Investigating across the centuries and around the world, Newitz explores the rise and fall of four ancient cities, each the center of a sophisticated civilization: the Neolithic site of Çatalhöyük in Central Turkey, the Roman vacation town of Pompeii on Italy's southern coast, the medieval megacity of Angkor in Cambodia, and the indigenous metropolis Cahokia, which stood beside the Mississippi River where East St. In Four Lost Cities, acclaimed science journalist Annalee Newitz takes readers on an entertaining and mind-bending adventure into the deep history of urban life. As we struggle with our own difficult urban realities, Newitz argues, it’s worth considering their resilience.Named a Best Book of the Year by NPR and Science FridayĪ quest to explore some of the most spectacular ancient cities in human history-and figure out why people abandoned them. Even when their people ultimately moved on, they took their cultures and memories with them. Through this brightly written, lucid narrative, Newitz shows us that these cities were never “lost” and rediscovered. Like New Orleans, they were rebuilt, time after time, by their creative, adaptable citizens. What’s perhaps most astonishing is how long they lasted in the face of these calamities. But all faced significant environmental challenges, such as climate change, flooding, drought, earthquakes and volcanic eruption. Pompeii was a trading town the others were predominantly agricultural. Angkor and Cahokia were essentially spiritual sites surrounded by low-density sprawl Pompeii and Çatalhöyük were densely packed. Spanning different epochs and continents, these cities were of course quite different during their respective eras. Newitz takes us along on visits to all four locations, exploring their histories and cultures through interviews with the archaeologists doing cutting-edge research at each site. As Annalee Newitz shows in the marvelous Four Lost Cities, an ancient city’s fate was determined by complex interactions of politics, the environment and human choices-all of which offer insight into the challenges of climate change and disease that we face today.Īlong with Angkor in Cambodia and Pompeii in Italy, Newitz’s four cities include Çatalhöyük in Turkey, the Neolithic site of one of the world’s first cities, and Cahokia, a Native American city that was located in the St. Keep that trajectory in mind if you ever visit a magnificent urban archaeological site such as Angkor Wat or Pompeii. Fifteen years later, hurricanes still threaten New Orleans, but the city certainly endures. As the city rebuilt, it changed, through both loss and revitalization. When Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans in 2005, thousands of people were forced to relocate.
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