Here Are The Stories Behind 10 Ancient Civilizations That Seemingly Vanished From The Face Of The Earth

Yahoo

07-05-2025

One of history's biggest questions is: "How does an entire civilization disappear?" One can comprehend how an object or even a city is lost, buried, or destroyed, but an entire group or nation of people is nearly unfathomable. And if archaeology hadn't emerged in the 18th century, many of these civilizations would have become permanently lost to time...
Tuul & Bruno Morandi / Getty Images
Even though archaeological and scientific tools have discovered much about these ancient civilizations, including facts about their daily lives, religions, and habits, many "disappearances" remain unsolved. From the Mayans to the Mississippians — here are 10 ancient societies that seemingly vanished from the face of the earth:
1.The Mayans:
SOPA Images / SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images
The Mayans, a technologically advanced society renowned for their revolutionary calendar system, emerged around 2000 BCE, and at one point reached an estimated population of over 13 million people. Which begs the question, how did this massive civilization ultimately collapse or "vanish"?
Around 250 CE, the Mayans entered what is now called the "Classic Period." During this period, the population peaked, and the people built flourishing cities, complete with palaces and temples. However, 650 years later, the "Classic Period" ended, and all major Mayan cities were abandoned for reasons that are still unknown.
Through the years, scientists and historians have come up with many plausible (and implausible) theories, ranging from climate change and war to, yes, alien abduction. However, they are still unable to pinpoint the exact cause of the civilization's collapse, but note that it didn't happen all at once, but rather occurred over an estimated 100-year period.
Even after the fall of their society, the Mayan people didn't disappear entirely. Instead, other cities such as Chichen Itza and later Mayapan in the northern lowlands rose to prominence (towns were also established in the highlands).
However, things dramatically shifted after Spanish conquistadores landed in the early 1500s. By 1697, Nojpeten, the last independent Mayan city, fell, and the civilization was largely forgotten until the 1830s, when archaeologists began excavating the areas in which the Mayans lived.
2.Easter Island's Inhabitants (aka the Rapa Nui):
NurPhoto / NurPhoto via Getty Images
One of the world's most mysterious and yet easily identifiable landmarks is the Moai statues on Easter Island. Over 100,000 people visit these ancient, multi-ton structures each year, yet we're still left to wonder: What happened to the people who put them there?
For years, the inhabitants of Easter Island, known as the Rapa Nui, have been a cautionary tale of what happens when a civilization overpopulates and thus overtaxes its environment, dooming itself to "ecocide," an idea popularized in geographer Jared Diamond's 2005 book Collapse. However, recent observations of the Rapa Nui's downfall tell a different story.
In most tellings, the Rapa Nui were a small group of Polynesian settlers who migrated to Easter Island between 800 and 900 CE, and by the twelfth century, had become obsessed with building Moai, thereby decimating their crops and draining their natural resources to make room for them. By the 17th century, they had supposedly deforested the entire island, triggering war, famine, and ultimately cannibalism.
However, in 2024, Columbia archaeologist Dylan Davis released a study challenging the long-held narrative, showing that the Rapa Nui didn't overpopulate the island but maintained a stable environment until the arrival of European settlers in the early 18th century. Davis and his team's comprehensive study of the island's farmland revealed that the residents only grew enough crops to feed four thousand individuals at any given time. He explained, "This shows that the population could never have been as big as some of the earlier estimates suggested."
The Rapa Nui had a particular method of farming called "rock gardening," where farmers would scatter broken rocks in fields to protect the budding plants from the elements. For many years, scientists simply mapped these "gardens" to calculate the yield of the ancient islanders' crops. However, Davis and his team conducted different research using satellite imagery; their findings revealed that "There are natural rock outcrops all over the place that had been misidentified as rock gardens in the past."
This study, in essence, disproves the theory that the Rapa Nui were frivolous people, as Davis's study pointed out that the Rapa Nui's "rock gardening" was an extremely efficient way to draw necessary minerals and nutrients out from Easter Island's nutrient-deficient volcanic soil.
