11. A land of “incense, ebony, leopard skins, elephant tusks, and boomerangs”, the Kingdom of Yam was an ancient and lost civilization that sought to rival the Egyptians
Extremely little is known about the ancient Kingdom of Yam, believed to have existed at some point during the 23rd century BCE as a rival to the Old Kingdom of Egypt and located approximately several hundred miles from the Nile; whilst the precise location is unclear, hieroglyphs discovered 430 miles southwest of the Nile confirm the existence of a trade route between Yam and Egypt and indicates the kingdom to have most likely resided in the northern highlands of modern-day Chad.
The preponderance of information available on Yam is derived from surviving Egyptian documentation, in particular an account inscribed upon the tomb of Harkhuf, Governor of Upper Egypt during the 6th Dynasty under Pharaohs Merenre and Pepi II. According to the so-called “Autobiography of Harkhuf”, the Egyptian statesman claimed to have made four expeditions into Nubia during his lifetime and in the course of each visited the Kingdom of Yam; the distance was sufficiently far it took seven months to reach, and for his efforts Harkhuf returned with many gifts for which he was “very greatly praised”. His first, second and fourth trips were at the behest of the Pharaoh and for the purposes of trade, whilst on the third Harkhuf interceded in a regional conflict and claims to have forestalled a war between Yam and Temeh; on his return the Egyptian governor also states to have brought the soldiers of Yam on a visit to Egypt, an account corroborated by other surviving contextual accounts.
Alas, the information provided by Harkhuf’s funerary inscription offers insufficient evidence to locate the lost kingdom amidst vast areas of now-barren desert, with the civilization placed by various scholars in locations ranging from “the desert west of Upper Nubia, to the most likely region of Chad, or even further south, precluding any serious archaeological search at this time.
10. Silla was one of the “Three Kingdoms of Korea”, conquering and unifying the Korean nation before fragmenting into three kingdoms once more
The Kingdom of Silla was a Korean kingdom, located in the southern and central areas of the modern-day Asian peninsula between 57 BCE and 935 CE. Founded by Hyeokgeose of Silla and beginning as a chiefdom within the Samhan confederacies, Silla later expanded to form one of the three Kingdoms of Korea along with the kingdoms of Baekje and Goguryeo; Silla also ended the period of the Three Kingdoms by conquering its two rivals in the 7th century, defeating and absorbing Baekje in 660 CE and Goguryeo in 668 CE.
Much of the history of Silla is speculative, with a severe lack of surviving archaeological evidence impeding verification, but it is believed that between its founding the mid 4th century CE Silla underwent gradual political change from a small clan into a distinct state before finally adopting a centralized monarchy under Naemul in 356; previously, a rotational power-sharing system is likely to have existed. A Machiavellian state, the Kingdom of Silla allied with the Kingdom of Goguryeo in the late-4th century CE to stem the rise of the Kingdom of Baekje, before siding with Baekje in the mid-5th century to forestall advances by Goguryeo; in the mid-6th century, Silla subsequently betrayed this 120-year alliance with Baekje to seize control of the Han River area that they had jointly driven the Kingdom of Goguryeo from. In the mid-7th century, in an alliance with the Tang dynasty of China, Silla successfully conquered its rival Korean kingdoms, before waging a decade-long war against the Tang to preserve the integrity of the newly unified Korean Peninsula. During the last century of Silla, constant internal conflict diminished the authority of the king; it is believed in 935 CE the kingdom briefly fragmented, before being reunified under the Kingdom of Goryeo.
Beyond this brief historical outline, little information remains regarding the Kingdom of Silla. It is thought the state converted to Buddhism during the early or mid-6th century CE, that the Three Kingdoms period of Korea laid the foundations of the historic “Silk Road” trading network with Iran, and that Silla society was divided into strict classes delineating clothing, permitted house size, and marriage availability.
9. The lost Kingdom of Tuwana was a surviving relic of the ancient Hittite Empire, existing for likely less than a century before being conquered
Tuwana was an ancient kingdom of the Iron Age, specifically existing during the 8th century BCE, and located in the southern Anatolia region of modern-day Turkey; one of the many Syro-Hittite states which emerged from the collapse of the Hittite Empire during the 12th century BCE, the name derives from the city of Tuwanuwa which had belonged to the “Lower Land” of the Hittites. Whilst the ultimate fate of the Tuwana remains uncertain it is likely the lost civilization was conquered by the emerging Neo-Assyrian Empire, as was common for surviving Hittite city-states and to whom it is broadly accepted Tuwana paid tribute; it has also been suggested that since traces of the Tuwana vanish after both the Kingdom of Phrygia and the Kingdom of Urartu were defeated by the Cimmerians, that it too might have been conquered by the Indo-European people of Iran.
