Chapter-2 Mysterious Agricultural Centers, Flashcards

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Puma Punku

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5 miles west of La Paz high in the Andes mountains, lie the mysterious ancient ruins of Puma Punku. The megalithic stones found here are among the largest on the planet, measuring up to 26 feet long and weighing more than 100 tons each. Puma Punku is a large temple complex or monument group that is part of the Tiwanaku Site near Tiwanaku, Bolivia.

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1
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Gobekli Tepe

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The oldest temple in the world. Amazing archaeological discovery made in 1994 at Gobekli Tepe, a rural area of Turkey.
Göbekli Tepe (Turkish: “Potbelly Hill”) is an archaeological site at the top of a mountain ridge in the Southeastern Anatolia Region of Turkey, approximately 12 km (7 mi) northeast of the city of Şanlıurfa.
Archaeologically categorised as a site of the Pre-Pottery Neolithic A Period (c. 9600–7300 BC) Göbeklitepe is a series of mainly circular and oval-shaped structures set on the top of a hill. Excavations began in 1995

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2
Q

Derinkuyu, Nevuehir Province, Turkey

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Derinkuyu is an ancient multi-level underground city in the Derinkuyu district in Nevuehir Province, Turkey. With its 13 floors extending to a depth of approximately 85 m, it was large enough to shelter thousands of people together with their livestock and food stores. It is the largest excavated underground city in Turkey and is part of a network of several underground complexes found across Cappadocia.

Since you cannot carbonate stone, it is hard to date the age of Derinkuyu Underground City.

Derinkuyu was first discovered in 1963 when a cave wall was opened revealing a passage way to an underground city thousands of years old and more than 280 feet deep.

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3
Q

Easter Island

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The island is famous for its numerous moais, 400-year-old stone statues now located along the coastlines.Easter Island (Polynesian: Rapa Nui (“Great Rapa”), Spanish: Isla de Pascua) is an island in the south Pacific Ocean belonging to Chile. Although located 3,515 km (2,185 miles) west of continental Chile, it is administratively a province (with just one “comuna”) of the Chilean Valparaíso Region, together with its closest neighbour, Sala-y-Gomez, 400 km further East. The island is approximately triangular in shape. The latitude is similar to that for the Chilean city of Copiapó, north of Santiago. The nearest inhabited land is Pitcairn Island, located 2,075 km (1,290 miles) to the west. The island has an area of 163.6 km² (63 sq. miles), and a population of 3,791 (2002 census), 3,304 of which live in its capital city Hanga Roa. The island is famous for its numerous moais, 400-year-old stone statues now located along the coastlines.

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4
Q

Stonehenge, Salisbury England

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Stonehenge is a massive stone monument located on a chalky plain north of the modern-day city of Salisbury, England. Research shows that the site has continuously evolved over a period of about 10,000 years.

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5
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Angkor Wat, Siem Reap Province
Cambodia

“Gateway to Angkor”

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Angkor Wat was built in the first half of the 12th century (113-5BC). Estimated construction time of the temple is 30 years by King Suryavarman II, dedicated to Vishnu (Hindu), replica of Angkor Thom style of art.

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6
Q

Palenque, Mexico

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As one of the largest and best preserved of the Maya city-states, Palenque is emblematic of the mystery of the entire Maya civilization — which rose up, dominated parts of Mexico, Guatemala, Belize and Honduras, then vanished with little explanation. Though descendants of the Maya are still thriving in Mexico and Central America, no one is sure why the great cities of the Maya fell into ruin and were finally abandoned in the 1400s. Palenque was in its heyday during the classical period of the Maya civilization, from about 700-1100 CE. Like many Maya cities, it had temples, palaces, and marketplaces. But Palenque, located near what is today known as the Chiapas region, has some of the most detailed sculptures and inscriptions from the Maya civilization, offering reams of historical information about kings, battles, and daily life. Theories for why this and other Maya cities were abandoned include warfare, famine, and climate change.

