Episode description

Indiana Jones is a cool guy. An archaeologist, an adventurer who tore shit up, stumbled his way through tunnels and over invisible bridges to uncover priceless ancient artefacts. 

But that’s Hollywood. In real life, ancient discoveries happen in far less exciting ways…Or do they? 

The typical archaeological toolbox includes dental picks, trowels, brushes and measuring tapes. No archaeologist would blow an ancient city to smithereens. Right?

And only in the movies would someone accidentally lean on a wall to unveil the world's oldest known library. Right?

Incorrect. Both those things happened. And a lot of other cool shit too. 

Much like Indiana, Heinrich Schliemann had a passion for the ancient. Born in 1822, he grew up listening to his corrupt Lutheran pastor father telling the Homeric stories of the Iliad and the Odyssey. As a young boy, he believed he would be the one to not only prove the city of Troy was real, but to actually find it.

Incredibly, he did find it, buried deep beneath the Turkish city of Hisarlik. Unfortunately, he had run out of patience after his lifelong search and decided to use dynamite, exploding and destroying the actual Troy of the actual story. 

So now we know where Achilles and Hector fought. But we also know we will never see it because Schliemann blew it up. What a guy.

Another lost city founded by Alexander the Great was discovered by Charles Masson, an interesting character who was obsessed with finding ancient coins. But apparently, Alexander the Great doesn’t have much historical value because that site is now underneath Bagram Air Base. Yep, they covered it in concrete. 

Where does modern science come into the picture? Uncovering history can’t all be disasters and accidents! 

Well, let’s head to Greece to the ancient city of Helike where disaster struck (earthquake lights might have been involved. Yes earthquake lights are a thing). Due to soil liquefaction, this thriving city got swallowed, sinking deep beneath the ground. 

Thanks to technology, in 1994, a magnetometer survey of an inland lagoon revealed the outlines of a buried building. Once the site was excavated (without dynamite), a large Roman building with standing walls was found. Cobblestones, clay roof tiles, pottery, legit old stuff. 

So if you’re on the hunt for a lost city, when you find it, please, for the love of Pharaoh, don’t blow it up. 

Maybe ask the locals. They might be able to lead you in the right direction - to Atlantis perhaps!

And what the hell do chickens have to do with discovering lost cities?

Tune in for all this and much much more.

SOURCES:

• 5 Ancient Lost Cities That Were Rediscovered, the Collector
• Derinkuyu: Mysterious underground city in Turkey found in man’s basement, on Big Think
• GlobalXplorer°
• How to Find a Lost City, by Edmund Richardson, on The History Reader 
• The Life of Heinrich Schliemann, the Discoverer of Troy, in Greek Reporter
• Mr Masson and the lost cities: a Victorian journey to the edges of remembrance, in Classical Receptions Journal
• Turkey's underground city of 20,000 people, BBC

Image credits

• Earthquake lights
• Derinkuyu

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.