Extremely little survives concerning Tuwana, in part due to its short independent existence, but it is believed to have had a turbulent political history with five separate rulers recorded during the 8th century; among these kings, only the dates of the longest-serving, Warpalawas II, are known, ruling from 740-705 BCE. Tributaries of the Assyrian Empire of Tiglath-Pileser III, Tuwana also seems to have been closely connected to King Midas of Phrygia; both Assyrian and Phrygian inscriptions and artifacts have been uncovered at archaeological sites, with it seeming likely the small city-kingdom was frequently influenced and even abused by its more powerful neighboring rivals.
8. The People of Punt
The Land of Punt, sometimes referred to contextually as “Land of the God” by the Ancient Egyptians, was a revered kingdom of Africa whose dates of existence and even precise location is unknown; modern speculation centers the civilization as being situated somewhere in the region to the southeast of Egypt, most likely in the coastal areas of modern-day Djibouti, Eritrea, Somalia, or northeast Ethiopia.
As with the Kingdom of Yam, the indeterminate Land of Punt is known only via Egyptian trading records and the few surviving accounts of these travelers; among the goods exported to ancient Egypt, the most notable were gold, resins, ebony, and wild animals. Punt gold is known to have existed in Egypt as early as the time of Pharaoh Khufu of the Fourth Dynasty, demonstrating the existence of the fabled land at least during the 26th century BCE, whilst subsequent organized expeditions during the Sixth through Eighteenth dynasties provide evidence of considerable longevity for the Punt people; this trade continued during the start of the 20th dynasty of Egypt but was terminated prior to the end of the New Kingdom, at which time Punt became “an unreal and fabulous land of myths and legends”, offering an indication as to the eventual terminus of the Kingdom of Punt.
Most detailed among the accounts is that of Queen Hatshepsut, who constructed a fleet to bring valuable goods into Egypt and in 1493 BCE dispatched her Chancellor, Nehsi, to Punt on her behalf. “Accompanied by at least five shiploads of marines”, Nehsi found Punt ruled by a King Parahu and Queen Ati – the only known rulers of the lost land.
7. The Clovis People of North America were perhaps the oldest indigenous inhabitants of the continent, dating from over 13,000 years ago
The Clovis culture belonged to an unspecified prehistoric Paleo-Indian civilization located in the vicinity of modern-day Clovis, New Mexico, around the end of the last glacial period; radiocarbon dating of bone and ivory tools recovered by archaeologists indicates that the civilization was active around 13,200 to 12,900 years ago, making the culture among the oldest indigenous to the Americas. Genetic testing of modern Native American population has revealed almost 80% of all living indigenous peoples are descended from the Clovis people, in addition to a strong genetic connection with the indigenous people of northeast Asia suggesting a migration across the widely-theorized ancient Bering Strait land bridge.
Discovered in the 1920s and 1930s, much of the unearthed history of the Clovis people has been in the form of distinctively shaped stone spear points: the “Clovis Point”, a bifacial and fluted design unique to the region and after which the unknown civilization is named. Through the discovery of these artifacts, it has been determined the ancient people hunted mammoths as well as mastodons, and bison, in addition to other small animals; in total, more than 125 now extinct species have been identified as being hunted by the Clovis people. In addition, in Montana in 1968 the remains of a two-year-old child was unearthed as part of an ancient Clovis burial site; this discovery has enabled significant genetic testing and has permitted a far greater understanding of the civilization.
Whilst unverified, it is broadly accepted that the Clovis people declined as a unique culture as a result of natural population expansions coinciding with a decline in the availability of megafauna, precipitating migrations and cultural differentiation; it has equally been argued that the “Younger Dryas” – a period 12,900-11,700 years ago in which temperatures suddenly and temporarily reverted to that similar to the preceding Ice Age – might have adversely affected the Clovis culture.
6. The People of Göbekli Tepe were an unknown civilization responsible for the creation of the world’s oldest discovered megalithic structure
Göbekli Tepe, or “Potbelly Hill”, is an ancient megalithic site dating to between the 10th-8th millennium BCE located in the southeastern Anatolia region of modern-day Turkey; measuring 15 meters in height and 300 meters in diameter, and constructed from more than 200 pillars, each with a height of 6 meters, weighing up to 10 tons, and arranged in 20 circles atop a floor of polished lime, the Göbekli Tepe is the oldest known megalithic formation in the world. Discovered in 1963, it was not until Klaus Schmidt in 1994 reexamined the site that it was determined to be culturally significant; subsequent excavations under his oversight have produced evidence of a large complex atop the plateau, in addition to much speculation concerning the civilization responsible for the immense historic structure.