"The lesson is the opposite of the collapse theory,' says Davis. 'People were able to be very resilient in the face of limited resources by modifying the environment in a way that helped."
3.The Indus Valley Civilization:
Heritage Images / Heritage Art/Heritage Images via Getty Images
The Indus Valley Civilization (aka the Harappan Civilization) was one of the civilizations that emerged in the region known as Mesopotamia. The Harappans, best known for their written language called the Indus Script, emerged around 3300 BCE and reached a peak population of 60,000 before their numbers began dwindling in 2500 BCE.
Throughout the early 20th century, it was theorized that the civilization met its mysterious end due to an invasion by a tribe from the north known as Aryans. This theory was known as the "Aryan Invasion Theory." However, this idea was discredited when it was discovered that the Aryans were a peaceable people who merged their culture with that of the Indigenous people.
Historians now believe that the civilization met its demise through climate and geographical changes. Many attribute the Harappans' sudden migration to the foothills of the Himalayas to the Sarasvati River drying up, as well as the intensification of the summer monsoon season.
By 1800 BCE, most of the Harappan villages had been abandoned entirely.
4.The Mississippians:
The Washington Post / The Washington Post via Getty Images
Around 800 CE, Mississippian culture emerged in the Midwest and Southwestern parts of the United States. This "culture" was not a single tribe of Indigenous People, but many smaller societies that had adopted a similar way of life. The Mississippian Period is often recognized as a time of impressive achievements in the prehistoric Southeast.
Rather than relying solely on gathering or hunting for food, the Mississippians focused on cultivating the "Three Sisters": beans, corn, and squash. (They also planted sunflowers). The culture is also credited as being the originators of the "slash-and-burn" agriculture method, which is still used by many Indigenous tribes today.
Moundbuilding was another impressive Mississippian feat. While many Native American tribes built mounds for their dead, archaeologists discovered the Mississippians did not solely build mounds for burial purposes. Many "platform" mounds have been discovered and excavated. When archaeologists began digging, they noted that the mounds' tops were larger than the average Mississippian home. The bottoms held broken pots and food waste, signifying that these mounds were used as homes for the culture's leaders. (Mississippians were politically organized under "chiefdoms" rather than a monarchy).
So, how did this agriculturally advanced, mound-building culture collapse? Archaeological records show that the most significant areas of Mississippian culture began to decline around 1450, due to unknown reasons. However, many suspect war, drought, or crop failure was to blame.
The culture fully met its end in the mid-16th century when Spanish conquistadors Juan Ponce de León and Hernando de Soto, as well as other European settlers brought diseases the Indigenous people had no immunity against. Thousands of Mississippians died, which effectively ended the "Mississippian Tradition."
5.The Khmer Empire:
Jeremy Horner / LightRocket via Getty Images
When Cambodian "prince" Jayavarman II was consecrated around 802 CE, the Angkor Civilization (aka the Khmer people) arose. The Khmer Empire was known for many reasons, including its monumental buildings and extensive trade with other nations; however, its biggest "claim to fame" was an ingenious hydrologic system, which was built with the region's monsoonal climate in mind.
The Empire's "heyday" lasted for nearly 500 years, which is now known as the "Classic Period." However, by 1327, when Jayavarman IX assumed the throne, records were no longer being kept (much of what we know about the Empire is through Sanskrit records), and the Empire had stopped building monuments. Concurrently, the area also suffered a drought and warred with neighboring Ayutthaya.
Modern mapping has also shown that the area, known as Angkor, was much larger than previously thought, leading to overpopulation and overuse of natural resources.
However, climate change and war might not have been the only factors in the Empire's collapse. In 2016, scholar Damian Evans argued that one of the civilization's major problems was that stone masonry was only used in the construction of monuments and the hydrologic system, meaning that dwellings, including the royal palace, were made of non-durable, natural materials, such as wood and thatch.
Despite all of the research and evidence, historians and scientists can still not pinpoint a singular reason why the Khmer Empire met its end.
