Atlantis of the Sands: The Search for the Lost City of Iram

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Source/Further reading:

The Rub al-Khali:



Biblical mentions:

Iram of the Pillars in the Quran and the Hadith:

Iram in Arabic poetry and the Arabian Nights:

Ibn Battuta:

Philby and Thomas:

The expeditions of Clapp, Zarins and Fiennes:

[thegunpenguin]

Iram was great until Nathan and Sully destroyed it, just like all of those other ancient hidden cities.

[mouadchaiabi]

As a Muslim I have been wondering about the story of Iram of the Pillars since I was a child. When the internet first came I did a lot of research and found nothing but now your video gave me a sense of closure that I have been seeking for years.

Thank you.

[carbohydration]

"The Atlantis may have succumbed to the sands of the desert, but it sailed unscathed through the sands of time"

Absoluetly gorgeous line. I adore it.

[blazeit]

6: Have you not considered how your Lord dealt with ‘Aad –
7: [With] Iram – who had lofty pillars,
8: The likes of whom had never been created in the lands
9: And [with] Thamud, who carved out the rocks in the valley?
10: And [with] Pharaoh, owner of the Pyramids? –
11: [All of] whom oppressed within the lands
12: And increased therein the corruption.
13: So your Lord poured upon them a scourge of punishment.
14: Indeed, your Lord is in observation.

[LehmannDrew]

Looks like Simon has discovered the Uncharted series

[rogerhwerner]

The discovery of Ubar has a rather interesting backstory that I learned about through several of the study participants. In 1988, I began using a software program suite that had yet to gain widespread use in archaeology. In fact, by 1990, there weren't many universities using it for archaeology and only 3 private sector consulting groups worldwide had adopted it; my company, one based in Albuquerque, and a third in Bentonville, Arkansas (it was a small world). This commercial software, known then as Arc/INFO, permitted seemless intergration of digital vector and raster mapping, image processing and analyses, and relational databases. It was this software that aided the Bentonville company's analyses of NASA satellite images taken with SAR cameras and the subsequent identification of linear features as probably caravan routes not visible on contemporary aerial images; features that converged on a single location in the Empty Quarter. The Bentonville team had been contacted by the British who had been studying historical sources, and who had become convinced that the Ubar legend was real and of its location in the Omani interior. Arabian Peninsula archaeologist Dr. Zarins knew the Bentonville archaeologists, and together with the British and Omanis formed a consortium of specialists under the auspices of Omani Ministry of Culture, which also provided funding. One can not overstate the importance of the integration of said linear features with contemporary images and maps with a high degree of precision, without which finding the buried ruins in a sea of sand might have never occurred. I knew the Bentonville group and it was through them that I met Dr. Zarins and obtained a first-hand look at this fascinating project. At the time, I had been working on mapping projects in Israel and it was through that work that I came to know my Bentonville colleagues. Without accurate satellite-based radar imagery, powerful software technology and portable computers, painstaking historical search and faith that these sources weren't simply describing legends, hard field work by many people in difficult conditions, and substantial Omani funding and logistical support the archaeology of the Empty Quarter would still be largely unknown. Thank you to Simon and the folks at Geographics for bringing this little known to a wider audience!

[kayakat]

You should do a Great Lakes shipwrecks/history episode.

[damainponce]

The uncharted series did an amazing job covering iram as well.

[FrownyZero]

I'm from Oman and I visited the ruins showing at 18:39, it's amazing to visit a place with that much history.

[Mark-xgzn]

*I like the ending. It's pure poetry !!!*

"The Atlantis may have succumbed to the sands of the desert but, it scaled unscathed through the sands of time." 👌

[motubak]

Iv been to the deserts of Egypt, Jordan and Saudi Arabia. Iv seen so many random clearly very old ruins in the deserts that no one knows what they are. Also there were many instances where when people dig the foundations for their homes they would fine old tombs and ruins but the government would just swarm the scene and take everything. Literally at my grandmothers house there’s a old ruin/ tomb in the back garden but it’s illegal to try to dig it up. My uncle and my cousin tried to get through into it once and the neighbours called the police and they were both arrested. The government officials finished off the dig and emptied it. Its even illegal to just have a metal detector their. Iv seen with my own eyes a house foundation being dug and a clear very old tomb/ruin in there but again government officials just took everything and no one knows what was actually found in there. Corruption is rampant in that part of the world and government officials just take whatever artefact’s for themselves.

[YeeSoest]

Simon: "Nisnas...a creature with one eye, one leg and one arm"
The Nisnas in the Image : 👀

[Sublimeoo]

He who controls the Spice, controls the universe

[Rmirfin]

It's a tragedy that I have only just found your channel, I've been binging episodes. Absolutely fantastic!

[onehouse]

Hypothesis: A city that drank itself to death. Drank water until the roof of the water table collapsed. Literally swallowed up by the Earth.

[Musslewhite]

Love the comparisons between the city of el dorado in the americas and Iram. All the guides give different answers

[hertzer]

*drags giant hair pick across Arabia*
"We ain't found Shit!"

[ignitionfrn]

1:45 - Chapter 1 - The empty quarter
6:20 - Chapter 2 - City of pillars
10:15 - Mid roll ads
11:20 - Chapter 3 - City of rubble or garden of delights ?
14:15 - Chapter 4 - The trails of dunes
16:40 - Chapter 5 - Eye in the sky
20:30 - Chapter 6 - Case closed ?

[ChangedNames]

It's indeed very rare to see a high viewed youtube video that mentions my country's name so much.

Al Salam Everyone, from oman!!

[kimjongun]

I don't know how Simon is managing to get these many videos done! As usual, great work 👍