8 Greatest Lost Civilizations In History

We often look back at our origins and imagine cavemen and simple life. But our ancient ancestors just might surprise you with their sophisticated methods of living life that, if it weren’t for electricity, wouldn’t actually be that far from our own.

Many of today’s complex forms of building and agriculture stem from the life of our ancients, not to mention the fact that many Roman roads have withstood the test of time for over millennia – could you imagine our roads of the modern-day lasting thousands of years?

Here we look at 8 highly advanced ancient civilizations that disappeared from history, leaving behind monuments and traces of their legacy for the world to admire for the rest of time.

The Sumerians 

Sumer, was an ancient civilization, from the Mesopotamia region of the fertile crescent, modern Iraq.

The Sumerians are considered the creators of human civilization as we know it and are well known for their innovations in language, governance, architecture, and science.

They invented the plow for farming and the wheel for transporting their crops. 
Schools were common in Sumerian culture, and are renowned for their poetry, which influenced later pieces of literature such as the great flood, the garden of Eden, and the tower of babel.

The Sumerians were the inventors of hydraulic engineering, irrigation and invented the structure of modern timekeeping, such as 60 seconds in a minute, and 60 minutes in an hour.

The Sumerians had great skill and knowledge in architecture and were the first civilization to build temples and palaces on a grand scale.

Their writing and record-keeping are amongst their finest technological achievements, and they boast the oldest linguistic language ever known.

The remarkable Sumerian civilization would eventually disappear from history around 1750BC, when invasions from Semitic Elamites and Amorites forced them to move north, and never be heard from again. 

The Mayan Empire 

Many scientists and historians believe the Mayan civilization to have been the most advanced ancient civilization known to man.

The Maya built large stone cities in the jungles of southern Mexico and Central America, with exquisite plazas, palaces, and pyramid temples.

The Mayan empire reached its most prosperous period, between the years 250 AD to 900 AD, with advanced mathematical and astronomical knowledge, as well as advanced developments in their calendar making and architecture.

This was not to last, however, and by the end of the 9th century, had ceased with technological advancement, its cities abandoned and its kings and rulers deposed.

So what happened to the great Mayan civilization?

There have been a multitude of theories suggested by historians. It has been suggested that a major drought occurred, which was exacerbated by deforestation and soil erosion was the cause of the societal collapse.

Other suggestions have pointed towards an epidemic of deadly disease, revolts against corrupt rulers, constant internal warfare, affecting resources and trade routes, or a combination of them all.

Though there still remain some Mayan-speaking descendants to this day, no one truly knows just what happened to the great Mayan civilization. 

Greenland’s Vikings

According to the Icelandic sagas, Erik the Red led a fleet of 25 boats to colonize Greenland around 985 AD, After being banished for manslaughter.

They set up two colonies, a large western colony, and a smaller eastern colony. They set up farms, herded livestock, and built great stone churches that can still be seen today.

The colonies settled and began to thrive, growing to a population of around 5000.

In 1721, a missionary expedition arrived, intending to convert the population to Protestantism, but they were met with cold quiet lands and ruins.

Archaeologists have conducted research, and have found that the western settlement failed around fourteen hundred AD, and thus the eastern settlement was abandoned decades later.

It is thought that the mini ice age in the 14th century clogged the sea route in and out of Greenland, and shortened the growing seasons on lands that could barely grow food in normal conditions.

The Greenland Vikings had conflicts with other inhabitants throughout their reign over their Greenland settlements, with the Inuit of Canada and Dorset, all of which inhabited the land together for a brief period.

It is not known what happened to the Vikings in the end, but it could be that they succumbed to the conflicts within Greenland, fled back to Scandinavia, or succumbed to disease and famine. 

Easter Island 

Setting sail by canoe sometime between A.D. 300 and A.D. 1200, Polynesians stumbled upon, and settled on Easter Island.

One of the world’s most remote places, around 2300 miles west of south America, despite not having access to wheels or pack animals, the colonists managed to erect hundreds of giant stone statues, called Moai.

The largest of the Moai stood 32-feet tall and weighed an astonishing 82 tons. (Another moai, nicknamed “El Gigante,” stood 72-feet tall and weighed at least 145 tons, but never made it out of the quarry).

By the 19th century the islands chiefs and priests had been overthrown, and the statues had all been toppled over.

So what happened to this isolated colony? Scientists have determined that the islanders cut down all the trees on the island, and then the rats ate the tree seeds before the forests could re germinate.

This had catastrophic effects on the islanders, eliminating their ability to make rope or sea canoes.

The population eventually resorted to burning grass for fuel, and may have gone through periods of civil wars and mass starvation.