6.Çatalhöyük:
Anadolu / Anadolu via Getty Images
In ancient Turkey, a large Neolithic settlement known as Çatalhöyük arose and became the prototype for successful urban living...for a short while; however, by the time the civilization fell, it had become a cautionary tale, as Ohio State University anthropology professor Clark Spencer Larsen explained, "Çatalhöyük was one of the first proto-urban communities in the world and the residents experienced what happens when you put many people together in a small area for an extended time."
When Çatalhöyük emerged around 7100 BCE, now known as the "Early Period," it consisted mainly of a few mud-brick dwellings. But by 6700-6500 BCE, the settlement had reached an estimated peak population between 2,800 and 10,000 residents.
The people, known simply as the inhabitants of Çatalhöyük, relied heavily on farming, as modern researchers discovered through bone chemical analysis. Larsen noted, 'They were farming and keeping animals as soon as they set up the community, but they were intensifying their efforts as the population expanded."
Research also showed that inhabitants' leg bones changed shape throughout the centuries. As time passed, people had to walk greater distances than their ancestors, suggesting that farming and grazing had to be moved further from the general community as the population grew.
During the civilization's peak, homes were built without space between them, similar to modern-day apartments, but this unhygienic overcrowding led to a spike in disease and infection rates. Modern analysis has shown that the walls and floors of many dwellings still contain fecal matter. These overcrowding issues led to turmoil and inner-community violence. In a sample of over 90 skulls from the settlement, over one-quarter of them showed evidence of healed fractures, and 12 of the skulls had been damaged more than once during their lifetime.
In the "Late Period" of Çatalhöyük, the population rapidly declined, and by 5950 BCE, the settlement was largely abandoned.
Ultimately, Larsen believes "that environmental degradation and climate change forced community members to move further away from the settlement to farm and to find supplies like firewood. That contributed to the ultimate demise of Çatalhöyük."
7.Phrygians:
Heritage Images / Heritage Art/Heritage Images via Getty Images
While most of us have heard the story of King Midas, we do not know about the civilization from which his story arose: The Phrygians.
This largely unheard-of civilization emerged in Anatolia around 1200 BCE. As University of Pennsylvania archaeology professor Brian Rosen explained, "Many people haven't heard of the Phrygians, but from about the 9th to the 7th Centuries BCE, they dominated Asia Minor – what is now Turkey."
The Phrygians' home, known as Gordion (yes, like the knot), was in a significant position of power, thanks to its location. "Gordion stands at the intersection of the major east-west trade routes: there were the empires of Assyria, Babylon and the Hittites to the east, and to the west were Greece and Lydia. The Phrygians were able to take advantage of this strategic location and became wealthy and powerful," Rosen told the BBC.
For those wondering, yes, a ruler named Midas did exist. As UC-Davis professor Lynn Roller noted, "A Phrygian king named Midas is mentioned in several ancient sources, including annals of the Assyrian ruler Sargon II. The Assyrians considered him a powerful king and a major rival in their efforts to expand their territory during the 8th Century BCE." However, his rumored "golden touch" was simply a metaphor for the riches acquired under his reign.
So, how did this successful empire with its stories of a mythical king eventually fall? During Midas' reign, a tribe known as the Cimmerians invaded the country. After losing a battle, Midas committed suicide, and only small Phrygian principalities survived for the next 500 years. However, when the Lydians reunited western Turkey in the 7th century BCE, Phrygia no longer existed as a political entity but rather as a "geographic concept."
Phrygia remained in this state until Lydia was conquered by Cyrus the Great in the mid-500s BCE, after which it became a satrapy of the Achaemenid Empire and combined (for tax purposes) with Paphlagonia and Mysia. This form of Phrygia lasted for around two centuries, until Alexander the Great's general Parmenion captured the city for the Macedonian Empire. After the turmoil following Alexander's death in 323 BCE, Phrygia was ruled by many, including Antigonus the One-Eyed, the Seleucid kings of Asia, and eventually the Romans.
By 386 CE, Visigoths were settled by Emperor Theodosius I the Great, and the Byzantine Empire remained in control of Phrygia until the late eleventh century.