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7
Q

Cahokia, United States

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Located across the Mississippi River from what is today St. Louis, Cahokia was for hundreds of years the biggest city in North America. Its inhabitants built enormous earthen mounds — some of which you can still visit today — and vast plazas which served as markets and meeting places. There is strong evidence that the inhabitants had very sophisticated agricultural practices, and that they diverted tributaries of the Mississippi several times to water their fields. Like the Maya, the people of Cahokia were at their civilizational height between 600-1400 CE. Nobody is certain why the city was abandoned, nor how the region was able to support such a high-density urban civilization of up to 40,000 people for hundreds of years.

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8
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Pompeii, Italy

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There are ample historical records that document the Roman vacation town of Pompeii, which was entombed in ash after the catastrophic eruption of Mt. Vesuvius in 79 CE. We know that the city was partially destroyed by an earthquake years before the volcano erupted, and that many of its greatest homes were already abandoned by the time the final blast erased the city forever. We even know, from historical records, that Vesuvius started smoking and causing quakes in the days leading up to the fatal eruption. So what’s the mystery?

Because Pompeii was perfectly preserved in the exact configuration it had in 79 CE, there are hundreds of historical details that are utterly alien to contemporary eyes — including decorative penis statues, weird graffiti, inexplicable art, and living arrangements that are unlike anything you’d see in a modern city. It’s one thing to read historical accounts of ancient Rome, and another thing to walk the streets of a Roman city unchanged since the height of the Empire. The mysteries of everyday life are often greater than the mysteries of how a civilization collapses.

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9
Q

Machu Picchu, Peru

“City in the sky” or “City of the Incas”

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A lot remains mysterious about the Inca Empire, which dominated parts of the regions now known as Peru, Chile, Ecuador, Bolivia and Argentina for hundreds of years before the Spanish invaded, destroyed its cities, and burned its libraries of quipu records (the Inca language was “written” with knots and rope). Though we know a lot about Inca technology, architecture and advanced agriculture — all of which are in evidence at major Inca city Machu Picchu — we still can’t read what’s left of the tapestries that contain their written records. And we don’t understand how they ran a vast empire without ever building a single marketplace. That’s right — Machu Picchu and other Inca cities contain no markets. This dramatically different from most other cities, which are often built around central market squares and plazas. How did such a successful civilization exist without a recognizable economy? Maybe one day we’ll discover the answers.

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10
Q

Thonis, Egypt

Lost city of Heracleion

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In the 8th century BCE, this legendary city was the gateway to Egypt, a port town that was full of incredible monuments, rich merchants, and huge buildings. Now it is entirely submerged in the Mediterranean Sea. Thonis began its slow decline after the rise of Alexandria in the 300s CE. But eventually that slide became literal, as the city drowned in the sea that was once the source of its wealth. Nobody is certain how it happened, but by the 8th century CE the city was gone. It may have been the victim of liquefaction after an earthquake. Recently rediscovered by archaeologist Franck Goddio, the city is slowly being excavated

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11
Q

Great Zimbabwe, Zimbabwe

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One of the great mysteries of southern Africa is the enormous, walled city known today as Great Zimbabwe. The city was home to as many as 30,000 people, and was at its peak from 1200-1450, when it was the heart of an international trade region that stretched as far as China and India. Wealth poured into the city from distant lands, but it was also rich in gold from local mines and vast herds of cattle. Still, there are some unknowns here — it’s not clear how far the city’s influence stretched, nor what all its industries were. Clearly, though, it was technologically advanced.

Like many cosmopolitan cities of its era, Great Zimbabwe suffered a mysterious decline.

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12
Q

Dwarka, Gujarat India

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Mythical City Under Water?
Marine archaeological explorations off Dwarka have brought to light a large number of stone structures. They are semicircular, rectangular and square in shape and are in water depth ranging from inter tidal zone to 6 m. They are randomly scattered over a vast area. Besides these structures, a large number of varieties of stone anchors have been noticed along the structures as well as beyond 6 m water depth.

The ruins have been proclaimed the remains of the legendary lost city of Dwarka which, according to ancient Hindu texts, was the dwelling place of the deity known as Krishna.
The ancient city of Dwaraka, situated on the extreme West Coast of Indian territory, occupies an important place in the cultural and religious history of India. The fabulous architectural planning of the Dwaraka temple has attracted tourists from all over the world.

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