Challenging the conventional narratives of human social and cultural evolution – with hunter-gatherers transitioning into urban civilizations and then creating monuments – the Göbekli Tepe provides a counter-narrative that, in the words of Schmidt, “first came the temple, then the city”; although it remains unknown how a pre-sedentary hunter-gatherer civilization could have constructed such a complex, with the Göbekli Tepe pre-dating the inventions of the wheel, writing, and even agriculture, the discovery forces us to reevaluate our primitive assumptions concerning our ancient ancestors.
Without any evidence of habitation at the Göbekli Tepe, it has been widely theorized that the site served as a spiritual center for the surrounding civilization. Schmidt asserted throughout his decades studying the site that it was a “cathedral on a hill” and a pilgrimage destination for inhabitants as far away as 100 miles. This theory is supported by archaeological evidence of large numbers of butchered animals at the Göbekli Tepe, in addition to human remains suggesting the potential of Neolithic burials occurring at the location. Despite this early importance, for whatever reason at some point around the beginning of the 8th millennium BCE, coinciding with the introduction of agriculture and animal husbandry to the region, the Göbekli Tepe seemingly lost its prominent status; significantly, instead of merely being forgotten the presumed temple was in fact deliberately buried for an unknown purpose.
5. The Beakers were an ancient culture scattered across Western Europe during the 3rd and 2nd millenniums BCE, and possibly the civilization responsible for the creation of Stonehenge
The Beaker culture, also known as the Bell-Beaker culture, was an ancient culture spread across Western and Central Europe, including regions such as Iberia, the British Isles, and the Italian Peninsula, which emerged at the start of the European Bronze Age in approximately 2800 BCE; surviving in continental Europe as a distinct culture until around 2300 BCE, the Beakers endured much later in Britain, lasting until roughly 1800 BCE. Originally isolated to the western portions of Europe, from 2400 BCE the Beakers expanded into central and eastern Europe, with their cultural influence reaching as far as Poland; whether this expansion and subsequent disappearance was a result of migration or acculturation remains a matter of speculation and debate among historians.
So-named for their unique and distinctive beakers, believed to have been designed for the consumption of alcohol as well as for the smelting of ores, these beakers were seemingly used as status symbols among the scattered culture; due to this dispersion of the civilization, immense regional variations exist with other styles notably including funerary significance.
Among the regional variants of this dispersed civilization, the Beakers are believed to have arrived in the British Isles in around 2500 BCE before declining between 2200-2100 and becoming culturally indistinct by 1700; it is most likely the migrating Beakers were assimilated into existing indigenous peoples, although the possibility of inter-racial conflict in Britain cannot be excluded. Employing a beaker style akin to those from the Rhine region, these products were typically employed in funerary practices, most notably in the barrows surrounding the ancient megalithic structures of Stonehenge and Amesbury; these sites were auspiciously constructed during the period of Beaker activty in Britain, making it entirely plausible the Beakers themselves were responsible for these creations.
4. The Nok people were an unknown civilization who lived in modern-day Nigeria during the Iron Age
The Nok culture was an early Iron Age civilization, existing for roughly 2 millennia between approximately 1500 BCE and 500 CE and located in the region of modern-day northern Nigeria; it is unknown what the fate of these ancient people was, or why they suddenly vanished at this time. Discovered in 1928, the unknown civilization is so-named after the village where the first distinctive terracotta sculptures which define the lost culture were unearthed.
These artifacts, made from sculpted alluvial mud, performed an uncertain function within the Nok culture, possessing almost life-sized hollow human heads and bodies and exaggerated or stylized personal features; several theories have been suggested in this regard, ranging from ancestral portrayal similar to those of the Moai by the Rapa Nui to ritualistic charms designed to appease deities concerning crops or illness. Unusually for ancient artwork, both males and females are depicted by these sculptures, reflecting a clear and non-discriminatory cross-societal role for the artifacts.
In addition to these artistic creations the Nok appears to have lived as per the standard of the Iron Age, using stone tools mixed with early uses of iron metals for the purposes of mining, agriculture, and war, as well as developing the industry of pottery; unusually, due to the highly acidic soil of the area no evidence of animal bones has been uncovered, and as such details of any domestication or hunting by the Nok remains unclear. Beyond this scarce information, little is known about the Nok civilization or culture making them one of the most curious societies on this list.