6 “lost” cities that archaeologists have never found

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archaeologists they were very busy digging up lost civilizations, but they didn’t find everything. There are still prominent ancient cities, including capitals of great kingdoms and empires, that have never been excavated by scholars.

We know these cities exist because ancient texts describe them, but their location may be lost to time.

In a few cases, looters found these cities and looted a large number of artifacts from them. But these thieves did not come forward to reveal their location. In this countdown, Live Science takes a look at six ancient cities whose locations are unknown.

1. Irisagrig

Shortly after the US invasion of Iraq in 2003, thousands of ancient tablets from a town called “Irisagrig” began appearing on the antiquities market. From the tablets, scientists could tell that Irisagrig it was in Iraq and flourished about 4,000 years ago.

Those tablets reveal that the rulers of the ancient city lived in palaces that housed many dogs. They also kept lions that were fed cattle. Those who looked after the lions, called “lion shepherds”, received rations of beer and bread. The inscriptions also mention a temple dedicated to Enki, a god of mischief and wisdom, and say that festivals were sometimes held in the temple.

Researchers believe that looters found and looted Irisagrig around the time of the US invasion of 2003. Archaeologists have not yet found the city, and the looters who did have not come forward and identified where it is.

2. Bend it

Egyptian pharaoh Amenemhat I (reigned 1981-1952 BC) ordered a new capital to be built. This capital was known as “Itjtawy” and the name can be translated as “seducer of the Two Lands” or “Amenemhat is the grabber of the Two Lands”. As the name suggests, Amenemhat faced a considerable amount of turmoil. His reign ended with his assassination.

Despite the assassination of Amenemhat, Itjtawy would remain the capital of Egypt until about 1640 BC, when the northern part of Egypt was taken over by a group known as the “Hyksos” and the kingdom collapsed.

Although Itjtawy has not been found, archaeologists believe it is somewhere near the site of Lisht in central Egypt. This is partly because many elite burials, including a pyramid belonging to Amenemhat I, are located at Lisht.

3. Akkad

The city of Akkad (also called Agade) was the capital of the Akkadian Empire, which flourished between 2350 and 2150 BC. At its height, the empire stretched from the Persian Gulf to Anatolia. Many of his conquests took place during the reign of “Sargon of Akkad”, who lived sometime around 2300 BC. One of the most important structures in Akkad itself was ‘Eulmash’, a temple dedicated to Ishtar, a goddess associated with war, beauty and fertility.

Akkad has never been found, but is believed to have been built somewhere in Iraq. Ancient records indicate that the city was destroyed or abandoned when the Akkadian empire ended around 2150 BC.

4. Al-Yahudu

Al-Yahudu, a name meaning “the city” or “city” of Judah, was a place in the Babylonian empire where the Jews lived after his reign. Judas was conquered by Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar II in 587 BC. He sent some of the population into exile, a practice the Babylonians often engaged in after conquering a region.

About 200 tablets are known to exist from the settlement and they indicate that the exiled people who lived in this settlement kept their faith and used Yahweh, the name of God, on their behalf. The location of Al-Yahudu has not been identified by archaeologists, but like many of these lost cities, it was probably located in what is now Iraq. Given that the tablets appeared on the antiquities market and there is no record of them being found in an archaeological dig, it seems likely that at some point looters were able to locate them.

5. Washshukanni

Waššukanni was the capital of the Mitanni empire, which existed from about 1550 BC. and 1300 BC and included parts of northeastern Syria, southern Anatolia, and northern Iraq. It faced intense competition from the Hittite empire in the north and Assyrian the southern empire and its territory was gradually lost to them.

Waššukanni has never been found and some researchers believe it may be located in northeastern Syria. The people who lived in the capital, and indeed in most of its empire, were known as “Hurrians” and had their own language, which is known today from ancient texts.

6. Thinis

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Thinis (also known as Tjenu) was an ancient city in southern Egypt that flourished early in the history of ancient civilization. According to the ancient writer Manetho, this was where some of Egypt’s first kings ruled from about 5,000 years ago, when Egypt was being unified. Egypt’s capital was moved to Memphis shortly after unification, and Thinis became the capital of a nome (a province of Egypt) during the Old Kingdom period (around 2649 to 2150 BC), noted Ali Seddik Othman, an inspector at the Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities, in an article published in The Diary of Abydos.

Thinis has never been identified, although it is believed to be near Abydos, which is in southern Egypt. This is partly because many elite members of society, including royalty, were buried near Abydos some 5,000 years ago.