Dear Reader,
I’ve always been fascinated by how much of our genuine history remains buried.
When I was a kid, I got hooked on Heinrich Schliemann’s dream of Troy — and his discovery of it and other supposedly-mythical places. Archaeologists were often my heroes.
The summer after 5th grade, we went to Mexico, and between excavations in Mexico City, Teotihuacan, and Monte Alban — among others — my eyes opened about how much had been intentionally buried from one conquering nation to the next.
It was from this that I wrote my Vampyricon trilogy — and its notions of lost cities that might still contain civilizations of people and creatures (like vampires.)
So, whenever I see these kinds of articles, I’m a bit nuts thinking about what might be found here.
Briefly, this is in the Sahara, in Libya — fortified settlements of people called the Garamantes who vanished — as such — by or before 700 A.D.
From The National Geographic:
“…Archaeologists could have easily mistaken the well-planned, straight-line construction for Roman frontier forts of similar design, Mattingly observed.
‘But, actually, this is beyond the frontiers of the Roman Empire—these sites are markers of a powerful native African kingdom,’ he said…”
Do you have a favorite lost, ancient world that’s been unearthed in the past several years? Ever visited an archaeological dig site (or a recently excavated area?)
Best,
Douglas Clegg