Hi I’m John Green. Welcome to my salon. This is Mental Floss on YouTube and did you
know that about 2,500 people visit the lost city of Machu Picchu, Peru every day? It’s
believed that the location was built around 1400 CE for an Incan ruler and probably was
deserted around when the Spanish took over. The ruins sit at around 8,000 feet above sea
level. Interestingly, its discoverer was looking for a different lost city, Vilcabamba.
And that’s the first of many lost cities, most of which that have now been found, that
I’m going to tell you about in this video today.
And speaking of lost cities and towns and being lost and being found... Paper Towns!
Paper Towns is a book that I wrote that's now being turned into a movie. It comes out
July 24th in the US and other places at other times.
In 2015, a group of expeditioners found a lost city in Honduras, known as White City
or the City of the Monkey God -- a place that people had been looking for since the 1920s.
Archeologists then found a bunch of artifacts from between 1000-1400 CE. They revealed a
culture that was wealthy, and religious, and possibly played religiously-oriented sports.
Saeftinghe in the Netherlands, and yes I know that my Dutch is excellent, was lost for centuries,
though it’s since been rebuilt and a full 55 people live there. The majority of the
town was destroyed in the 16th century during the All Saint’s flood, which inspired the
Dutch legend that the town was once very rich, but a fisherman caught a mermaid and refused
to let her go, causing the flood. And you know the ensuing poverty and destruction and
everything.
One of the largest Neolithic sites that you can still visit is Catalhöyük, Turkey, which
was a city from about 7500 through 5700 BCE. It was excavated in the 1950s when archaeologists
were looking for the home of the Sea People from Ancient Egyptian stories. The buildings
were so closely packed together that people probably walked on the rooftops of their houses
rather than on pathways. The archeologists found everything from ovens to murals to ladders
(used to get into the houses). It’s believed that 7,000 people once lived there.
Angkor, Cambodia was home to the capital of the Khmer Empire between the 9th and 15th
centuries. And you can visit it now, but plan for a long visit because at 400 square miles,
it’s bigger than the five boroughs in New York City. Experts aren’t sure why the city
was abandoned for Phnom Penh, but they believe it has something to do with the shift from
Hinduism to Theravada Buddhism.
Speaking of capitals, Karakorum in Mongolia was the capital of the Mongol Empire during
the 13th century. When it was excavated in the 1930s, archeologists found that its citizens
had heated floors, kilns, and methods for processing copper. We don't even have heated
floors here in the Mental Floss offices, we just walk around like peasants on regular
carpet.
Persepolis in Iran has been there since 518 BCE when it was the capital of the Achaemenid
Empire (basically, home to a huge palace for the emperor). Half of the palace was an artificial
terrace, meaning it was built on a mountainside. The city was eventually burned down by Alexander
the Great, who burned down many great cities, though you can now visit the ruins at least.
Calakmul can be found in modern-day Mexico in the middle of a jungle. It was once a Mayan
city, with about 50,000 citizens, known as the Kingdom of the Snake. The city even had
a rival -- the neighboring Tikal -- because both wanted to be more powerful. The two battled
for centuries before the collapse of the Mayas.
Tikal, by the way, is in modern day Guatemala. It features a temple that’s 154 feet tall.
Before the collapse of the Maya, the city may have had up to 90,000 citizens. By comparison
in 1350 CE London had 50,000 citizens.
One of the biggest trade port cities in Egypt was Heracleion or Thonis. There’s even a
myth that Paris and Helen, of the Trojan War, visited Heracleion before the war began. For
a long time, people believed that it was underwater. And in 2013, divers finally started finding
artifacts from the city in the Mediterranean Sea, including over sixty ships, gold coins,
and huge statues. We have here a historic recreation. The astronaut isn't exactly in
a diving suit, but it's close. And there was an anglerfish and a gigantic viking girl,
you know, it was about like this.
