For almost as long as we've had civilization, we've lost it.
There are records going back hundreds of years of explorers
discovering huge temples encrusted with jungle, or giant pits
full of treasure that were once grand palaces. Why did people
abandon these once-thriving cities, agricultural centers, and
trade routes? Often, the answer is unknown. Here are ten great
civilizations whose demise remains a mystery. 1. The Maya The
Maya are perhaps the classic example of a civilization that was
completely lost, its great monuments, cities and roads swallowed
up by the central American jungles, and its peoples scattered to
small villages. Though the languages and traditions of the Maya
still survive up to the present day, the civilization's peak was
during the first millennium AD, when their greatest
architectural feats and massive agricultural projects covered a
vast region in the Yucatán — today, an area stretching from
Mexico to Guatemala and Belize. One of the largest Mesoamerican
civilizations, the Maya made