Ancient Civilizations that Just... Vanished

Explore the mysteries behind the fall of ancient civilizations like the Minoans, Ancestral Puebloans, Khmer Empire, and the Amazonian societies. Uncover their secrets and intriguing collapse theories!

[ignitionfrn]

0:35 - Chapter 1 - Minoans
3:30 - Chapter 2 - Ancestral puebloans
5:50 - Chapter 3 - Khmer empire
7:50 - Chapter 4 - The amazon

[ennykraft]

Anyone interested in this topic, I very much recommend the channel Fall of Civilizations. They have in depth documentaries about the fall of a several civilizations like the Mayans or the people of Rapa Nui (my personal favorite).

[gordonbrinkmann]

Shortly after the last chapter about the Amazon had started, the video was interrupted by an ad... for Amazon Prime. 🙄

[bwhog]

From what I know of the Anasazi, the cliff and hilltop structures were all built over a pretty narrow time frame, remained for a number of decades, and then were all abandoned around the same general period. That, to me, given how difficult some of these are to access and how difficult it would have been to get provisions up to them, suggests that they were constructed out of necessity. There are a certain number of them that even appeared to have been created as watch posts. So raiding nomadic invaders, or a prolonged period of warfare (not a single conflict, but conflict after conflict) is quite possible. A number of these dwelling show signs that they were burned and, in some cases, there are different layers. Recall also that during the later era, there was the eruption of the "Sunset Crater" volcano, so who knows what role the geological history of the area came into play as well. With no written record, there's just no way to know what really happened and all we can do is speculate.

[terrafirma]

The Prisoners of Simon's Basement civilization better be on this. This was before he crushed their primitive society with an iron fist, reducing them to loose coalitions.

[AnGustus-Bus]

Love this short videos you do on ancient civilisations. Keep up the great work!
P.S. if anyone wants to hear some more indepth videos on the collapse of anicent and medieval civilisations i recommend try 'Fall of Civilisations' such a great channel that discusses these collapses in very deep detail.

[jamesleatherwood]

Ive heard a theory (theory is loose word really, more ive heard some people talking) that the reason there is such a density of fruit bearing and flowering trees in the amazon compared to other tropical jungles in the world, might be because there was civilization several thousand years ago that like to keep gardens, and when they dissappeared or died out, their gardens just grew outta control.

[Quarrenn]

I clicked on this video and spent the first half minute of the video thinking “please talk about the Minoans”. I studied them in college in a history class so it’s always nice to see it discussed outside of college.

[sgholt]

When the Spanish came to Mexico several times in the 1400-1500s, the Mayans already had a history with the Spanish soldiers and when it was clear it was going to happen again they all disappeared into the jungle. We went to the Yucatan last year for wedding, and visited with the Mayans, Chitzenita(?), and swam in the Cenotes. It was a brutal but very amazing trip to be sure. :)

[clrbrk]

Gotta plug Fall of Civilizations podcast and YouTube. Incredibly documentaries.

[caseyleichter]

To the other book recommendations, let me add "Four Lost Cities, " by Annalee Newitz. She talks about the Khmer, among others (and in her opinion, the Khmer water management system gradually became more a religious and status symbol, and was not maintained properly as a water management system... so that any serious disturbances, whether drought or monsoon, would cause it to fail).

[mohammadalzaimmohdhassan]

I cant imagine what it would've been like to live through the collapse of Amazonian civilizations. Disease seems the likeliest culprit, but can you imagine how long it may have taken to decimate the population and what society would've looked like? Wild

[TurtleSodadrives]

Wow! Never seen added 10 sec ago video before.

[wills]

Last time I was this early, the Minoans were trading tin to Egypt for grain and lotus blossoms.
😊

[kp-gbuniqueinterest]

Old civilizations ended for only three reasons: 1) Natural Disasters, which were hard to overcome and recover from during that time frame, and lack of medical and scientific advancement to deal with the aftermath. 2) Diseases, which, if we didn't have what we do today, Covid could have wiped out many cities. 3) Economic & Social disasters, which could be affected by the first two or because of social changes that always create issues and divide the people. In the past, it was a lot easier to just get up, move somewhere else, and start a new one. Now, your life could suck, and you can't go anywhere without a Passport or have a lot of money saved up.

[thepax]

According to the History Channel, late at night, it was Aliens... Its always been Aliens

[grabnar]

Much like the seas, the jungles don't give up their secrets easily

[scottmccrea]

I have a severe case of dome envy, Simon. Tired of my hair, never was much of it anyway. *The Amazon Rain Forest Civilization* - we don't even have a name for it - is one of the saddest and most fascinating tales. We know what ended it - small pox, the plague, influenza, gonorrhea, syphilis, the whole suite of Eurasian diseases. *How many languages were lost?* Given the astonishing diversity of Native American languges (35 language families and 17 isolates in California alone), the number is likey to have been quite large.

It's a further tragedy that this civilization was preliterate. A whole slice of human history is just gone _like tears in rain._

[stephanginther]

I like how you still use 'BC' instead of BCE. I watched an interview with Niel Tyson who made a strong point on the matter. He's famously atheist, but he said that not only does he refuse to switch, he thinks no one should. He gives a two big reasons, one, the monks that made it, created the most accurate calendar system ever devised, so if for no other reason, credit where credit is due. Second, its just petty. He points out that 100BC and 100BCE are *exactly the same year.* 'BCE' is a change without a difference and its extremely petty to change how something is referred to, for the express purpose of sticking it to the religious community. He said such pettiness has no place in academic writings.

[zdowkwz]

Re the Minoans, the eruption/tsunami could have done enough damage to reduce trade/create difficulties, without leading to full scale destruction. Just sea water inundation could have ruined crops, damaged harbours, killed livestock, without washing away buildings/temples. Even just the consideration that they had displeased the "gods", could have turned society on its head. They were still around hundreds of years later, but may not have been a strong society anymore. Knossos sits 100 meters above sea level, so it would have taken one hell of a wave to reach it. But the large fertile plain beneath it and the port was in direct line with a Santorini eruption tsunami wave.