Speaking of the Trojan War, there are three interesting lost cities from Greece: Pavlopetri,
Helike, and Chryse Island. Pavlopetri ruins are underwater thanks to an earthquake -- it’s
believed that the city was around from 2800 through 1000 BCE. Because of its size, some
believe that Pavlopetri inspired the myth of Atlantis. But I for one believe that Atlantis
is real and it's out there and there are people living under the ocean right now! They're
called octonauts and they're doing important work in the field of marine biology.
Helike was also underwater for a long time due to a tsunami in 373 BCE, which was blamed
on Poseidon. Archeologists found the ruins in 2001 CE because the lagoon covering Helike
had dried up.
Chryse is really a lost island, not a city, but we’re making an exception. It vanished,
along with its supposedly amazing temple to Apollo, around the 2nd century CE. A diver
claimed to have seen the ruins in the 1960s, but no further progress has been made. So
all you explorers out there if you're looking for a lost island to seek check out Chryse.
All though frankly, if you're not already familiar with the lost island of Chryse, I'm
a little bit concerned with your credentials as a lost island explorer.
Okay let’s finish up with some quick facts about various lost cities around the world.
Ubar, or the “Atlantis of the Sands,” is called that because it was once wealthy
and powerful. In 1992, it was supposedly found in Oman by a group of archaeologists. But
experts still aren’t sure if that’s the true Ubar or it’s still lost.
The Maya city of Palenque in Mexico is 1780 hectares and only 10% of it has been explored
by archaeologists.
It’s believed that the people in the Indus Valley who lived in Mohenjo-daro, Pakistan
bred chickens, not to eat, but because cock-fighting was part of their religious rituals.
Kuelap in Peru was built in stages. The old parts are from around 600 CE, which is about
three times as old as Machu Picchu. But the vast majority of the city was built around
900-1000 CE, around twice as old as Machu Picchu. Then the Inca conquered the people
who built the city and added a bit more. The ruins are within a huge wall that’s around
20 meters tall.
It’s believed that Turquoise Mountain in Afghanistan was once a community where Jews,
Christians, and Muslims got along and worked and lived together. Now, it’s believed that
the only thing left is the monument, Minaret of Jam.
But you can still visit the Great Stupa and a handful of Buddhist monuments from the lost
city Sanchi in India. Ashoka the Great commissioned the Great Stupa in the 3rd century BCE, making
it the oldest existing Buddhist sanctuary.
You can also visit Troy (yes, that Troy) in Turkey. It was discovered in 1793, but scholars
still debate the historical significance of the city and how real the story of the Trojan
War actually is.
Cliff Palace, in modern Colorado, was a city made in the caves of a cliff by the Ancient
Pueblo Peoples. About 100 people lived in the 150 rooms built in the cliff. The tribe
left in around 1300 CE, possibly due to a drought.
Cahokia, in modern day Illinois, was a Native American city that had a population of up
to 40,000 people in the 13th century, meaning it was the largest city in U.S. history until
Philadelphia in the 1780s .
Vijayanagar, India, had around 500,000 citizens before it was destroyed in the 16th century.
Before that, the city had multiple fields, gardens, markets, shops, and temples.
Great Zimbabwe was once home to a palace for the monarch in Zimbabwe. It took over 300
years for the city to be constructed, after building commenced in the 11th century CE.
The walls surrounding the city were 36 feet tall and covered 820 feet of distance.
And finally, I return to my salon to tell you about Pompeii, Italy. Mount Vesuvius erupted
in 79 CE, covering the entire city in about 15 feet of ash, which turned out to be pretty
bad for both the city and its residents. Everything was destroyed their amphitheatre, aqueduct,
cafes, brothels, a gymnasium, and multiple public baths. It was rediscovered in 1748,
there were people-shaped casts frozen where they were when the volcano erupted.
Just a pleasant reminder from all of us here at Mental Floss video that life is fleeting
and at any moment a volcano could destroy us all.
Thanks for watching Mental Floss on YouTube, which is made with the help of all these nice
people. And don't forget, Paper Towns the movie based on my book comes out July 24th.
It's really good, I'm not just saying that. As we say in my hometown, DFTBA!