8.The Olmecs:
Jeff Greenberg / Jeffrey Greenberg/Universal Images Group via Getty Images
The Olmecs (and no, not the talking head from Legends of the Hidden Temple), were one of the most influential civilizations in the early Americas. The civilization is thought to have begun around 1600-1500 BCE, with its peak occurring between 1200-400 BCE. Historians still do not know what the Olmecs called themselves, as the civilization is known as an "archaeological culture," meaning that it has solely been studied within the context of excavated artifacts.
It is known that the Olmecs had three major cities: San Lorenzo, La Venta, and Laguna de los Cerros. (La Venta was the site of the first pyramid built in Mesoamerica). This civilization practiced polytheism, but not much is known about the Olmecs' deities other than that they often represented natural phenomena. However, the Olmecs' most famous contribution to history is the massive stone heads they constructed. Carved in basalt and given unique features, these statues are believed to represent different Olmec rulers — only seventeen heads have been discovered, with most found in San Lorenzo. Due to their innovations, the Olmecs are known as the "mother culture" to other Mesoamerican civilizations, such as the Mayans.
However, around 400-350 BCE, the once blossoming civilization seemingly vanished. Excavations have revealed that around that time, many Olmec sites were deliberately destroyed. Although climate change is suspected to play a significant role in the Olmec downfall, historians, archeologists, and scientists are still unsure of the leading cause of their "disappearance."
9.The Clovis People:
Nevio3 / Getty Images/iStockphoto
The Clovis people, credited among the earliest inhabitants of North America, crossed the Bering Strait into North America before migrating into Central and South America an estimated 13,000-15,000 years ago. These individuals lived among the most famous animals of the "Ice Age," including dire wolves, saber-toothed tigers, and mammoths.
However, archaeological finds at the Blackwater kill site indicate that the Clovis were big-game hunters who killed these massive animals with their unique "Clovis Spear Points." These spear points, which have been excavated, are approximately four-inch-long fluted tips made from flint, chert, and obsidian. More than 10,000 of these points have been found, with the oldest, which was discovered in Texas, being an estimated 13,500 years old.
However, scientists don't know much about the Clovis besides their ability to hunt and produce weaponry, because organic materials such as clothing and homes could not survive the millennia. Only one Clovis burial has been excavated, which was of an infant associated with the findings of stone and bone tool fragments in Montana. DNA testing of the bones confirmed that the infant would have been an ancestor of modern Native Americans.
There is no definitive answer as to what caused the downfall of the Clovis. However, the people didn't entirely disappear; rather, they were scattered after a cataclysmic event, such as an asteroid, which caused the large animals they hunted to disappear. Researchers have stated that later civilizations, such as the Folsom Culture discovered in northern New Mexico, descended from the Clovis.
10.The Anasazi:
Visions Of America / Joe Sohm/Visions of America/Universal Images Group via Getty Images
The Anasazi (aka the Ancestral Puebloans) were a Native American tribe who inhabited the region we now know as the "Four Corners" (the point where Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah meet).
This tribe emerged as early as 1500 BCE and is credited with being the ancestors of tribes such as the Hopi and Zuni. Throughout the 10th and 11th centuries, the Anasazis' cultural center was the Chaco Canyon, a 30,000 square mile area containing an estimated 30,000 residents. For much of their history, the people lived in easily accessible dwellings within the aforementioned canyons; however, around the middle of the 13th century CE, they began constructing protected settlements high in the surrounding cliffs.
However, shortly after, something caused the Anasazi to flee their homes and never return. University of Colorado archaeologist Stephen Lekson explained, "After about A.D. 1200, something very unpleasant happens. The wheels come off."
Within the past several years, archaeologists have deciphered new information from the ruins, but only that whatever caused the tribe to flee included violence, warfare, and even cannibalism. Today's Pueblo tribes have stories of their ancestors' sudden migration; however, these recollections are kept as closely guarded secrets.
Did you know about any of these "lost" civilizations? Can you think of any others we didn't include? Let us know in the comments!
Check out our members only hub to see all your member-exclusive content, announcements, and messages from our team.