse existed, most historians agree that, following a siege, the Greeks plundered and then burnt the settlement to the ground. Since its unearthing, archaeologists have argued that the city was destroyed and rebuilt some nine times with the layer of Troy VIIa believed to be the actual city described in the Illiad.
Ubar, Oman
Founded on the frankincense trade route around 3000BC, the ancient city of Ubar, in the south-west of Oman, is believed to have been a fantastically wealthy place of ornate buildings adorned with spectacular golden pillars. The city, which fell into ruin some time between 300AD and 500AD, was only rediscovered in 1992 by a team using Nasa satellite technology. According to the Qur’an, God destroyed Ubar as punishment for its inhabitants’ immoral lifestyles. Archaeologists, however, provide a less dramatic explanation: that the limestone walls of the city collapsed.
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