The arrival of hostile europeans, combined with a major peruvian slave raid, is thought to have reduced the number of natives to less than 100. 

The Indus

 Located 8000 years ago in modern-day India and Pakistan, the Indus were one of the first civilizations on the planet.

By the third Millenium BC, they occupied over 386000 square miles of territory and accounted for around 10 percent of the world’s population.

The Indus were one of the earliest civilizations to develop a writing script, one of which is still to be deciphered to this day, and they had sanitation systems that were unrivaled until Roman times.

The Indus thrived until around 1900 BC when the population began abandoning their cities and migrating southeast.

It is thought that the monsoon cycle stopped for two centuries, making agriculture almost impossible, as well as other natural disasters and outbreaks of malaria and cholera were some of the reasons for the migrations.

Whatever the causes, the Indus disappeared from existence, leaving behind only their memory. 

The Egyptians

For thousands of years, the Egyptians flourished along the river Nile.

Annual Overflow of the banks of the great river allowed an excellent environment for agriculture, and the Egyptians capitalized on this.

The Egyptian peoples were a technologically advanced civilization.

They developed written communication, had an excellent understanding of irrigation and farming, and developed a system of laws that incorporate the earliest known peace treaty.

The Egyptians had a basic, yet effective understanding of medicine and were skilled boat makers among many other achievements.

But we know them best for their art and architecture, most notably, the incredible Pyramids of Giza built around 2600 B.C. Around 600 A.D. the civilization was all over.

Their supplies were left depleted after constant warfare with the Persians, leaving them unable to defend themselves against the Arabian armies from the east. 

The Greeks

The land known as Greece, had been inhabited for over 57,000 years by primitive homosapiens, however, it wasn’t until around the second Millenium BC, that they began to evolve into a cohesive civilization.

After the invasion of central Asians, and the subsequent introduction of the wheel and bronze, the Greek civilization we know so well today was born.

Rich in the arts, literature, drama, and architecture, Greece gave birth to many great people, such as the epic poet, Homer, and alexander the great, and thus gave birth to the great classical period.

Great stone temples were erected, the acropolis and Parthenon.

Philosophy was unrivaled, as Plato and Aristotle introduced mankind to rationale.

Eventually, the rise of the Macedonians saw the end of the classical period, with the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC, and The Greek empire began to break up.

Athens was no longer a political epicenter, and ancient Greece as we know, lived on as the heart and soul of the Romans, who without the Greeks, may have never grown to be the political and administrative powerhouse that shook Europe. 

Which brings us to our final civilisation… 

The Roman Empire

The roman empire was one of the largest, most powerful, and most influential empires in history.

It began at the end of the first century BC and lasted until the end of the fifth century AD.

It spanned from the cold harsh lands of Britannia, to the warm exotic lands of the far east.

So how did the roman empire become so rich and powerful?

Rome was initially a monarchy, however, after changing to a republic, Rome was able to grow significantly in power.

The Romans had a military with exponential organization and training, and Emperors, generals, and soldiers would seek the wealth and glory of conquest.

During the early republic, the Roman empire grew significantly in both size and power.

Though the Gauls sacked and burned Rome in 390 B.C., the Romans rebounded and within a century and a half, took control of the entire Italian peninsula.

Rome then fought a series of wars known as the Punic Wars with Carthage, in northern Africa.

The first two Punic Wars ended with Rome taking control of Sicily, the western Mediterranean, and much of Spain.

In the Third Punic War, the Romans captured and destroyed the city of Carthage and sold its surviving inhabitants into slavery, making the city-state into a Roman province.

At the same time, Rome also set out to conquest to the east, with the conquest of Macedonia. Rome’s military conquests led directly to its cultural growth as a society, as the Romans benefited greatly from contact with such advanced cultures as the Greeks and the Egyptians.

The first piece of Roman literature appeared around 240 BC, with translations of Greek classics into Latin, Romans would eventually adopt much of Greek art, philosophy and religion. 

The roman empire prospered, but due to internal conflicts and violent politics, the empire began to decline towards the end of the 2nd century.

By the beginning of the fifth century, the western half of the empire began to lose its lands to its foes.

They lost Britain around 410 AD and Spain and northern Africa by 430 AD.

Gaul and parts of Italy were lost by 450 and by 476 they had lost control of the armies in Rome.

Though the eastern empire, now known as the byzantine empire, had set up the capital in Constantinople and would continue to struggle on for another millennium, the roman empire was all but lost to history.

Or was it? The impact that Roman culture had on its societies have helped carve out the way life is to this day.

Many cultures are derived from roman history and the fall of the roman empire would cause what some described at the time, as the apocalypse, the dark age.